Made Me Want To Be An Actress

Lucy Hale is often recognized as the de facto leader of Pretty Little Liars, but in an alternate universe, she could have found herself living a double life as the star of Disney’s Hannah Montana.

The actress shared that the audition for the role, which ultimately went to Miley Cyrus, helped solidify her passion for pursuing an entertainment career.

In a recent episode of BuzzFeed’s The Puppy Interview, Hale opened up about various roles she auditioned for, some of which may come as a surprise to fans. These include Pitch Perfect, Hairspray, Hannah Montana, 50 Shades of Grey, and The Substance.

“Oh my gosh, so many,” Hale recalled. “I feel like, because I’ve lived in L.A. for almost 20 years, everyone who gets the role, it’s meant to be their thing. But for every ‘yes’ to an audition, there’s like a lineup of 200 ‘no’s. I should probably go back through my journals and see all the things I’ve auditioned for.”

When asked about her audition for the beloved children’s sitcom, which ran from 2006 to 2011 and made Miley Cyrus a household name, Hale confirmed she had tried out for the lead role. At the time, she was 14 years old and still living in her home state of Tennessee.

“It was a couple of years before they cast Miley,” she explained. “I remember the audition. It was a taped audition in Tennessee, and it was the one that made me want to be an actress. I remember it so clearly; it was really cool.”

Later in the interview, the F** Marry Kill star reminisced about her first acting gig in another iconic children’s sitcom: playing one of Drake’s dates on Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh at the age of 15.

“I was super nervous,” she admitted. “In the scene, Drake [Bell]’s character asks, ‘What’s your name?’ And I say, ‘Hazel!’ And he replies, ‘Like the nut?’ And I go, ‘uh-huh!’ That was it. Groundbreaking. My career skyrocketed after that, so it’s all thanks to that moment,” she joked.