Bella Thorne

Annabella Avery Thorne (born October 8, 1997) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She first received recognition for her roles as Margaux Darling in the series Dirty Sexy Money (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series My Own Worst Enemy (2009), the latter of which earned her a Young Artist Award.

Thorne gained prominence for her role as CeCe Jones on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up (2010–2013), for which she received several awards and nominations, including winning an Imagen Award. Thorne has since appeared in numerous feature films, including Blended (2014), Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015), The Babysitter film series (2017–2020). She received praise for her roles in The DUFF (2015), Amityville: The Awakening (2017), and Infamous (2020). Thorne also led the drama series Famous in Love (2017–2018), for which she received nominations from the Teen Choice Awards.

Outside of acting, Thorne has ventured into music; she released her debut single, "Watch Me" in 2011, which charted at 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100. She has since released the EP Made in Japan in 2012 and the EP Jersey in 2014. She made her directorial debut in 2019, directing the adult film Her & Him, which garnered positive reviews and won a Pornhub Visionary Award.

Early life

Annabella Avery Thorne was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on October 8, 1997, the daughter of Tamara Thorne and Delancey Reinaldo "Rey" Thorne. She has three siblings who are also actors. Her father was of Cuban descent. Her father died in a traffic accident in April 2007. She has said that she was raised by a mother who was supporting four children, that they were very poor, and that she originally began working as a child actress to help support the family.

In September 2017, Thorne revealed that she had lived in a suburban area, spoke Spanish as her first language, and that she was bullied while growing up because she was dyslexic. She was diagnosed with dyslexia while in first grade. She was home-schooled after previously attending a public school, where she had been bullied. She improved in her learning after attending a Sylvan Learning center and began reading and writing a grade ahead. In April 2010, she said she had overcome dyslexia by rigorously reading everything she could find, including cereal box labels.

In January 2018, Thorne wrote on Instagram that she had been physically and sexually abused as a child, "from the day I can remember till I was 14". In 2019, she told ABC News' Juju Chang that the abuse began when she was six years old. She did not name her alleged abuser, but said that he was "someone I was raised with".

Career

2003–2009: Early work and acting beginnings

Thorne's first film appearance was an uncredited role as a sidelines fan in the 2003 film Stuck on You. She has since appeared in film and television projects including Entourage and The O.C. as a younger version of Taylor Townsend. In 2007, she joined the recurring cast of Dirty Sexy Money's second season as Margaux Darling. This is her first major television role. The series revolves around lawyer and family man Nick George; when Nick's father mysteriously dies in a plane crash, he agrees to take his position as the Darling family's lawyer, while trying to discover who committed the murder.

In 2008, Thorne starred alongside Christian Slater and Taylor Lautner in the short-lived drama series My Own Worst Enemy, for which she won a Young Artist Award for her portrayal of the character Ruthy Spivey; Thorne described her Enemy casting as a major breakthrough as this was the first recurring role in her career. The same year, she starred in the third-last episode of October Road as Angela Ferilli, the pre-adolescence crush of the main characters. Her older brother Remy also guest-starred in the same episode as a younger Eddie Latekka.

In 2009, she starred in the web series Little Monk, which depicted characters from the series Monk, as Wendy, one of Adrian Monk's classmates. The webisodes are available only on the "Best of Monk" DVD. Also in 2009, she played the role of the vengeful antagonist in the horror film Forget Me Not. Thorne took on a supporting role in the family drama Raspberry Magic, which premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2010.

2010–2013: Breakthrough with Disney and music

In 2010, Thorne replaced Jolean Wejbe as Tancy "Teenie" Henrickson, Bill and Barb Henrickson's younger daughter, in Season 4 of HBO's Big Love. Thorne co-starred on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up, originally titled Dance, Dance Chicago. Thorne played CeCe Jones, a dancer with ambitions for a career in the spotlight despite having dyslexia. The show is a buddy comedy centered on a teen dance show (in a show-within-a-show format) co-starring Thorne and Zendaya. The multi-camera series began production in Hollywood, California, in July 2010 and premiered on November 7, 2010, on Disney Channel. While she had a substantial portfolio of work in television and film, Thorne had no experience in professional dancing before being cast. After signing onto the show in October 2009, she began taking three dance classes every night.

Thorne's first single, "Watch Me" was released on June 21, reaching 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, 9 on the US Top Heatseekers charts and earning RIAA: Gold. On September 29, 2011, Disney Channel announced it had increased Shake It Up's second season order to 26 episodes. A 90-minute special episode Made In Japan aired August 17, 2012, as the season two finale. On June 4, 2012, Disney Channel announced that Shake It Up had been renewed for a third season. In 2012, Thorne was cast as Avalon Greene in the Disney Channel Original Movie Frenemies. "TTYLXOX" was released on March 6, reaching 97 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. On March 30, 2013, it was confirmed by Hollywood Records via Twitter that Thorne had officially signed to the record label.

On July 25, 2013, the Disney Channel confirmed that Shake It Up would be canceled after the end of the third season. On April 23, 2013, Thorne announced her debut album with eleven songs. Thorne spoke about the album, saying "What fans can expect is [for it] just to be very different from anyone because I don't like to be one of those artists where you can be like: 'Oh yeah, I know them from that song.' All my songs are very different from each other. So I don't want to be known as only one genre." Thorne cited Britney Spears, Kesha, and Destiny's Child as influences for the album. In 2013, it was reported that Thorne had signed a new deal to write a series of books, beginning with her first novel, Autumn Falls.

2014–2017: Mainstream film and television

In 2014, Thorne co-starred in the comedy Blended, as Adam Sandler's character's daughter. She also co-starred in the films Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) and The DUFF (2015), playing high school antagonists. On July 30, Thorne was cast in an episode of the fifteenth season of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The episode, "The Book of Shadows", aired October 19, 2014. Thorne appeared in the sequel to Mostly Ghostly (2008), titled Mostly Ghostly: Have You Met My Ghoulfriend (2014) as Cammy Cahill. On October 15, Thorne revealed her debut album was canceled, saying she wasn't happy with the "auto-tuned bad music" she had in the works. She released an EP, Jersey, on November 17. The lead single from the EP, "Call It Whatever", debuted in the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart at number forty-seven, eventually rising to number ten, spending a total of ten weeks on the chart. Thorne has signed on as one of the leads in Manis Film's thriller Big Sky; Thorne plays Hazel. In 2014, Thorne was cast in the MTV series Scream, which is a television adaptation based on the original slasher film series Scream. Thorne was offered the lead role of the series but felt that the role of the "mean, terrible Nina" would be more iconic.

In 2015, Thorne was cast in the animated U.S. dub of the film The Frog Kingdom, portraying the role of Frog Princess. The film was scheduled to be released on video on demand and on DVD beginning on June 30, 2015, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. On June 1, 2015, it was announced that Thorne would star in the AwesomenessTV film Shovel Buddies, playing the role of Kate. The movie was released on iTunes on October 11, 2016. She also played Jamie, a disillusioned teenager intensely guarding a personal secret, in the film Keep Watching. Also in 2015, she appeared as Ashley, a young and famous singer in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.