Bridgit Mendler

Bridgit Claire Mendler (born December 18, 1992) is an American entrepreneur and former actress and singer-songwriter. She first became known as a child actress and continued acting into adulthood, which overlapped with a musical career in the 2010s. After enrolling at MIT and Harvard from 2017 to 2024, she co-founded Northwood Space, a satellite data startup.

Mendler's early acting credits include the films Alice Upside Down (2007), The Clique (2008) and Labor Pains (2009). After signing with Disney Channel in 2009, she played Juliet van Heusen on Wizards of Waverly Place (2009–2012) and soon rose to fame for her lead role as Teddy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie (2010–2014); she also starred as Olivia White in the original film Lemonade Mouth (2011) for the network. After the conclusion of Good Luck Charlie, she appeared on the NBC sitcom Undateable (2015–2016), the ABC/CMT musical television series Nashville (2017), and the Netflix comedy series Merry Happy Whatever (2019).

Mendler began her music career contributing to the soundtrack of Lemonade Mouth in 2011, which produced her first singles "Somebody" and "Determinate". Her debut studio album, Hello My Name Is... (2012), reached number 30 on the US Billboard 200 and entered five international charts. Its lead single, "Ready or Not", received platinum certifications in four territories and appeared on ten charts worldwide; "Hurricane" and "Top of the World" were also released. She then independently released an extended play, Nemesis (2016), which earned critical praise and spawned the singles "Atlantis" and "Do You Miss Me at All". She has embarked on three tours: Live in Concert (2012), Summer Tour (2013–2014) and Nemesis Tour (2016–2017).

From 2010 to 2012, Mendler was an ambassador for nonprofit First Book, which encourages reading, and Give with Target, to raise funds to reform schools in the United States. She was a student and researcher with the MIT Media Lab from 2017 to 2023. She is also registered as a PhD candidate with MIT's Center for Constructive Communications and Social Machines group. In 2024, she became the CEO and co-founder of the satellite data startup Northwood Space, and earned a JD from Harvard Law School. As of 2025, Northwood raised over $38 million.

Early life and education

Bridgit Claire Mendler was born on December 18, 1992, in Washington, D.C. to Charles and Sandy (née Ford) Mendler. She has one younger brother named Nick (b. 1997). Mendler moved to Mill Valley, California with her family at the age of eight. It was there where she first expressed interest in acting and began working in plays. When she was eight years old, Mendler began taking part in local roles in both dramatic and musical theatre, and became the youngest performer in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. When she was 11 years old, she hired an agent to help her get acting jobs. Mendler is the niece of psychologist Christine Blasey Ford.

In the 2010s, Mendler studied towards a degree in anthropology at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California. Two members of her band also studied at USC. In an interview with Brian Mansfield of USA Today, Mendler said: "My plan right now is just to do one class at a time and see how that goes. I'm just going to study something that will be interesting and doable from the road and just take care of my general education courses for now. I want to know something outside of what I do." In 2013, she chose anthropology and studied Medieval Visual Culture, and medical anthropology. To the University Star, Mendler said USC was important: "I think seeing that college life and what that would've been like, it does make you wonder what sort of lifestyle that would be, but I'm really grateful for what I have, and I think it's cool that, because my career path is not as formulaic, I can kind of decide when I want to take time off to do certain things." Her mother was pursuing a doctorate in public policy at USC at the time. Mendler dropped out of USC in 2016. In May 2017, Mendler was announced as one of the 2017 MIT Media Lab's Director's Fellows.

In May 2018, she announced on Twitter that she started a graduate program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a focus on improving social media: "As an entertainer, for years I struggled with social media because I felt like there was a more loving and human way to connect with fans." In 2020, she completed an M.S. in media arts and sciences at MIT. Her master's thesis was titled OurStory: Dispute System Design Technology for Stakeholder Inclusion. Deb Roy was her thesis advisor. She later began working on her Ph.D with MIT's Center for Constructive Communications and Social Machines group. During 2022, she was enrolled at Harvard Law School and at MIT. In May 2024, she was awarded a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law.

Career

Acting

In 2004, Mendler got her first voice acting role in the animated Indian film The Legend of Buddha, in which she portrayed young Buddha. Mendler got her second voice acting role in 2005 as the voice of the character Thorn in the video game Bone: Out from Boneville, which was based on the Bone comic series. When she was 13 years old, she got her first acting role as a guest star on the soap opera General Hospital, playing the dream child of character Lulu Spencer. That same year, Mendler voiced the character Thorn in the video game Bone: The Great Cow Race. In 2007, Mendler made her film debut in the film adaption of the Alice series, titled Alice Upside Down. For the film's soundtrack, Mendler provided backing vocals on the song "Free Spirit", performed by Alyson Stoner. Also in 2007 Mendler auditioned for Sonny with a Chance for the role of Sonny Munroe, but Demi Lovato was chosen.

In 2008, it was announced that Mendler would play the role of Kristen Gregory in the film adaption of the popular teen novel series The Clique by Lisi Harrison. She had begun working on a film with actress and singer Lindsay Lohan titled Labor Pains, which kept being pushed back due to various conflicts and problems. Though initially slated for a theatrical release, the film did not receive one in the US and was instead released as a TV film on ABC Family in 2009. It became the week's top cable film among coveted female demographic groups. She had a supporting role in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. In 2009, Mendler became a recurring character in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place. Mendler portrayed the role of Juliet van Heusen, a vampire who later forms a romance with David Henrie's character Justin Russo. Mendler would go on to appear in eleven episodes total for the series, spanning from 2009 to 2012 when the series ended.

In 2010, Mendler played Teddy Duncan in the Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie, centering on a teenage girl who makes videos for her baby sister to watch as she gets older. The series premiered on April 4, 2010, and was met with a positive critical reception and viewership. In 2011, she starred as Olivia White, the lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth, watched by 5.7 million viewers on its premiere night. In an interview with Kidzworld Media, Mendler confirmed that there will not be a sequel to Lemonade Mouth, commenting: "There's not [going to be a sequel to Lemonade Mouth] unfortunately. We had such a great experience working on the movie, and they tried to figure something out for a sequel, but everyone at Disney felt like the movie had completed its story in the first movie. It was a great experience, and I loved working with the cast members and still see them frequently." Mendler played Teddy Duncan in Shake It Up. Mendler played Teddy Duncan in Jessie and Good Luck Jessie. In 2011, Mendler had the supporting role of Appoline in the straight to DVD film Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Also in 2011 Mendler starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas!, which premiered on December 2, 2011. In 2012, she guest-starred in the television series House as Callie Rogers, a homeless runaway teenager with a mysterious illness. She voiced the lead role of Arrietty in the American English dub of The Secret World of Arrietty.

On November 25, 2014, Mendler was announced as an unlucky yet optimistic waitress Candace in the NBC comedy series Undateable in season two. In early 2015, NBC renewed with Mendler for a third season that consisted entirely of live episodes, which premiered October 15 of that year. Following the third season, it was announced that NBC had cancelled continuation of the series. In October 2016, Mendler was cast as Ashley Willerman on the fifth season of the CMT television series Nashville.

On February 10, 2017, Mendler was cast in lead role of the Fox comedy television pilot Thin Ice, created by Elizabeth Meriwether, but the network ultimately passed on the pilot in May. She appeared in the Netflix comedy film Father of the Year along with David Spade, Joey Bragg, Matt Shively and Jackie Sandler, which was released July 20, 2018. In November 2019, Mendler appeared in the eight-part Netflix comedy television series, Merry Happy Whatever, along with Dennis Quaid, Ashley Tisdale, and her Undateable co-star Brent Morin.