Miley Cyrus nearly lost ‘Hannah Montana’ role to fellow child star

nypost.com:

“The Best of Both Worlds.”“Hannah Montana” casting director Lisa London corrected a TikToker who wrongfully declared that the Spanish-Mexican singer Belinda — who had a starring role in “Cheetah Girls 2” — was among the final three candidates for the lead role in the hit Disney Channel series. “I wanted to let everybody know that Belinda — who’s lovely, by the way — was never in the top three for the role of Hannah,” London clarified after stating that she had “discovered” Cyrus. “These are the final three actresses that auditioned at the network test out of over 1,200 girls,” London continued, sharing a piece of paper — dated May 6, 2005 — that listed Taylor Momsen and Daniella Monet alongside Cyrus as the remaining contenders.

The show, which ran on the squeaky-clean network from 2006 to 2011, followed the adventures and conflicts of the everyday teen Miley Stewart (Cyrus), who also lived a secret life as a global pop star. @fernandacortesx love your videos and wanted to share some insight on the casting of Hannah Montana #hannahmontana #belinda #disney #mileycyrus #disneychannel #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen London also noted that Cyrus’ character was originally named Chloe during casting until the “Wrecking Ball” singer officially landed the career-launching role.

However, things eventually worked out for Momsen as she would go on to star as Jenny Humphrey in “Gossip Girl” starting in 2007.

Nowadays, the 29-year-old stays busy with her band, The Pretty Reckless.Years prior, Momsen played Cindy Lou Who in Jim Carrey’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” In a 2010 interview, Momsen admitted she wasn’t too upset about losing out on the Disney role. “Honestly, if I’d have ended up as Hannah Montana, I don’t know if the.