Sabrina Carpenter's journey to fame is a sweet story of the endless support she received from her family growing up. From a five-album contract with Disney Channel to opening for Taylor Swift on the "Era's Tour," the 24-year-old performer has come a long way.
Carpenter was born to Elizabeth and David Carpenter on May 11, 1999, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and she knew from a young age that she wanted to sing and act. Carpenter began covering songs by Adele and Christina Aguilera on YouTube at a young age. She placed third in a singing contest hosted by singer Miley Cyrus after her father built her a studio to fuel her passion for music. This gained the attention of talent scouts, and soon after, she began auditioning for film and television roles.
When Carpenter was 11, she earned her first role on the NBC drama "Law & Order: SVU" in 2010. Carpenter's big break came in 2013 when she landed a recurring role on the short-lived Fox comedy, "The Goodwin Games." The show only lasted seven episodes, but it raised her profile over the year. Carpenter also had small roles in Disney's "Phineas and Ferb,“ "Austin and Ally" and Netflix's "Orange is the New Black.”
She moved to Los Angeles when she was 13, and here, she landed a starring role in Disney's "Girl Meets World" as Maya Hart. Carpenter's first EP, "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying," was also released in 2014 and received positive reviews from Disney's record label.
In 2015, she released her debut studio album, “Eyes Wide Open," which featured the single “We’ll Be the Stars.” It peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard 200.
In the following year, Carpenter released the single "Smoke and Fire." Later in the year, the lead single of her second studio album, "On Purpose," was released. From October to December 2016, Carpenter embarked on her sold-out headline tour across the U.S., "EVOLution." Her next starring role came in Disney Channel's "Adventures in Babysitting," a few months before "EVOLution" peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard 200.
Her single, "Thumbs" became her first gold-certified single in the U.S. In 2017, she worked with The Vamps and Mike Perry on a track called, "Hands," released the solo single, "Why" and headlined her "The De-Tour" concert tour. She was also featured on Lost Kings' "First Love." The latter landed in the Top 30 of Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
In 2020, Carpenter appeared on Broadway in "Mean Girls" as Cady Heron. She stepped into the role succeeding Erika Henningsen, who played her final performance on Feb. 22, 2020. Carpenter only had two live performances until the show was canceled due to COVID-19. She worked alongside Reneé Rapp as Regina George and Krystina Alabado as Gretchen Wieners. Later in the year, however, Carpenter starred in Netflix's musical film "Work It" and in the Disney+ musical film "Clouds," alongside Fin Argus.
In January 2021, Carpenter announced that she had signed with Universal Music Group's Island Records and released another single, "Skin." On July 15, 2022, Carpenter dropped her fifth studio album, "emails i can't send," which peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200, the longest-charting LP of her career.
No one expected "Nonsense" to take on a life of its own in the way it has. "Nonsense” peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the Top 10 on Pop Airplay (No. 10). Carpenter performed during the pre-show festivities for the 2023 MTV Music Awards. She also performed "Nonsense" on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Following the success of her album, Swift invited Carpenter to join her record-breaking "Era's Tour" in Latin America as the opener across the summer and fall in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. Carpenter also opened "Era's Tour" shows in Australia and Singapore from Feb. 16 to March 9. The outros for "Nonsense" changed to reflect each tour stop and went viral on TikTok. Her Polly Pocket-esque glittery outfits on tour also drew much attention and helped her become a viral sensation on social media.
Concluding her time on the tour, Carpenter thanked her fans and supporters for the support she received along the way. She shared photos of the tour and expressed her gratitude to Swift.
Carpenter's dreams of becoming a singer and actor came true. It is exciting to see where she will go in her career following the conclusion of the "Era's Tour."
