Laura Marano

American pop singer and actress Laura Marano rose to global prominence in the 2010s through her portrayal of Ally in the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally. Shifting focus toward music, she issued her debut solo single "Boombox" via Big Machine Records in 2015 before launching the independent EP ME in 2019. The second chapter of her planned trilogy, the EP YOU, followed in 2020, with the final installment Us appearing in 2022. Her first proper studio album, I May Be An Actress, but I Can't Fake How I Feel, arrived the next year.

Marano took the stage for the first time at age five in a neighborhood theater production. The Los Angeles native quickly secured national advertising campaigns and guest roles on programs including Joan of Arcadia, Without a Trace, and Dexter. She entered feature films in 2005 with The Jacket, playing the childhood version of Keira Knightley's character, and earned her initial series-regular part in 2007 on Back to You alongside Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. Steady film and television assignments continued until she won the lead in Austin & Ally in 2011 and throughout the show's run, which concluded in early 2016. During that period she joined co-star Ross Lynch on the soundtrack collections Austin & Ally, Austin & Ally: Turn It Up, and Austin & Ally: Take It from the Top, and she also appeared on Songs from the Sarah Silverman Program: From Our Rears to Your Ears! as well as Disney Channel: Play It Loud.

After signing with Big Machine Records in 2015, Marano delivered her first solo single, the dance-pop track "Boombox," in March 2016, which soon registered on Billboard's social networking charts. In 2018 she founded her own imprint, Flip Phone Records, and released the single "Me," later included on the 2019 EP of the same title. The follow-up EPs YOU and Us came out in 2020 and 2022. She collaborated with the electronic duo Grey on the 2021 single "Dance with You" and with singer/songwriter Wrabel on 2022's "Worst Kind of Heart," both of which featured on the soundtrack to the romantic comedy The Royal Treatment, in which she also starred. In 2023 she headlined another rom-com, Choose Love, which debuted one month before her full-length studio album I May Be An Actress, but I Can't Fake How I Feel.