Janel Parrish

Janel Parrish
Parrish in May 2013
Born	Janel Meilani Parrish (1988-10-30) October 30, 1988 Oahu, Hawaii, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer, songwriter
Years active	1998–present
Musical career
Genres	Pop
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Geffen Records
Website	Official website

Janel Meilani Parrish (born October 30, 1988) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Mona Vanderwaal on the Freeform series Pretty Little Liars. She is also known for the role of Jade in the 2007 film Bratz: The Movie. In 2014, Parrish participated in the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars, taking third place.

Early life

Parrish was born in Oahu, Hawaii, to Joanne, who is of Chinese descent, and Mark Parrish, who is of European descent.^[1] She has one sister, Melissa, who is eight years older and served in the U.S. Army.^[2]

At age seven, Parrish began studying acting, singing and the piano.^[3] She entered several talent contests, and became well known to local Oahu residents.^[4] At age 14, she appeared in the 2003 remake of Star Search, performing the song "On My Own" from Les Misérables.^[5] She attended Moanalua Elementary School,^[1] and Moanalua High School for her freshman year.^[3] Parrish lived in Kaneohe, Hawaii until age 14, when she and her family moved to Los Angeles so she could pursue a career in the entertainment industry.^[3] Parrish was then homeschooled in order to accommodate her work schedule.^[6]

Career

Acting

Parrish began as a professional entertainer when she was cast as Young Cosette in the National Touring Company of Les Misérables, and later portrayed the role in the Broadway production at the Imperial Theatre.^[7] She subsequently appeared in several community theater productions in Hawaii – most notably as Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in Manoa Valley Theatre's revival of To Kill a Mockingbird in 1998.^[8] Parrish got her first off-stage acting job in a minor role in the 1999 drama miniseries Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke. Shortly after, she appeared in two episodes of NBC's action series Baywatch as Hina.

Parrish in July 2007

In 2000, Parrish was featured in Disney's live-action television film based on the Pinocchio story, Geppetto, portraying the role of Natalie.^[9] She then went on to appear as Vanessa in the short-lived sitcom The O'Keefes. Parrish also appeared in many Disney shows and made-for-TV movies on the Disney channel, and also guest starred in The Bernie Mac Show, Zoey 101,^[10] and The O.C..^[1] Parrish portrayed the Bratz member Jade in Bratz: The Movie. The role was her first in a motion picture, as well as her first starring role.^[11] She then landed a recurring role in the NBC supernatural drama series Heroes.^[12]

Parrish played Mona Vanderwaal for the duration of the Freeform teen drama series Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series by Sara Shepard. Mona is introduced as a teenage outsider who uses her intelligence and resources to torment others anonymously. In March 2012, Parrish was promoted to a series regular for the third season.^[13] For her performance as Mona, she has won Choice TV: Villain at the Teen Choice Awards three times from five nominations.^[14]

Parrish returned to her stage roots in a production of the musical Spring Awakening. She portrayed Anna, while also understudying the lead female role of Wendla Bergmann.^[15] She subsequently guest starred in the CBS drama series Hawaii Five-0, playing the role of Rebecca Fine, an ambitious and strong-willed chemistry student.^[16] Parrish will star in the upcoming boxing drama film Tiger, alongside Mickey Rourke,^[17] and will portray Margot Covey in the film adaptation of Jenny Han's young adult romance novel To All the Boys I've Loved Before.^[18]

Music

At age six, Parrish won a statewide singing contest in Hawaii.^[1] She began writing her own music as a teenager and eventually became the lead singer of three-piece girl group, Impulse. In 2007, Parrish was signed to Geffen Records to produce her first album.^[19][20] Her first single, "Rainy Day", which she had written herself, along with its music video, was released on July 7, 2007, and featured on the Bratz: Motion Picture Soundtrack.^[21] Parrish made appearances in Prima J's music video for "Rockstar" and NLT's music video for "She Said, I Said", which were featured on the Bratz soundtrack. She also provided background vocals for the latter.^[22]

Other ventures

On September 4, 2014, Parrish was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars. She was paired with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy.^[23] During week three, "Movie Night", the couple became the first to earn a perfect score with their Jazz dance, and also held the record for earliest perfect score on the show (the record was later matched by Bethany Mota and her partner Derek Hough on the same night). Parrish and Chmerkovskiy reached the finals of the show but ended up in third place, behind Sadie Robertson and Alfonso Ribeiro, who took second and first place respectively.^[24]

Dancing with the Stars performances

• ^Note 1 Score given by guest judge Kevin Hart in place of Goodman.
• ^Note 2 The American public scored the dance in place of Goodman with the averaged score being counted alongside the three other judges.
• ^Note 3 This week only, for "Partner Switch-Up" week, Parrish performed with Artem Chigvintsev instead of Chmerkovskiy.
• ^Note 4 Score given by guest judge Jessie J in place of Goodman.
• ^Note 5 Score given by guest judge Pitbull in place of Goodman.
• ^Note 6 Trio performance with Keo Motsepe.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Soundtrack

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Janel Parrish.

• Janel Parrish on IMDb
• Janel Parrish at the Internet Broadway Database
• Q & A on Being "A"