She’s a star! Dance Moms alum Maddie Ziegler has come a long way since she first turned heads with her impeccable dancing on the hit Lifetime reality series. When the show premiered in 2011, it seemed certain that the Pennsylvania native would grow up to be a star. Clearly, she’s succeeded beyond measure — so we decided to take a look back at the 17-year-old’s acting career thus far.
We all know the blonde beauty became a household name via a reality series … but she really made her mark when she transitioned into doing music videos. After catching the attention of pop star Sia, Maddie blew minds in her video for “Chandelier.” That subsequently led to her appearances in several other video shorts for the singer, including mega-hits like “Elastic Heart,” “Cheap Thrills” and “Big Girls Cry.”
Her work with the Australian singer (real name: Sia Fuller) ended up getting her noticed even more and lead to smaller TV projects like her appearances on Disney kids series Austin & Ally and longtime beloved mystery show Pretty Little Liars in 2015.
Maddie’s first film role came in 2016, as part of the voice cast of Leap!, an animated kids movie about an aspiring ballerina. She starred in the feature alongside Elle Fanning, Dane DeHaan and singer Carly Rae Jepsen. The following year, the dancer appeared in The Book of Henry starring legendary actress Naomi Watts and child actor Jacob Tremblay.
For a few years, the starlet took a break from films and settled back into her music video groove. From 2017 through 2019, Maddie worked with Sia again — this time on videos for her collaboration group, LSD, featuring Diplo and Labrinth.
Believe it or not, 2020 seems to be a big year for the reality TV alum’s acting career. She had a cameo appearance in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before sequel, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You on Netflix. At the end of the year, you’ll be able to see Maddie in the highly-anticipated musical film West Side Story alongside Ansel Elgort, directed by Stephen Spielberg — so you know her skills will be put to good use.
Scroll through the gallery to see all of Maddie Ziegler’s acting credits thus far!