Biography
Date of Birth
23 December 1992, Franklin, Tennessee, USA
Birth Name
Destiny Hope Cyrus
Nickname
Smiley
Height
5' 5" (1.65 m)
Mini Biography
Miley Ray Cyrus was born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992 in Franklin, Tennessee and raised in Thompson's Station, Tennessee to Tish Cyrus & Billy Ray Cyrus. She has five siblings - two half-brothers, a half-sister, and a younger brother and sister. Her parents named her because they hoped she would achieve greatness. Her childhood nickname, Smiley, due to her cheerful disposition, was eventually shortened to Miley. Her paternal grandfather was Democratic politician Ron Cyrus.
Cyrus was initially educated at Heritage Elementary School in Tennessee. When she turned eight, her family moved to Toronto, Canada, where Cyrus' father Billy Ray took a role in the TV series Doc (2001). It was around this time that Cyrus decided she wanted to act too. Her first role came alongside her father in Doc (2001). She also scored a small role in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003).
In 2005, Cyrus was cast as the lead in the Disney series Hannah Montana (2006), about a teen leading a double life as a pop star. Again her father acted alongside her. The show was a smash and hit records, sell-out tours and merchandising deals soon followed. Cyrus became a teen superstar.
Following the success of Hannah Montana (2006), Cyrus made the move into other roles - including playing Ronnie Miller in The Last Song (2010) and Lola in LOL (2012) alongside Demi Moore.
Trivia
Daughter of Tish Cyrus and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus.
Siblings: Christopher Cody (older paternal half-brother), Trace Cyrus (older maternal half-brother), Brandi Cyrus (older maternal half-sister), Braison Cyrus (younger brother), and Noah Cyrus (younger sister). Brandon Cyrus is a related family member on her father's side.
Her favorite novel is "Don't Die, My Love" by Lurlene McDaniel.
Her favorite song by her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, is "Achy Breaky Heart".
Has written over one hundred songs and some of them have been used for her show, Hannah Montana (2006).
Has a Maltipoo dog named Sophie that her parents gave to her for her 16th birthday.
Miley was on the green team for 2 summers in a row in the Disney Channel Games.
She has never taken formal singing lessons [as of June 2007].
Started auditioning for Hannah Montana (2006) when she was 11 years old. She originally tried out for the part of "Lilly Truscott".
Was ranked #17 on Forbes List of The 20 Top-Earning Young Superstars (2007).
Was ranked #12 on interview magazine's Hollywood faces to watch "Future Stars of Tomorrow" (2007).
In January 2008, she legally changed her name from Destiny Hope Cyrus to Miley Ray Cyrus. "Ray" is for her grandfather, Ronald Ray Cyrus, whom she was very close to and "Miley" came from her childhood nickname "Smiley", which was shortened to "Miley", that was given to her because of her constant smiling as a young child.
Released a 3D concert movie of her Best of Both Worlds Tour on February 1st, 2008. It became the highest grossing Super Bowl weekend release ever.
Was ranked #22 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actress list (2008).
Was ranked #1 on TV Guide's Top 10 Teen Star Countdown (2008).
Befriended her backup dancer, Mandy Jiroux, while on tour. The two have a Youtube channel called MileyMandy, that they regularly update with new videos. Their show is called "The Miley and Mandy Show".
Miley's half-brother, Trace Cyrus, and her Hannah Montana (2006) co-star Mitchel Musso's brother, Mason Musso, are in the band "Metro Station".
Godmother is Dolly Parton.
Likes the bands Coldplay, Radiohead, and The Killers.
Lived in Toronto, Canada where she attended the Armstrong Acting Studio.
Was ranked #22 on Moviefone's 'The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25' (2008).
On 25 September 2006, the Disney Channel was finally launched in South Africa. The first episode of Hannah Montana (2006) was broadcast on Friday, September 29, 2006, the show immediately became the channel's "Flagship" show. Miley Cyrus is the most recognized Disney Channel star in South Africa with the most DVD releases of the show and 2 versions of her "Best of Both Worlds Concert" - one standard edition and one double disc extended 3-D edition. The extended 3D edition was released on Disney Blu-Ray simultaneously in August 2008.
Close friends with Demi Lovato and Ashley Tisdale.
Her favorite actresses include Angelina Jolie, Jodie Foster, and Jennifer Aniston.
Likes to watch the TV show Sex and the City (1998).
Admirer of Meryl Streep.
Her musical influences include John Mayer, Elvis Presley, Rob Thomas, and John Lennon.
Participated in the 25th Anniversary Edition of "We Are the World" which was performed in memory of Michael Jackson as well as for relief efforts for the earthquake in Haiti.
While performing at the 02 arena in London, she changed the lyric in her song, "Party in the U.S.A.", from "And a Britney (Britney Spears) song was On" to "And a Michael song was On". Michael being referred to Michael Jackson, who was suppose to have performed at the 02 Arena in July of 2009 but passed away before leaving to perform in London.
Her known tattoos: one under her left breast which says "Just Breathe", one on her ear which says "Love", a dream catcher on the right side of her rib cage under her arm. On her fingers she has an outline of a heart on her ring finger on her right hand, BAD on her middle finger, an equal sign on her left ring finger, a cross, a slice of watermelon, an alien emoji, "karma", a peace sign, and has a tattoo of an eye on her left index finger. On her side she has a tattoo of her late dog and "With a Little Help from my Fwends" in a chat bubble. On her wrists she has an anchor and an om symbol. On her arms she has a Theodore Roosevelt quote, VIIXCI Roman numerals, Leonardo Da Vinci's rendition of anatomically correct hearts, crossed arrows, a saber tooth, a portrait of her grandma, Yoshimi, a cat, "love yer brain", and a crescent moon. On her inner lip she has the crying cat emoji. On her feet she has Rolling $tone and a sugar skull.
Voted #64 on the 2011 Maxim list "Hot 100" women.
Ranked #32 in the British version of FHM "100 Sexiest Women" List (2011).
Ranked #89 in the 2011 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Ranked #54 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Lives in Toluca Lake, California, her family bought a house there in 2007.
Fan of Britney Spears and considers Britney to be one of her idols.
Has had tachycardia since her teens.
Auditioned for the Selena Gomez's role in Ramona and Beezus (2010).
Ended engagement to Liam Hemsworth [September 16, 2013].
Recording her New album. [January 2007]
U.S.A: Recording her new album called "Bangerz". [August 2013]
Currently playing "Miley Stewart" in Hannah Montana (2006). [June 2007]
Filming Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) in Franklin, Tennessee. [May 2008]
On Gypsy Heart Tour. [April 2011]
Currently on tour doing opening singing acts for The Cheetah Girls in concert. [August 2006]
Working on her new album Breakout [July 2008]
On her Wonder world Tour. [September 2009]
Finished her Wonderworld Tour. [January 2010]
Working on Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009). [July 2008]
Filming for new movie, So Undercover (2012). [February 2011]
Filming Season 2 of Hannah Montana (2006). [December 2006]
Performing her Wonderworld Tour in the UK. [December 2009]
Promoting her new Album. [June 2007]
On her Best of Both Worlds Tour. [October 2007]
Release of her book, "Miley Cyrus: Miles to Go" by Miley with Hilary Liftin. [2009]
Recording a cover of "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. with other artists like Mariah Carey to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. [February 2010]
On her first ever European Tour. [March 2007]
She has English, along with smaller amounts (to varying degrees) of Scottish, Irish, Welsh, French, Dutch, and German, ancestry.
One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. [April 2014].
Ranked #25 on Maxim's "Hot 100" of 2014 list.
Was considered for the role of Peter Pan in NBC's Peter Pan Live! (2014).
Voted #1 on the 2013 Maxim list "Hot 100" women.
Her song "Party In The U.S.A." was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as "Party In The CIA". Eighteen years earlier, Yankovic parodied her father's "Achy Breaky Heart" as "Achy Breaky Song". This makes Miley the first artist Yankovic has parodied who's also the offspring of an artist he's parodied.
Along with smoking weed regularly, she smokes nearly 2 packs of cigarettes a day and chain smokes multiple cigarettes at a time. She said that she cannot think of starting her day without a cigarette.
In 1994 appeared on Music City Tonight on television with her father.
In 2017, her birthday will have fallen on Thanksgiving 5 times in her life so far.
Cyrus is, so far, the only major former Disney Channel star who was a lead in a Disney Channel TV series but did not lead a Disney Channel Original Movie. This was due to her commitment to the Hannah Montana (2006) show, and Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) was released theatrically due to the show's success. She did, however, have a cameo in the TV movie High School Musical 2 (2007).
Close friends with Rachel Quinn.
On the night of November 11, 2018, while filming on location in South Africa, Cyrus broke a longstanding social media blackout meant to lead to the premier of her seventh studio album to reveal the home she shared with fiance Liam Hemsworth burned down in the Woolsey wildfire. In her posts, she expressed devastation for her community and acknowledged the safety of herself, her fiancé, and their many pets, while providing links for her followers to donate time, money, and resources to groups and charities in the effort to extinguish the 2018 California wildfires and help those whom they affected. She was one of many resident entertainers in the area, including Gerard Butler, Neil Young and Robin Thicke, who lost their homes in the fire.
(December 23, 2018) Married her on-off boyfriend of 10 years Liam Hemsworth in a private wedding ceremony in Franklin, Tennessee. They met while playing a couple on The Last Song (2010) and dated for years before Hemsworth proposed in 2012, but the two ended their engagement and broke up a year later. They reconnected in 2015.
Ex Sister-in-law of Luke Hemsworth, Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky.
Planned to wed Liam Hemsworth in their Malibu home before it was destroyed by wildfires.
(August 10, 2019) Separated from her husband of 7 months Liam Hemsworth.
(August 21, 2019) Her husband of 7 months Liam Hemsworth filed for divorce from her.
Was in a relationship with Australian singer Cody Simpson from October 2019 to August 2020.
Her Alter Ego Hannah Montana was mentioned in the song Boom by Sin featuring T-Pain.
Has worked with both John Travolta and his late wife Kelly Preston. Travolta in Bolt (2008) and Preston in The Last Song (2010).
Fan of RuPaul's Drag Race (2009) and the contestants. Appeared as a guest judge on Season 11 and went backstage to hangout with the contestants (while wearing a disguise). 30 of the past contestants performed with her during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (2015) (which she hosted).
Her major influences are Hilary Duff, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, Pat Benatar and Britney Spears.
Trademarks:
Affinity for sticking tongue out
Twerking
Husky resonant voice
Mezzo-soprano vocal range
Quotes
Pink isn't just a color, it's an attitude!
There's no right or wrong, success or failure. I don't look at things as black or white. My life won't be a series of either/ors -- musician or actor, rock or country, straitlaced or rebellious, this or that, yes or no. The real choices in life aren't that simple.
I want to be Snooki, I love her. I'm obsessed. She's one of the only people I've asked for an autograph and a picture from because I love her and I'm inspired by her.
[on Britney Spears] I love how successful her music is doing right now and [I am] just proud of her. You know, another Southern girl... I love that.
[observation, 2013] I'm at a point where it's like I know who I am, but I know that I'm not finished figuring that out, and I know I won't be finished until I'm in the dirt.
People are watching like 'Cute cat plays with yarn' for three hours, a lot more than they're watching anyone else's music video. And it's because it makes them happy, it makes them laugh, whatever. I wanted my video to make people laugh 'cause I'm the first one to make jokes about myself. My godmother is Dolly Parton who is constantly making fun of herself. She's like, 'It takes a lot of money to look this cheap, honey'. I wanted the video to be that kind of confident.
I really don't like coke (cocaine). It's so gross and so dark. It's like what are you, from the Nineties? Ew.
Hopefully my hair grows really quick and next time you see me I'll have a pony down to my butt. I just always want to be different. Everyone else has cut their hair to look just like me, so now I got to do something different. I don't like when you walk in and you see a bunch of other yous.
[on being in the spotlight] I said I was going to take a year off before I made this record. But it's hard to take a break. It's almost depressing when you're not working. You're so used to people calling your name, and that energy, and when you don't have it anymore . . . That's why I never complain about people wanting autographs or pictures. Because if there were a few days where no one asked, I'd probably be like, "What the fuck's going on? Do people not like me?" I hate the paparazzi - but when they're not sitting there waiting for you, you're like "Who's bigger news? Who are you trying to get a picture of?"
The thing about L.A. is it's pretty much always nice out here. Even when it was 100 the other day, I loved it. It felt good. I worked on my album in Philly, and I would take the train to New York on the weekends, and I'd get off the train and immediately want to die. I would just hate my life. And I'm from Nashville, which is kind of similar - when it's hot, it's fucking miserable. But Nashville, at least it kind of rains in the summer. I don't even remember the last time it rained out here. I always wondered how those big-ass fires start in L.A., and then I'll throw my cigarette out the window or something, and I'm like "There it is."
I love animals, but I don't really like riding animals. Like, I don't love being on a horse - it's just not my thing. I feel kinda bad. Like, I just want to pet you. I don't really want to put you to work. But cats - cats are fucking creepy. Oh my God, cats are creepy. Every time I see a cat, I think it's gonna turn on me. It's gonna turn for the worst. I don't ever see loyalty in cats. They're gonna scratch you, and then run away. Same with little dogs. Did you know Yorkies were bred to kill mice in the Queen's palace? I had a Yorkshire Terrier, and if I was a rat, it definitely would have eaten me. And Chihuahuas are the most scary animals on the planet. I'm terrified of Chihuahuas.
I want to be the cool chick that everyone wants to be friends with. I want the people who watch my shows or watch my videos to be like, "She looks like the most fun person to hang out with ever. I want to be that girl's best friend. I want to party with her." It's like, if you're hanging out with Beyoncé, it's almost like you're hanging out with a goddess. She's like a real queen. It's a different realm. Where my thing is kind of the opposite. My shtick is I'm the homey.
It's coming out soon, so right now I'm listening to it 20,000 times to make sure it's perfect. I have to make sure every detail is perfect. There are albums that people still are listening to, like Michael Jackson's "Bad", because it's so fucking dope. I want people to listen to my album like that. There's a line Ludacris says on my album that goes, "If I die before my time, at least I'll still be living through my music". That's something I've said over and over again. Like, I have one Pixies record that is a time for me - from the time I was 16 until I was 18, the Pixies is all I listened to. And I'm going to be that artist to so many people, so I want to make sure my record is the best it can be. I'm trying to set a new standard for pop music. So it has to live up.
I've always dreamed of going into space. I'm going to go at some point. Virgin Galactic is taking a ship up next year - I'm trying to get on there right now. I've got a friend who invested in it, and he can kind of hook it up. I want to be one of the first ones. I thought the only way I would ever be allowed to go to space was if I was an astronaut. I never thought it was gonna be, like, a plane trip. At some point it's gonna be a normal fare. Right now it's like a billion dollars. But at some point it's gonna be like going to Australia.
[on her wrecking ball video] It's the opposite of the VMAs. It's like the Sinéad O'Connor video [for "Nothing Compares 2 U"], but, like, the most modern version. I wanted it to be tough but really pretty - that's what Sinead did with her hair and everything. The trick is getting the camera up above you, so it almost looks like you're looking up at someone and crying. I think people are going to hate it, they're going to see my ass and be like, "Oh my God, I can't believe she did that" - and then when we get to the bridge, they're gonna have a little tear and be like, "Fuck you!" I think it will be one of those iconic videos, too. I think it's something that people are not gonna forget. Hopefully an artist 30 years from now will be like, "Yo, you remember that Miley Cyrus video? We gotta do something like that".
I like Workaholics (2011) a lot. American Horror Story (2011) is my favorite show - it's so good, so scary. I think I'm gonna start Downton Abbey (2010) next, but I don't know if it's my vibe. I always thought that shit was too hipster. And Breaking Bad (2008) I just got into, but I haven't been able to keep up with it as much. There's just a lot of him coughing. I'm in the first season, and the coughing is driving me crazy. Like, we get it. You're dying. Do you really need a whole two-minute scene of another cough attack? It's too much. In every bad situation, how does he get out? He just starts coughing.
It's always weird when things are targeted for young people, yet they're driven by people that are like 40 years too old. It can't be like this 70-year-old Jewish man that doesn't leave his desk all day, telling me what the clubs want to hear.
I'm so scared the sky's not going to be blue anymore. It's going to be black from all the shit.
I think water's, like, a really important thing.
I'm like: 'Dude, you're 30. Like, why can't someone see a picture of your [breasts]?
People that judge me or say that I'm crazy, they don't know half the stuff that their kids are doing.
[24 February 2022; on Ukraine attack and invasion by Russia] This morning was heartbreaking waking up to the news that Ukraine had been invaded. I had the most incredible experience filming Mark Ronson ft. Miley Cyrus: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (2018) in Kyiv and will be forever grateful to the local community who welcomed me with open arms. There are local reports that at least 40 Ukrainians have been killed already, and this conflict can lead to many more deaths, another refugee crisis with so many forced to flee their homes and more. I am standing in solidarity with everyone in Ukraine who is affected by this attack and with our global community who is calling for an immediate end to this violence.
