Before she was a top 100 artist on the Billboard Hot 100, most people got to know Sabrina Carpenter through the television screen.
After starting out as a child actress with small roles in various films and television shows – including episodes of Law & Order: Special Unit for Victims And Orange is the new black — the singer and actress made her breakthrough in Life and I In 2014, she played Maya Hart, the wild, rowdy best friend of Rowan Blanchard’s Riley Matthews. At the same time, she was working to launch her music career with Disney Music Group’s Hollywood Records, with whom she signed at the age of 14 and released four albums over the next five years: 2015 Eyes wide open2016 evolution2018 Singular Act I and 2019 Unique Act II.
She finally moved to Island Records in 2021 and released her breakthrough album Emails I can’t send the following year. Over the next two years, she scored her first Hot 100 entry with “Skin” in 2021, followed by her first top 10 hit with “Espresso” in 2024, and finally her first No. 1 on the charts with “Please Please Please” a few months later. “Music is the only career that is fully, 100 percent me,” Carpenter said. Billboard in 2021 about her preference for singing over acting.
Nevertheless, in between all the slow but steady success of her music career, the multi-talented artist has continued to appear in a number of acting roles and has lent her talent to numerous films, television shows and animation projects since her debut. Life and IRead on to see a full list of characters she has played since her Hollywood breakthrough in 2014 to date.
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“The Wild Journey to the Beyond” (2016)
Photo credit: Ed Araquel/Disney Channel/Courtesy Everett Collection
The Disney Channel Babysitting adventures was Carpenter’s first major film role as babysitter Jenny Parker alongside Sofia Carson’s Lola Perez.
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“Milo Murphy’s Law” (2016–2019)
Set in the same universe as Disney’s Phineas and FerbCarpenter voiced Melissa Chase, one of the main characters in Disney XD’s two-season animated series. Milo Murphy’s Law. Her co-star? “Weird Al” Yankovic, who played the title character of the series.
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“The Hate You Give” (2018)
Photo credit: Erika Doss/20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Carpenter played one of her first major dramatic roles as Hailey Grant in The hate you givebased on the book of the same name by Angie Thomas. The film also starred Amandla Stenberg and Regina Hall.
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“Big Girl” (2019)
Photo credit: Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Over a foot shorter than lead actress Ava Michelle – who played Jodi Kreyman, the tall girl in the Netflix series Big girl — Carpenter played the role of Harper Kreyman, beauty queen and wise older sister. (In the film’s trailer, Michelle says she is 6’1″, while the “Nonsense” singer is 5’0″.)
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“The Short History of the Long Road” (2019)
Photo credit: FilmRise/Courtesy Everett Collection
Carpenter travels the country as Nola, daughter of Steven Ogg’s Clint, in the indie film directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy The short history of the long road.
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“Work It” (2020)
Photo credit: Brendan Adam-Zwelling/Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Alongside Jordan Fisher and Liza Koshy, Carpenter shows off her dancing skills as Quinn Ackerman in Netflix’s Work on it.
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“Clouds” (2020)
Photo credit: Laurent Guerin/Disney+/Courtesy Everett Collection
In this Disney musical drama about a teenager faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Carpenter played Sammy Brown, the best friend of Zach Sobiech from “Fin Argus.”
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“Royalties” (2020)
Carpenter played Bailey Rouge in License feescreated by and starring Darren Criss. She also sings “Perfect Song” on the show’s soundtrack.
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“Big Girl 2” (2022)
Photo credit: Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
Three years after the premiere of the original, Carpenter reprised the role of Harper in Big girl Consequence.
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“Emergency” (2022)
Photo credit: Quantrell Colbert/Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
In the role of Maddy, Carpenter gets into Prime Video’s Emergencywhich also starred RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins and Sebastian Chacon.
