She’s not a kid anymore! Bailee Madison has grown up a ton since her breakout role as May Belle Aarons in the 2007 movie Bridge to Terabithia. Over the years, she’s starred in movies like Just Go With It and A Week Away, along with TV shows, including Wizards of Waverly Place, The Fosters, Good Witch and the upcoming Pretty Little Liars spinoff series, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.
“It’s so interesting looking back because I’ve been fortunate to spend basically my whole childhood, tween and teen years in this business,” the actress told Rose & Ivy Journal in April 2021. “Being creative and aware of the next thing had to be instilled in me from a young age. I started realizing that I loved being creative in more than one landscape probably when I was 15 years old. I produced for the first time at that age and cowrote a book. I realized I had a lot more I wanted to say and do, and sometimes, you have to pave your own opportunities yourself.”
Aside from acting, Bailee has also started to produce her own projects, one of which being the fan-favorite Netflix musical movie A Week Away.
“It’s such an interesting time going from being an actress as a kid to now a young adult and wanting to take your next step as thoughtfully as possible. The script came to me at a time when I was reading a lot of stuff, and to be honest, nothing was connecting with my heart. I had about four scripts to read one night, and that script was the last I read before bed. I just absolutely fell in love for so many reasons,” she also told the publication. “I’ve always wanted to do something with music, but I never figured out the time or the right way to do it.”
Following the film’s premiere, Bailee announced her plans to kick off a solo singing career.
“That’s a dream of mine — to get to get to share my story and my heart without it being condensed to 10 minutes or without it being manipulated into something else,” the Florida native told HollywoodLife about her original music in June 2021. “I feel like I have always tried to be as open and transparent as possible, but there are so many stories that I haven’t shared that I would love to share about my life. I’m excited for that.”
From young star to successful adult, Bailee has changed a lot over the years. Scroll through our gallery to see the actress’ total transformation in photos.
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