Before they nabbed roles as the kids of famous Disney villains, some stars from the Disney Channel Descendants franchise already had pretty impressive acting résumés.
The first installment of the three-film Disney Channel Original Movie series premiered on the network in 2015. By that time, Dove Cameron (Mal) had already been starring on Liv and Maddie since 2013.
“I think everything in those years, and every year leading up to present day, career or personal or both, has prepared me for my career and life now, as I am without a doubt, the strongest, most concentrated and most unabashed that I have ever been in my life,” the actress told Create & Cultivate in January 2020 about the early days of her career. “It wasn’t all magic, but it does feel like it was all exactly how it needed to be to get me to be where I am now and the human that I have become.”
Sofia Carson, on the other hand, didn’t have as much acting experience before becoming Evie in the Descendants movies.
“Whether I was singing or putting on a show or acting, I always wanted to somehow tell a story,” the “Loud” songstress told Teen Vogue in February 2020. “Music was my first love, though. My parents from day one were everything. My unconditional, undoubted support, and I felt that I could do anything that I set my mind to.”
When it was time to think about her future, Sofia moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of California Los Angeles while auditioning for various roles.
“Education has always been a huge part of my life and for my parents. It was always the deal that they supported me unconditionally, however, I had to go to school and pursue my education. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to even go to college. I moved to L.A. myself, and I was auditioning while I was in school. After class, I would run and audition once or twice a day,” she recalled. “I went on about 200 auditions before I got my first job. It was a small guest-starring role on a Disney Channel series called Austin & Ally. I remember when I got the email saying that I got the job, at the very bottom it said like, ‘And this is what you’re going to be paid,’ and I was like, ‘Ah, I get paid to do this?'”
From that point on, Sofia worked hard to become a household name. Scroll through our gallery to uncover the Descendants stars’ first-ever acting roles.
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