That's So Raven's Best Friend

Background:

Dutch American actress and singer Anneliese Van der pol is popular among young viewers thanks to her portrayal of best friend Chelsea Daniels in the Disney Channel hit series “That's So Raven” (2003-2007), in which she won a Young Artist Award for the role. She also contributed to the soundtrack albums “That's So Raven” (2004) and “That's So Raven Too!” (2006).

“Raven is a really good friend, and I feel no sense of competition between us what so ever.” Anneliese Van der pol (on her “That's So Raven” castmate Raven-Symoné)

Starting acting in musicals such as “The Sleeping Beauty Ballet,” “The Sound of Music” and “The Will Rogers Follies” in the early 1990s, the Californian-raised first gained notice as Eva Perón in a 1999 production of “Evita.” The then 15 year old Van der pol became the youngest Actress in history to play the role in a professional production. She also won a Bobbi Award in “Grease” (1999) and an Austin Critics Table nomination and a B. Iden Payne nomination in “Oklahoma!” (2000-2001). Subsequent stage credits include “Beauty and the Beast” (2007, her Broadway debut), “Vanities” (2008/2009) and “Meet Me in St. Louis” (2009). Van der pol also had a small role in the big screen adaptation of “Bartz” (2007) and sang “Over it” (2004) and “Candle on the Water” (2006) for DCOM's “Stuck in the Suburbs” and “DisneyMania 4,” respectively.

Van der pol is also an accomplished dancer. She is the good friend of Ricky Ullman.

Lieske

Childhood and Family:

Named after the late Holocaust refugee Anne Frank, Anneliese Louise van der Pol was born on September 23, 1984, in Naaldwijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. One of three daughters of Dyan Ross (an American) and Willem van der Pol (a Dutch), she and her family moved to the United States when she was young. Her childhood home was in Bellflower, California, where she enrolled at Washington Elementary School. Known with the nicknames Lieske and Annie, she graduated from the applauded Orange County High School for the Arts in Santa Ana, Orange County, California, and was voted “Funniest Girl” in school.

Annie cites tennis her favorite sport and camping her favorite outdoor activity. Her hobbies also include dancing, singing, and watching independent films with her best friends. She admires such actors as Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis, Kevin Spacey and Daniel Atuel, and comedians like Steve Martin, Tracy Ulman, Will Farrell and Bill Murray. Her favorites singers/bands include Tracy Chapman, Dave Matthews, Beck, Tori Amos, Jeff Buckley, Peter Gabriel, Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple, Eva Cassidy, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, and Sublime. Annie enjoys the TV shows “Friends,” “Wanda at Large” and “Bernie Mac,” and the films “What About Bob?” (1991), “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) and “The Big Lebowski” (1998).

Evita

Career:

Starting acting at the third grade, Anneliese Van der pol had turned professional by age 15 and wooed critics with her portrayal of Eva Perón in the Buena Park Civic Theatre production of “Evita” (1999). In addition to earning her critical acclaim, the role also established the talented colleen the youngest American actress to play the Argentine political leader in a professional production. Also in 1999, she picked up a Bobbi Award in the category of Best Actress/Musical for playing Sandy in the Huntington Playhouse production of “Grease.” Van der pol next was cast as Laurey in the Austin Musical Theatre Production of “Oklahoma!” (2000 to 2001), a play by Curly McLain. For her good performance, she was nominated for an Austin Critics Table for Best Actress in a Musical and a B. Iden Payne for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Van der pol segued to feature film in 2002 when she landed the role of Chelsea Weber in the independent comedy/musical “Divorce: The Musical,” written, directed and starred by Steven Dworman. She scored a big break on television in the following year when she was cast Chelsea Ophelia Daniels, the environmentalist and vegetarian best friend of Raven, in the Disney Channel Original comedy series “That's So Raven,” starring Raven-Symoné as the title role. Debuted on January 17, 2003, the sitcom ended its original run of four seasons and 100 episodes on November 10, 2007, making it the longest-running series on the network. The sitcom also became the first series of the Disney Channel to break the 65 episode mark and the highest rated series to broadcast on the network during its whole run. Van der pol received a 2005 Young Artist for Outstanding Young Performers in a TV Series for her work on the show. Van der pol also played Chelsea Daniels in a series of videos released throughout 2004 to 2007 named “That's So Raven: Supernaturally Stylish” (2004), “That's So Raven: Disguise the Limit” (2005), “Disney Channel Holiday” (2005), “That's So Raven: Raven's House Party” (2005), “That's So Raven: Raven's Makeover Madness” (2006) and “That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana” (2007) as well as in an episode of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” (2006).

Van der pol continued to perform on stage with work in “The Nutcracker” (2002, as Clara) and “Copelia” (2002, had the title role). She had the title role in Disney's animated series “Katbot” (2005), but the show was canceled during production. She also provided the voice of Heather in an episode of “Kim Possible”and played Rachael in the direct to video “Horror High,” starring Fiona Gubelmann and Joe Hursley (both also 2005).

The trained belting vocal technique recorded the song “That's So Raven,” with Raven-Symoné and Orlando Brown, for the 2004 soundtrack album of the same name, and the song “Over it” (2004) for Disney Channel Original Movie “Stuck in the Suburbs” (2004, starred Brenda Song and Danielle Panabaker). “Over it” peaked at No. 13 on the Radio Disney Top 30 and No. 18 at the Philippines Top 20. She also recorded the songs “Friends” (with Raven-Symoné), “Let's Stick Together” (with Raven-Symoné and Kyle Massey) and “A Day in the Sun,” a cover originally sung by Hilary Duff, for the second soundtrack album “That's So Raven Too!,” released on March 7, 2006. The album debuted and reached No. 44 on the Billboard 200. Still in 2006, she sang “Candle on the Water” from the live action/animation film “Pete's Dragon” on DisneyMania 4.

2007 saw Van der pol returned to the big screen with a famed supporting role of Avery in Sean McNamara's “Bratz,” based on cartoon characters and dolls of the same name. It was a commercial and critical disappointment. Van der pol also made her Broadway debut in that same year with the long running musical “Beauty and the Beast” from April to July 2007. Playing Belle, she became the last actress in the American theatrical history to play the role on Broadway.

From August to September 2008, Van der pol played Kathy in “Vanities: A New Musical” for the musical's Broadway previews in Pasadena, CA at the Pasadena Playhouse. She went on to reprise the role in the original off-Broadway production at Second Stage Theatre in New York (from July to August 2009). She costarred with Lauren Kennedy and Sarah Stiles. Van der pol also recorded the “Vanities: A New Musical” Original Cast Album for Sh-K-Boom Records (August 2009).

Recently, Van der pol portrayed Esther Smith in the Theatre Under the Stars' musical production of “Meet Me in St. Louis” in Houston, Texas. The show ran from September 29, 2009 to October 11, 2009.

Van der pol is rumored to play Leslie Van Houten in the upcoming drama film “Manson Girls” (2010), written and directed by Susanna Lo.

Awards:

• Young Artist: Outstanding Young Performers in a TV Series, “That's So Raven,” 2005

• Bobbi: Best Actress/Musical, “Grease,” 1999