Olivia Rodrigo is an American singer-songwriter and actress.
She gained initial fame starring in the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark” from 2016 to 2019 and the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” from 2019 to 2022.
Early life and Education
Olivia Isabel Rodrigo was born on February 20, 2003, in Murrieta, California, to Jennifer, a school teacher, and Chris, a family therapist. She grew up as an only child in nearby Temecula. Rodrigo attended Lisa J. Mails Elementary School in Murrieta, where she participated in the after-school musical theater program.
At the age of five, her parents enrolled her in vocal lessons with Jennifer Dustman, who subsequently encouraged them to enter Rodrigo in various local singing competitions. Following Dustman’s advice, her parents also signed her up for acting lessons. Rodrigo began piano lessons at age nine and developed an interest in songwriting after being inspired by Taylor Swift’s country music. By age twelve, she was playing guitar.
Rodrigo made her first on-screen appearance in an Old Navy commercial in 2010 when she was seven years old.
Career
In 2015, at age twelve, Olivia Rodrigo made her acting debut as the lead character Grace Thomas in the direct-to-video film “An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success.” She attended Dorothy McElhinney Middle School in Murrieta for a year before moving to Los Angeles in 2016, after securing a role in Disney Channel’s “Bizaardvark.” Homeschooled from that point until her graduation in 2021, Rodrigo portrayed Paige Olvera, a guitarist, for three seasons.
In February 2019, Rodrigo was cast as Nini Salazar-Roberts in the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” which premiered in November 2019. Her performance received praise, with Joel Keller from Decider describing her as “especially magnetic.” For the series, Rodrigo wrote and performed the promotional single “All I Want,” released in November 2019. She left the show after its third season to focus on her music career.
Rodrigo signed with Geffen Records in 2020, negotiating a deal that allowed her to retain ownership of her music masters. She released her debut single, “Drivers License,” on January 8, 2021, co-written with producer Dan Nigro. The single received critical acclaim and broke Spotify’s record for most daily streams for a non-holiday song twice, with over 15.7 million streams on January 11 and over 17 million streams on January 12. “Drivers License” also became the first song in history to reach 80 million streams in seven days and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topping charts in numerous countries. Rodrigo described the week following its release as the “absolute craziest” of her life.
Her follow-up single, “Deja Vu,” was released on April 1, 2021, debuting at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first artist to debut their first two releases in the top ten. The third single from her debut album, “Good 4 U,” was released on May 14, 2021, and became her second single to debut at number one on the Hot 100. Her debut studio album, “Sour,” released on May 21, 2021, received critical acclaim. Chris Molanphy from Slate noted that its first three singles established Rodrigo as “Gen-Z’s most versatile new artist,” while Clash critic Robin Murray called her one of Generation Z’s finest artists, and Variety described her as “the voice of her generation.” “Sour” debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and spent five weeks at the top, becoming the longest-reigning number-one album by a female artist in 2021.
In June 2021, Rodrigo premiered “Sour Prom,” a prom-themed concert film on YouTube. Time named her Entertainer of the Year three days later. On December 24, 2021, she posted a snippet of a Christmas song called “The Bels,” which she wrote and recorded at age five. Billboard reported that Rodrigo was the best-selling singles artist worldwide in 2021, with eight songs on the year-end Global 200 chart. In the US and UK, “Sour” was the third and fourth best-selling album of 2021, respectively. “Sour” and “Drivers License” were also Spotify’s most streamed album and song globally. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) ranked Rodrigo as the tenth best-selling artist of 2021, with “Sour” as the second best-selling album. To support “Sour,” Rodrigo embarked on the Sour Tour from April to July 2022, with stops in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Rodrigo’s Disney+ documentary film, “Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U,” detailing the making of “Sour,” was released on March 25, 2022. She received seven nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year for “Sour,” and Record and Song of the Year for “Drivers License.” She won Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album for “Sour,” and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Drivers License.” While working on her next album “Guts,” Rodrigo took a poetry class at the University of Southern California and repurposed one of her homework pieces into the song “Lacy,” included in the album’s tracklist.
On August 16, 2023, Rodrigo became the youngest artist to receive the BRIT Billion Award for achieving over one billion digital streams in the UK. Her second album, “Guts,” released on September 8, 2023, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Rodrigo described the album as reflecting “growing pains” and self-discovery, feeling she had matured “ten years” between the ages of 18 and 20. “Guts” received widespread critical acclaim and was declared the most critically acclaimed album of 2023 by BBC News. The album’s lead single, “Vampire,” released on June 30, became her third single to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first artist to debut the lead singles from two career-opening albums at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The second single, “Bad Idea Right?,” released on August 11, 2023, reached the top ten in the US and UK.
On October 9, 2023, Rodrigo performed songs from “Guts” in an exclusive concert with American Express at the Los Angeles Theater at Ace Hotel, with all ticket sales proceeds going to her nonprofit organization, Fund 4 Good. On October 18, 2023, she announced that the four secret tracks from limited vinyl editions of “Guts” would be released as a vinyl-exclusive EP for Record Store Day (RSD) Black Friday. The EP, “Guts: The Secret Tracks,” ranked among the top sellers during Record Store Day. On November 3, Rodrigo released the song “Can’t Catch Me Now” for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which won the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Song in a Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or Horror Film. Rodrigo began dating British actor Louis Partridge in December 2023.
To support “Guts,” Rodrigo embarked on her second headlining tour, the Guts World Tour, which runs from February to October 2024 across North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. On March 20, 2024, Rodrigo announced the release of a deluxe version of “Guts,” titled “Guts (Spilled),” featuring five additional songs, including the four secret tracks. It was released on March 22, 2024. On April 13, 2024, Rodrigo made a special guest appearance at No Doubt’s Coachella show, performing their 2000 single “Bathwater” alongside them.
Personal life
Olivia Rodrigo was born partially deaf in her left ear. She identifies as Filipino American, with her grandfather and one of her paternal great-grandfathers having emigrated from the Philippines. Her family maintains Filipino traditions and cuisine. Rodrigo’s mother has German and Irish ancestry. She grew up listening to her parents’ favorite alternative rock music, including bands like No Doubt, Pearl Jam, the White Stripes, and Green Day.
Net Worth
Estimated to be over 16 million dollars