Jennette Michelle Faye McCurdy is an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She is known for her role as Sam Puckett on the Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly and its spin-off series Sam & Cat. She has also appeared in a number of television series, including Victorious, Zoey 101, True Jackson, VP, Malcolm in the Middle, and Lincoln Heights. She is currently producing, writing, and starring in her online series What's Next for Sarah?, and is in production for Between, which will debut in 2015. Curdy was born in Long Beach, California and was raised in Garden Grove, California. She has three older brothers named Marcus, Scott, and Dustin. She gained interest in acting after watching Harrison Ford in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope after her mother recovered from breast cancer. She is of Irish, French, Swedish, Italian, and English heritage. McCurdy started her acting career in 2000 at the age of eight on MADtv. Since then she appeared in television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Malcolm in the Middle, Lincoln Heights, Will & Grace, The Penguins of Madagascar, Zoey 101, True Jackson, VP, Law and Order SVU, Medium, Judging Amy, The Inside, Karen Sisco, Over There, and Close to Home. In 2003, she had the chance to act with her inspiration, Harrison Ford in the film Hollywood Homicide. In 2005, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Television Series – Guest Starring Young Actress for her performance in Strong Medicine as Hailey Campos. She has also appeared in several commercials, such as one for Sprint and a public service announcement on crossing the road safely. From 2007 to 2012, she had a starring role in the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly opposite Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress, Jerry Trainor, and Noah Munck, as one of Carly Shay's best friends Sam Puckett. In 2008, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her work on iCarly, and for her performance as Dory Sorenson in the TV movie The Last Day of Summer. She was nominated for a 2009 Teen Choice Award, in the Favorite TV Sidekick category for her work on iCarly. She played Bertha in Fred: The Movie, a movie based on a YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn. On December 1, 2011, she signed into United Talent Agency's cast of actors and performers for film, TV, music, and other areas, to a deal starring her in a pilot vehicle. She was previously with Creative Artists Agency and Larry Galper. McCurdy starred alongside Ariana Grande in the Nickelodeon series Sam & Cat, reprising her role as Sam Puckett, with Grande reprising her role as Cat Valentine. The series' plot centers on the girls becoming roommates and starting their own babysitting business. Sam & Cat premiered on June 8, 2013 and ended on July 17, 2014. McCurdy is starring in a new thriller drama TV series, Between, being produced by City Canada and Netflix. The series is set to begin in 2015 on City in Canada and Netflix outside of Canada. On August 13, 2014 she launched her own online show What's Next for Sarah?. McCurdy serves as the star of the series as well as the writer of the show along with duties as executive producer and editor. McCurdy says that the show is based loosely on her life and that the character she plays, Sarah Bronson is based on her. In June 2008, McCurdy announced on her official website that she was working on her debut album. The first single, "So Close", was released on March 10, 2009. The second single, "Homeless Heart", was released on May 19. The song was released in honor of McCurdy's recently deceased friend Cody Waters, who died at the age of 9 from brain cancer, and 20% of the proceeds were donated to the Cody Waters Foundation. She met Waters through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In mid-2009, McCurdy signed with country music label Capitol Records Nashville. On April 16, 2010, samples of select songs from McCurdy's upcoming debut country album were released online. The song clips were released in order for fans to vote for which one they believed should be McCurdy's first single. "Not That Far Away" received the most votes, and was released to country radio on May 24, 2010 and iTunes shortly after on June 1. Capitol Nashville released an EP on August 17, 2010, which included "Not That Far Away" and four new songs, "Stronger", "Put Your Arms Around Someone", and "Break Your Heart". The iTunes version included "Me with You" as a bonus track. "Stronger" was later included on Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 35, released on August 31, 2010. McCurdy's second single, "Generation Love", was released as a digital download on March 22, 2011, followed by its release to radio April 25, 2011. Capitol Nashville released McCurdy's self-named-seven-track extended play on February 8, 2012 at clothing retailer Justice. The full-length, ten-track edition was released to iTunes on June 5, 2012 and is her first full-length album. On July 11, 2012, Fanlala released an interview with McCurdy in which she confirmed that she has since left Capitol Records Nashville, saying "I’m kind of between projects right now. I actually just left Capitol Records recently. I’m really just deciding what else I want to do next. Right now I’m working on my new show, and I’m just figuring out where I should take my music from here." On July 31, 2012, How To Rock released an interview with McCurdy, in which she talked about her acting and music careers. A follow-up interview was released on August 8, in which McCurdy reflects on her music career. Starting in 2011, McCurdy began writing articles in the Wall Street Journal. Since then she has written a total of eight articles for the paper on various topics ranging from Shirley Temple to body shaming and the corporate culture of smoke and mirrors surrounding it relating to the magazine companies, advertisers and the overall American perception of fat and what beauty is to personal stories that she pulled a lesson out of and thinks can help other people from her late mother's battle with cancer to believing in Christmas to internet romance and social media use and overuse. McCurdy has also recently become a columnist for Seventeen magazine. In addition to supporting the Cody Waters Foundation, McCurdy was active in campaigns such as stopping child soldiers (she has been involved with the Invisible Children Inc. group) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. McCurdy did a PSA for Safe Kids USA which is aired on Nickelodeon and TeenNick. McCurdy previously served as a StarPower Ambassador for Starlight Children’s Foundation, encouraging other young people to commit their time, energy and resources to help other kids and working with Starlight to brighten the lives of seriously ill children. McCurdy composed an article titled, "Off-Camera, My Mom's Fight With Cancer", that was published in the Wall Street Journal on June 11, 2011. It describes in detail, her mother Debra's on-going battle with cancer and how her family is coping with the situation. The article also features tips from McCurdy on living with such a situation. On September 20, 2013, her mother, Debra McCurdy, died after battling cancer for 17 years. McCurdy briefly dated NBA player Andre Drummond in September 2013. In March 2014, three racy pictures of McCurdy were leaked onto the internet, all depicting McCurdy wearing only lingerie and posing seductively for the camera. McCurdy claimed that the pictures were leaked by her ex-boyfriend Andre Drummond, while Drummond denied the claims.
