5 pop superstars who started their careers on cheesy TV shows
Is Selena Gomez planning a Wizards Of Waverly place reunion?
She has teased fans with her first ever Instagram story.
106 million Instagram followers, 22 million singles sold - it's easy to forget that started her career playing a teenage wizard in a Disney Show now she's one of the most famous women in the world.
And it looks like she might be going back to her roots.
Selena has hinted at a Wizards of Waverly place reunion in her first ever Instagram story ("Stop the presses everybody," said Nick Grimshaw), despite us having forgotten there ever was a Selena Gomez before the days of superstardom and being a world-conquering pop phenomenon.
So, in case you've had your memories wiped (*side-eye at Selena and her spells*), here's Selena's television past, along with more pop superstars you may have forgotten got their big break on kids TV.
Selena Gomez
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The Wizards Of Waverly Place ran for five years and starred Selena as Alex Russo, an apprentice wizard competing with her brothers to inherit her father's magic skills. (Spoiler: It was Selena, of course).
But the award-winning children’s show didn't just give Selena a chance to show off her acting skills. She also sung the theme tune to the show, Everything Is Not What It Seems.
Ariana Grande
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The most awkward thing about TV past isn't that she wasn't the lead in her first show Victorious; it's probably that the show was meant to launch someone else's singing career.
Ariana played Cat Valentine in the show, a student at a Hollywood Performing Arts in the US TV show.
The show lasted three seasons, before someone saw sense and her character was given a leading role in spin-off show Sam & Cat, restoring justice to the world and setting right this terrible wrong.
Demi Lovato
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was first seen on TV in US kids show Barney & Friends (alongside Selena Gomez) but her big break was the lead role in Disney's TV movie Camp Rock.
Demi was the star of the movie, which also starred both and - with much less sex appeal - alongside non-popstar Jonas brother Kevin.
Demi stars as Mitchie Torres, an aspiring singer who works in the kitchen of a performing arts summer camp and (shocker!) has a better voice than any of the other girls at the camp. Plus, she also gets to engage in some mild flirting with Joe Jonas, which is always fun.
Justin Timberlake
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The Mickey Mouse Club was a big deal in the US (not so much in the UK) but we could all appreciate the holy trinity of pop talent it gave the world: , and
Justin appeared on the show between 1993 and 1995, at the same time as Hollywood A-lister Ryan Gosling.
YouTube is packed with unofficial videos of Justin acting and singing on the show which show his talent, but the footage of him rapping in a Jamaican accent isn't probably the best showcase of his popstar credentials TBH.
Miley Cyrus
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No star has come further from their US TV roots than Now a successful musician and outspoken supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, she has come a long way since she starred as Hannah Montana in 2006.
Hannah Montana was about a squeaky clean popstar who hid her chart-topping career from her school friends. It launched Miley as a star in her own right, but she soon rebelled against the squeaky clean Disney image and became one of pop's biggest talents.