Sofia Carson

Early life

Carson was born Sofia Daccarett Char in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to José F. Daccarett and Laura Char Carson, who both moved to Florida from Colombia. Sofia chose the artistic name "Carson" after her American maternal grandmother, Lauraine Carson. Through her mother, Carson is related to the Char family of Colombian politicians.

She attended St. Hugh School and graduated from Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami. She attended In Motion Dance Studio, where she was part of the IMPAC Youth Ensemble program, competing across the United States. She subsequently attended UCLA, majoring in communications with a minor in French.

Career

Music

Carson in 2017

Carson said she is mainly influenced by pop music and admires artists who "tell stories through their music", cited 20th-century acts like The Beatles and Michael Jackson and modern acts like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift as influences.

In 2012, Carson signed with BMI as a "singer-songwriter". She performed as part of the cast on the 2015 Descendants soundtrack, which reached number one on the Billboard 200, including her single version of "Rotten to the Core". She was also featured on the Descendants 2 and Descendants 3 soundtracks, which reached numbers 6 and 7, respectively, on the Billboard 200.

In an August 2015 interview Carson stated she was working on her first album. In March 2016, Hollywood Records and Republic Records officially announced that Carson had signed a joint worldwide record deal with both companies. Her debut single was "Love Is the Name", an interpolation of Opus' "Live Is Life", and was released on April 8, 2016. "Love is the Name" had an alternate version featuring J. Balvin, and a music video with Carson and Balvin was released for that version. Carson released a promotional single on August 26, 2016, entitled "I'm Gonna Love You". Carson has performed in NBC's 2015 Thanksgiving Parade, ABC's Disney Parks Christmas Celebration, Univision's Feliz 2016 (New Year's Eve Special), and the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards, and she was a presenter on ABC's Disneyland 60th Anniversary Special. She performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 2017 A Capitol Fourth, an annual concert at the United States Capitol in celebration of Independence Day.

On January 27, 2017, she released her single "Back to Beautiful" featuring Alan Walker, and on February 15, 2017, she released the official music video on YouTube. "Back to Beautiful" was written by Julia Michaels, who also wrote Carson's next single, "Ins and Outs". In 2018, Carson was featured on three EDM songs: R3hab's "Rumors", Alan Walker's "Different World" and Galantis's "San Francisco". Following the success of "Rumors", Carson collaborated again with R3hab in her next singles "I Luv U" and "Miss U More Than U Know".

On March 26, 2021, Carson released the single "Fool's Gold", produced by Stargate and Jeff Jones. It reached number 38 on the Mainstream Top 40. The song was remixed by Tiësto; his remix, "Fool's Gold (24 Karat Gold Edition)" was released on April 30, 2021. On May 2, 2021, Carson performed "A Whole New World" (from the 1992 film Aladdin) on American Idol with the show's nine finalists. On September 2, 2021, Carson released "Glowin' Up" as a single as a part of the My Little Pony: A New Generation soundtrack, prior to the film's release on September 24.

Television and film

Carson at the Golden Globe Awards in 2020.

Carson's acting career launched in 2014 when she guest-starred as Chelsea on the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally. A few months later, Carson was cast as recurring character Soleil on MTV's series Faking It. In 2014, she was cast in a starring role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Descendants, in which she plays Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen from Snow White.

On January 9, 2015, Carson was cast in the co-lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie Adventures in Babysitting. Filming began in spring 2015, for an early 2016 television premiere. In March 2016, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Carson landed the leading role in the fourth installment of the A Cinderella Story series, A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits, directed by Michelle Johnston and produced by Dylan Sellers, which was released direct-to-video.

Carson reprised her role as Evie in the 2017 sequel Descendants 2, for which she was nominated for an Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actress. Carson played Sloane Silver in the second season of Freeform's Famous in Love in 2018. In January 2018, it was announced that Carson would be starring in the television series Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, in the role of Ava Jalali; it was picked up to series by Freeform in May 2018 and premiered in March 2019. For her performance, she was nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Choice Drama TV Actress. She once again played Evie for Descendants 3, the third installment of the franchise, which premiered on August 2, 2019. In July 2019, it was announced that Carson would play April in the Netflix dance film Feel the Beat, which was released in 2020.

In 2020, Carson joined the cast of the thriller film Songbird, in which played the main role of Sara. Later that year, it was announced that she had been cast in the upcoming romance film Purple Hearts as Cassie. Carson is also an executive producer for the movie and will write and perform on the film's soundtrack. She also voiced Pipp Petals in My Little Pony: A New Generation, which was released on September 24, 2021.

Other ventures

In August 2019, Carson was designated as the first Global Ambassador of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation. Her role includes advocating, promoting, and increasing awareness of the foundation's mission and educational programs. Since its establishment five years ago, the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation has donated more than US$5 million in scholarships, grants, musical instrument donations, and educational events in the United States and Ibero-America. In January 2020, Carson was named the new global ambassador of beauty brand Revlon. In June 2020, Revlon released Carson's own collection, the Revlon x Sofia Carson collection, which includes lipsticks and nail polishes. In October 2020, she was named a UNICEF Ambassador. On February 28, 2021, she hosted the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Golden Globes Red Carpet Pre-Show. In April 2021, Revlon released a new fragrance for Carson, called One Heart. In 2022, she partnered with the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation to announce the Sofia Carson Scholarship. It will fund a bachelor's degree at Berklee College of Music.

Singer and actress Sofia Carson is known to some as Evie, the daughter of the Evil Queen in the Disney movie, Descendants (2015) and its sequel, Descendants 2 (2017). To others, she’s Lola Perez from Disney’s adventure comedy, Adventures in Babysitting (2016). To many more, she’s Ava Jalali, the teenage trendsetter and hacker from Freeform’s 2019 hit, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. However you know her, one thing’s for sure- you’re going to get to know her even better in the years to come. With 2019 set to take the young starlet’s career to new heights, it’s time you found out more about Sofia Caron.

1. She has a degree in Communications

Carson was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1993. After graduating from Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami, she enrolled at the Motion Dance Studio. While studying at the institution, Carson was active in the IMPAC Youth Ensemble program and competed with the program at various venues across the states. She subsequently studied at UCLA, where she majored in communications with a minor in French.

2. She started out as a singer-songwriter

Before a career in acting beckoned, Carson was on track to be the next big thing in music. In 2012, the Fort Lauderdale native was signed to BMI. While acting has since taken over as her primary calling, Carson has proven her talents as a singer on her debut single “Love is the Name”, released on April 8, 2016, the promotional single, I’m Gonna Love You from August 2016, and the single Back to Beautiful (a collaboration with Norwegian DJ and producer, Alan Walker) from February 2017. She’s also put down vocals on tracks for various other artists, including R3hab’s “Rumors”, Alan Walker’s “Different World” and Galantis’s “San Francisco”

3. She featured on the soundtrack to Descendants

In addition to her independent musical releases and collaborations, Carson has featured on several film soundtracks (proving, in so doing, that combining acting with music is a sure-fire way to success… or at least to reaching as wide an audience as possible). Some of her most popular work to date has been on the soundtrack to Descendants, which inspired such releases as Rotten to the Core (2015), Set It Off (2015), Chillin’ Like a Villain (2017), It’s Goin’ Down (2017) and Ways to be Wicked (2017).

4. She’s a serial loser

Despite being only 26 years old, Carson has already seen the kind of award recognition that even the most revered entertainment veterans would be envious of. Unfortunately, while her nominations have been coming in thick and fast over the last few years, Carson has yet to triumph on awards night. To date, her nominations have included the Producers Choice Award at the 2016 Premios Juventud, Choice Music: Next Big Thing at the Teen Choice Awards, Best Crush Single at the Radio Disney Awards, and Best Supporting Actress at the Imagen Awards.

5. Her TV debut was in Austin & Ally

In 2014, Carson picked up her first acting gig with a guest role in the Disney Channel series, Austin & Ally. Carson’s skills in front of the camera clearly impressed, and just a few months later, she was invited to join the cast of MTV’s Faking It, the romantic comedy starring Rita Volk, Katie Stevens, Gregg Sulkin, Michael Willett and Bailey De Young.

6. Descendants was her big break

Carson may have achieved some minor success in TV prior to her casting in Descendants, but it was her role as Evie that made her the household name she is today. When Descendants was cast, most of its stars were already recognizable (Booboo Stewart through the Twilight franchise and Cameron Boyce and Dove Cameron through the Disney Channel). Carson, however, was a relative unknown. That all changed with the film’s release, and just a year later, Carson was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ariana Grande and Gwen Stefani at the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards.

7. She has the patience of a saint

According to Screen Rant, Descendants was as much a test of Carson’s patience as it was her acting abilities. In order to look the part of a queen’s daughter, Carson had to sit through two and a half hours of “clothes and make up” a day, with her blue wig alone taking an hour to get on. Fortunately, the downtime gave Carson the perfect opportunity to read up on her lines and get herself mentally prepared for the shoot ahead.

8. She originally auditioned for Audrey

Descendants could have been a very different film altogether had Carson won the part she first auditioned for. The actress first read for the part of Audrey, Prince Ben’s girlfriend and the daughter of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. Several callbacks and 4 months later, the producers decided that Carson wasn’t quite the right fit for Audrey and handed the role to Sarah Jeffrey instead. Carson’s initial disappointment quickly turned to relief when the producers told her she would still be starring in the film, albeit in the role of Evie rather than Audrey.

9. She narrated the audiobooks to Descendants

Descendants may have given Carson the jumpstart she needed to propel her acting career to the next level, but it also opened the doors to a hither too unexplored genre. Clearly impressed by the young star’s talents, Audible invited her to narrate the audiobooks to the quartet of books from the author of Descendants, Melissa de la Cruz. The first audiobook in the series acts as a prequel to the first Descendant’s movie, given fans the chance to learn more about what happened in the lead up to the film’s events.

10. She’s set to star in Descendants 3

2019 is set to be a year of record highs for Carson. Not only is she starring in Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, she’s also due to reprise her role as Evie in the franchise that made her name, Descendants, Descendants 3 is currently set to premiere on the Disney Channel on August 2, 2019. The third installment in the franchise will reunite Carson with her former castmates Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, and Mitchell Hope. At the moment, producers are keeping the storyline under wraps, leaving us all on the edges of our seats in anticipation of what’s to come. The one thing we do know (and prepare yourself for a spoiler) is that this is due to be the last ever film in the Descendants franchise.