Hannah Montana Cast: Then And Now
Hannah Montana is iconic amongst TV shows. How well do you remember the Hannah Montana cast? The dual-identity thing was probably something we all related to…
Being a famous pop star in our dreams and waking up to realise we’re just your average, awkward teenage girl trying to get through school.
Except for Hannah; it was all real!
Miley Stewart/ Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) – THEN
By day, she was a typical girl living with her single dad and brother. Nothing out of the ordinary! She faced all the trials and tribulations we all do during those early teen school years…
By night though, Miley Stewart put on a wig and some sparkly jackets and voilá, she was a pop star and inspiration to millions of little kids.
Her dual identity spawned some serious hits like “Nobody’s Perfect”, “If We Were a Movie”, and “He Could Be The One”.
In the final season, we all saw Hannah give up a chance to star in a film with Tom Cruise just so she could go to uni with her best mate. True definition of a friend right there!
Miley Cyrus (Miley Stewart/ Hannah Montana) – NOW
After Hannah Montana finished, well, let’s just say Miley “changed” – and that’s a bit of an understatement!
Especially when she broke up with boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth. We all remember THAT MTV performance.
Thankfully, the god daughter of Dolly Parton has come back to the straight and narrow – and Miley and Liam even got back together and are married now and it’s all just perfect!
Lily Truscott (Emily Osment) – THEN
A well and truly underrated character in the show – we all would’ve watched a spin-off about her character for sure.
Lily is the first person Miley reveals her pop star identity to. It’s not like Miley had much of a choice to begin with…
The blondie snuck into Hannah’s room after a concert and noticed the bracelet she remembers giving to Miley. After the truth came out, she became Hannah’s sidekick and gave herself an alter ego.
Emily Osment (Lily Truscott) – NOW
You may remember her as Gerti Giggles from the Spy Kids movies – the chick who had ponytails that could make her fly?! Yeah, that’s her!
Emily’s was in a Hallmark film titled Christmas Wonderland – there can never be too many festive films.
Her latest acting role is in the show Not Just Me.
Oliver Oken (Mitchel Musso) – THEN
The third person in the trio, the guy who spread rumours about Miley eating possum and Hannah Montana’s creepy stalker.
He had a feminine side, read his mum’s “chick magazines” and even let Miley give him a manicure once. And he wondered why he didn’t have any guy friends…
It was inevitable that Lily and Oliver would start dating, but one thing I never saw coming? Their pet names for each other: Ollie-pop and Lilly-pop.
Cute or cringey?
Mitchel Musso (Oliver Oken) – NOW
The actor and musician comes from a family who are all…well, actors and musicians. So it comes as no surprise that he had quite a few other projects outside of Hannah Montana.
He did voice-acting for several shows including Phineas and Ferb and King of the Hill.
Mitchel’s lead role on Disney Channel’s Pair of Kings was written off due to a criminal incident involving a DUI. Ouch.
After taking responsibility for his actions, Disney gave him another voice role on their Disney XD show, Milo Murphy’s Law.
Jackson Stewart (Jason Earles) – THEN
Apparently Jackson was originally intended to be a shy and introverted character who only spoke using a puppet. How different would the show have been if they kept it like that?!
As funny as Jackson was, I still don’t understand why a 29 year-old was cast to play a 16 year-old…
Jason Earles (Jackson Stewart) – NOW
As of 2018, Jason stars in a multi-cam series on YouTube titled “Hotel Du Loone”. I’m not going to wonder how old his character is in that one, don’t worry.
He’s currently married to Katie Drysen and his vows to her were the absolute sweetest:
“I am madly in love with you. I love how every day you open my eyes to beauty and unexpected joys that exist all around us.”
Jake Ryan (Cody Linley) – THEN
He sported the same Zac Efron-esque hairdo that was all the rage during 2006 and was also the heart-throb of the show. Debatable…
Cody Linley (Jake Ryan) – NOW
Season 7 of Dancing With The Stars saw Cody compete as the youngest star that year. He came in fourth place. Pretty impressive, right?
These days it’s not totally clear what Cody is up to, as his social media feeds either features professional photos of himself or throwbacks from Disney. They really were the good ol’ days, weren’t they?!
Robby Ray Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) – THEN
Robby is a single father who quit his successful music career after his wife died so he could look after Miley and Jackson. Props for your dedication!
Billy Ray Cyrus (Robby Ray Stewart) – NOW
If you hadn’t guessed already, Billy is Miley’s father in real life too.
But to attribute Billy Ray’s media presence solely to Miley would be a disservice. He’s a famous singer in his own right, having released 12 albums and 44 singles!
Billy’s seen in the studio these days, working hard on producing new material. Maybe we’ll get a new duet with Miley soon?
Rico Suave Jr. (Moises Arias) – THEN
The evil mastermind of the show who skipped a few grades just to torment and blackmail people around him. For comedic purposes, obviously.
We all know how clever Rico is, but do you remember that one time he finished a Biology mid-term exam in less than one second. Don’t ask because I don’t even know…
Moises Arias (Rico Suave Jr.) – NOW
Moises ventured into the world of indie films – low budget but (most of the time) beautifully shot films which premiere at Sundance Film Festivals.
Gotta hand it to him, Moises has chosen his roles well with all of his films garnering positive reviews from critics! Seems he makes smart business decisions when he’s not playing Rico too!
Moises is helping out his brother Mateo with his own music and even hanging out with Jayden Smith in between. Whatever he’s up to, seems like he’s content with his life away from the spotlight.
Amber Addison (Shanica Knowles) – THEN
What would a teeny bop show be if it didn’t have a mean girl (or two) ruling the school and humiliating the main characters, right?
The irony is strong with this one – she’s a huge Hannah Montana fan. If only she knew…
Shanica Knowles (Amber Addison) – NOW
Despite sharing the same last name as the Queen B herself, Beyoncé and her sister Solange, Shanica is unaware of any relation.
Shanica has been cast in Life-Size 2 alongside Tyra Banks! If you can’t remember, Life-Size (2000) was a film starring Tyra as a doll that gets resurrected and becomes a real person. The Parent Trap’s Lindsay Lohan was in it too!
Ashley Dewitt (Anna Maria Perez de Tagle) – THEN
The dumber half of the mean girl duo, Ashley was also a bully.
She was also a huge fan of Hannah Montana, so again, it was very ironic that the girl she bullied was her pop idol!
Anna Maria Perez de Tagle (Ashley Dewitt) – NOW
If you think she deserved a better role then you’ll be happy to know she made her Broadway debut in a revival of Godspell in 2011!
She also uploads videos on YouTube.
Jesse (Drew Roy) – THEN
Forget the womanising Jake Ryan, this guy was the real deal. He was the endgame for Miley/Hannah.
He came on the show as Miley’s guitarist and had that bad boy vibe we all tend to fall for.
Unlike Jake though, this guy’s attitude wasn’t annoying. He was chill. We liked chill. We liked Jesse. Who didn’t?
Jesse ends up being Miley’s boyfriend and you can’t deny that we all internally (or externally, I won’t judge) jumped for joy. He was always the better choice.
Drew Roy (Jesse) – NOW
He’s been pretty lowkey in the world of Hollywood since Hannah Montana, which is sad because his face is MADE to be on the big screen – just look at it!
His was in the 2016 thriller, Sugar Mountain and was Hal in the TV series, Falling Skies. He is set to play Ron Goldman in the upcoming biopic The Murder Of Nicole Brown Simpson.
He is also rather busy being a dad at the moment – he has two sons with his wife, Renée.
