Dove Cameron is not really new – she’s been making music for a good nine years – but it’s only recently that she’s burst onto the international scene. It’s her 2022 single, Boyfriend, that made it to the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her the Best New Artist award at the MTV VMAs 2022 held on Sunday. Here’s a look at the 26-year-old actress-singer’s journey.
Teen actress in Disney shows
Cameron started acting at the age of eight at the Bainbridge Performing Arts community theatre, and at 16 was cast to star in the Disney Channel comedy series Bits and Pieces, which later became Liv and Maddie. The four-season show ran between 2013 and 2017 and had Cameron in a double role as Liv and Maddie Rooney. This opened the Disney door for Cameron to star in several Disney shows and films.
Debut in Disney films
The first film Cameron starred in was the 2014 Disney TV film Cloud 9. She became a staple of the Disney TV film franchise Descendants, where she portrays Mal, the daughter of the Disney villain Maleficent. She also voiced Mal in the animated spin-off series Descendants: Wicked World (2015-17)
Disney was also Cameron’s gateway to becoming a part of the Marvel universe. She voiced Gwen Stacy in Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister 6 (2016) and played Ruby Hale in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2018).
In the upcoming live-action television series, Powerpuff, based on the 1990s show The Powerpuff Girls, Cameron will play the character Bubbles.
A band of her own
Cameron has sung on stage in musicals like Les Misérables and Mamma Mia! as well as in Liv and Maddie and the Descendants franchise. She formed the band The Girl and the Dreamcatcher in 2015 with her then-boyfriend Ryan McCartan. The duo created a number of singles, like Written in the Stars, and launched their debut EP, Negatives, in 2016. However, following the engagement and subsequent breakup of the Liv and Maddie co-stars, Cameron and McCartan parted ways.
Solo EP release
In 2019, Cameron released her first solo EP Bloodshot/Waste, consisting of her solo songs Bloodshot and Waste. Between 2019 and 2021, she released her non-album singles — So Good, Out of Touch, Remember Me, We Belong and Lazybaby. For her, 2022 is of course the year of Boyfriend and Billboard Hot 100, which paved the way to the MTV VMAs.
Breakfast: Her latest music video
Just days before her VMA win, Cameron released her latest music video, Breakfast, which talks about the controversial Roe vs Wade court case.
Queer icon in the making
Open about her sexuality, Cameron has tweeted about being bisexual. Cameron was accused of queerbaiting when she released her single We Belong in 2020. Clearing the air, she took to Instagram Live and came out to her followers as queer. While receiving her MTV VMA Moonman, Cameron thanked her fans for accepting her “overtly queer” music. She even dedicated the award to LGBTQ+ youth, encouraging them to “inhabit the fullness of who they are”.
From Chloe to Dove
Dove Olivia Cameron was named Chloe Celeste Hosterman at birth. She was 15 when her father passed away. To honour her father, she changed her name legally to Dove since it used to be his nickname for her.
