Karen Lucille Hale born June 14, 1989 is an American actress, singer, and television personality, who first became known for her roles as Becca Sommers in the series Bionic Woman (2007) and Rose Baker in the series Privileged (2008–2009). She then had her breakthrough starring as Aria Montgomery in the Freeform series Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017), for which she has received several accolades.
Hale starred as Stella Abbott in Life Sentence (2018) and the titular character in Katy Keene (2020). She has appeared in films such as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008), Sorority Wars (2009), A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song and Scream 4 (both 2011), and led the films Truth or Dare and Dude (both 2018) and Fantasy Island (2020).
In addition to acting, Hale has also ventured into music. In 2003, she first came to prominence as one of the five winners of the reality show American Juniors, a children’s spin-off of Fox’s American Idol and began as a solo artist with signing Hollywood Records in 2012, on her debut studio album, Road Between (2014).
Early life
Hale was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Julie Knight and Preston Hale. She was named after one of her great-grandmothers. Her mother is a registered nurse. She has an older sister, Maggie, a step-sister, Kirby, and a step-brother Wes. Hale was homeschooled as a child. During her childhood, she took acting and singing lessons. In August 2012, Hale revealed she had suffered from an eating disorder.
Career
In 2003, Hale first appeared on television as a contestant in the Fox reality show American Juniors. On July 30, 2003, Hale finished in fourth place and part of a group of the same name formed with the top 5 finishers (Chauncey Matthews, Danielle White and Tori & Taylor Thompson) but the group disbanded in 2005, after their self-titled studio album’s lackluster sales.
Hale moved to Los Angeles at age 15 in the hopes of getting a record deal. Shortly after, she started auditioning and received a minor role on Drake & Josh and other guest roles on shows such as Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, The O.C., and How I Met Your Mother. She appeared in two episodes of the Disney Channel show Wizards of Waverly Place. In 2007, Hale appeared in NBC’s short-lived series Bionic Woman. Hale plays Becca Sommers, the younger sister of the title character Jaime Sommers (played by Michelle Ryan). The character was originally portrayed by Mae Whitman in the unaired pilot episode, after which Whitman departed the series.
In August 2008, Hale made her big screen debut in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 portraying Effie Kaligaris, the younger sister of Lena Kaligaris (played by Alexis Bledel). Hale then appeared in The CW series Privileged as Rose Baker, with co-stars Ashley Newbrough and JoAnna Garcia. She starred in the Lifetime television film Sorority Wars. In October 2009, Hale was cast as Aria Montgomery in Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series of the same name by Sara Shepard. The television series lasted seven seasons from 2010 to 2017, with Hale’s performance being praised by critics. She also received a number of awards and nominations.
Hale at the 38th People’s Choice Awards in 2012
In January 2010, Hale appeared as the singer Phoebe Nichols and her identical body double Vanessa Patton in the CSI: Miami episode “Show Stopper”. In 2011, Hale had a cameo role as Sherrie in the slasher film Scream 4. Later, she was cast as the aspiring singer Katie Gibbs in A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, the third installment of A Cinderella Story series and was released on direct to video in September 2011. She recorded songs for A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song soundtrack. Throughout her career, Hale made appearances of music videos with artists: Foy Vance’s “She Burns”, Chase Jordan’s “Lose Control (Take a Sip)” and Jackson Harris’ “Come Back Down to Earth”. Hale also served as a backup singer for artist Carly Pearce.
Hale hosted an episode of MTV’s Punk’d aired on April 26, 2012, where she and Pretty Little Liars co-star Ian Harding successfully pranked Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Hutcherson. The same year, Hale played the voice of Periwinkle, a twin sister of Tinker Bell (voiced by Mae Whitman) in the animated Disney film Secret of the Wings. In June 2012, Hale announced that she had signed a record deal with Hollywood Records (co-partnership with DMG Nashville). On June 11, 2013, Hale announced that she is the new Ambassador of the beauty brand Mark Girl. Hale was co-hosted for the television event shows, the Teen Choice Awards (with Darren Criss in 2013 and David Dobrik in 2019) and the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards Pre-Show with Sway Calloway. Hale served as a correspondent in New Orleans and co-hosted with Ryan Seacrest in Times Square for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (2016–present).
On February 18, 2014, Hale’s debut studio album was announced to be called Road Between, released on June 3, 2014. In 2015, Hale collaborated with Rascal Flatts, performed a cover of “Let It Go” from another Disney animated film Frozen and was featured on the compilation album We Love Disney. Later, Hale recorded two songs “Mistletoe” and “You’re Here” on the Christmas album A Hollywood Christmas, released on December 8, 2017. In 2018, Hale was cast in The CW comedy-drama series Life Sentence as Stella Abbott, a woman who finds out that her terminal cancer is cured. The series which only lasted one season. The same year, Hale starred in three films, Truth or Dare, Dude and The Unicorn. On March 11, 2019, Hale was cast as the lead role in Katy Keene, based on the Archie Comics character of the same name. In 2020, Hale starred as Melanie Cole in the supernatural horror film Fantasy Island. Hale is set to appear in the upcoming projects such as the films Borrego and The Hating Game, with Austin Stowell.
Artistry
Hale described music as her “first love”. Her early musical influences were Shania Twain and Faith Hill, but what ignited her interest in pursuing music was Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time”. Kristian Bush of country band Sugarland said: “She sounds like Carrie Underwood—strong with a blues side and a pop side to it. And a lot like Faith Hill.”