Miranda Cosgrove's Real Name: Miranda Taylor Cosgrove

Quick answer: Miranda Cosgrove's documented full name is Miranda Taylor Cosgrove. Encyclopedia.com lists that form and dates her birth to May 14, 1993, in Los Angeles, California. A 2007 Variety profile independently says she was born in Los Angeles and was 14 at the time of writing (Encyclopedia.com; Variety).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Miranda Cosgrove. Encyclopedia.com gives the full name Miranda Taylor Cosgrove and the May 14, 1993, Los Angeles birthdate. Variety, writing in October 2007, says the then-14-year-old was born in Los Angeles and was discovered in a restaurant when she was three, after she was seen singing, dancing, and playing around; a woman asked her mother about joining an agency, and although her mother had reservations, she booked work easily. Variety says she remembers a Mello Yello commercial at age four as fun. Encyclopedia.com notes early work in television commercials, including spots for Burger King and McDonald's, and also later voice work as Munch in Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie (2005).

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com records her film debut as Summer Hathaway in The School of Rock (2003), with later films including Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) and Keeping Up with the Steins (2006). Variety independently identifies her as the classmate in School of Rock who then starred in Nickelodeon's iCarly, a sitcom it said was custom-tailored to her talents. Encyclopedia.com also lists the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh (2004–2007), in which she played Megan Parker, plus voice work on What's New, Scooby-Doo?, the film The Wild Stallion (2006), the movie Drake and Josh Go Hollywood (2006), and awards attention, including a 2004 MTV Movie Award nomination with the School of Rock ensemble and a later Young Artist nomination for Yours, Mine and Ours. Variety says she taped the Drake & Josh pilot at age nine, played Drake Bell's mischief-making sister for three years, later guested on Zoey 101 and Unfabulous, and that Nickelodeon's Dan Schneider then approached her mother with sitcom concepts, of which iCarly—about a girl who launches her own Web show—was the one he liked best.

Name notes for searchers

Miranda Taylor Cosgrove is the documented full name; the professional name is Miranda Cosgrove. Searchers looking for Carly Shay on iCarly, Megan on Drake & Josh, or Summer in The School of Rock are usually aiming at the same person.