Raven Symone Information

Biography

Early lifeRaven-Symoné Christina Pearman (born December 10, 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American actress, R&B and pop singer, songwriter, dancer,and television producer, best known for her roles as Olivia Kendall on The Cosby Show and her own show That's So Raven as Raven Baxter. She is professionally known as Raven and Raven-Symoné. "Symoné" is always pronounced without the accent at the end, despite the spelling.

Early life
As an infant, Raven worked for Atlanta's Young Faces Inc. Modeling Agency and was featured in local print advertisements. At age two, she worked with Ford Models, Inc. in New York City and appeared in ads for Ritz crackers, Jell-O, Fisher-Price, and Cool Whip. At age three, she auditioned for the film Ghost Dad. She was considered too young for the role, but was recommended for a part in The Cosby Show and was eventually cast as Olivia in February 1989. In 1993, she joined the cast of ABC's sitcom Hangin' with Mr. Cooper as Nicole, the daughter of Mark Curry's character Mark Cooper's cousin.

Acting career
Raven went on to have roles in 1998 Dr. Dolittle and 1999 Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. In between her acting roles, Raven attended the North Springs High School, an Arts and Science high school in Sandy Springs, Georgia, where she graduated in 2005.

In 2003, Raven began her role as Raven Baxter, a teenager with psychic abilities, in the Disney Channel Original Series That's So Raven; it became Disney Channel's highest-rated and longest-running series and spawned successful product spinoffs, including soundtracks (featuring songs by Raven), episode DVDs, and video games. In 2005, the show was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Children's Program". In 2003, Raven was featured on The Cheetah Girls and its popular soundtrack.

In 2003, Raven was scheduled to star in two films. One was Sparkle, which was a remake of the 1976 film. Raven got the part after R&B-Pop songstress Aaliyah was tragically killed in a plane crash in 2001. The film was scheduled to be produced by Whitney Houston and Debra Martin Chase who produced The Cheetah Girls. It is unknown if the film will still be filmed. The other film was titled "All American Girl", based on the book written by Meg Cabot. The rights to the film were since sold back to Cabot. [1]

In 2004, Raven cut a six-figure deal with Disney for another series on ABC in Fall 2005. It was originally supposed to be a college spinoff to That's So Raven called Raven Too! following Raven and her friends in college but Raven decided that she was done with sitcoms and instead turned into another TSR spinoff for Disney, Cory In The House [2]

Recently, she has starred its sequel, The Cheetah Girls 2, Disney Channel's second most-viewed and second highest-rated film to date after Jump In!, which Raven was set to star in and would have been a motion picture named Double Dutch, but was later revamped into Jump In!.

Raven currently has her own production company, That's So Productions, which co-produced the entire fourth and final season of That's So Raven. In the late '90s, she co-owned RayBlaize Records with her father. However, they sold the company in the early 2000s.

Raven was featured on the March 2007 issue of Ebony Magazine with the title "The $400 Million Dollar Woman" referring to the $400 million that the That's So Raven merchandise has made.

Awards
Today, Raven stands as a six-time NAACP Image Award winning actress and a two-time Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards winning actress. Raven's wins do not include the many wins her show, That's So Raven, has won as well.

Other
Raven was also one of the many singers who auditioned for the sought-after role of Effie in Dreamgirls.

Raven is teaming with Martin Lawrence to star in the film College Road Trip for Walt Disney Pictures. Roger Kumble is directing the comedy, being produced by Andrew Gunn and his Gunn Films. The story centers on a young woman, Rachel, with ambitious public-defender dreams who goes on a road trip to visit potential universities with her father, an overprotective police officer. Cinco Paul and partner Ken Daurio wrote the most recent draft. The movie was born out of the Disney Writers Program by Carrie Evans and Emi Mochizuki. The filming was originally set out to start shooting late June or early July in the Northeastern United States.[3] It began shooting on July 8 in Connecticut. Raven will also be starring in the planned Adventures in Babysitting remake with fellow Disney teen idol Miley Cyrus. The movie's script will be written by Tiffany Paulsen and production will begin on notice.[4]

Music career
Raven-Symoné's debut album, Here's to New Dreams, was released on June 22, 1993. It spawned two commercially released singles: "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" and "Raven Is the Flavor". "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" was Raven's most successful single, reaching number sixty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100, forty-seven on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, forty-three on the Hot Dance Singles Sales, and thirty-nine on the Rhythmic Top 40. Her record company, MCA Records, however, shortened her contract as a result of poor sales.[citation needed]

On May 4, 1999, Raven released her second album, Undeniable. "With a Child's Heart" was the only commercially released single from the album. With no promotion at all, the album was a complete failure, selling just 10,000 copies in the U.S. to date. In 2000, MCA Records, her label, dropped her from their roster. The Undeniable album was bought up by TMG Records, who re-issued the album in November 14, 2006 under the title From Then Until. In early 2003, she signed a deal with Hollywood Records, which also features fellow Disney Channel stars Aly & AJ and Hilary Duff.

On September 21, 2004, she released her third album This Is My Time. The album spawned three Radio Disney hits: "Backflip", "Bump", and "Grazing in the Grass" (which was featured on the soundtrack to The Lion King 1½). The album debuted and peaked at number fifty-one on the Billboard 200 selling 19,000 copies in its first week of release, becoming her most successful album yet. This Is My Time has sold 235,000 copies in USA, and 452,000 copies world-wide.

In 2006, Raven embarked on her first solo tour to promote the album. She was also featured in Belinda music video Ni Freud ni tú mamá. She is currently working on her fourth album, and according to Billboard magazine, she has worked with R&B singer Mario's production team, Nightriders.

Raven Symone

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