If you’re not paying close attention, Dove Cameron might convince you that she can be in two places at once. In the past six years, the 23-year-old actress has taken on three starring roles simultaneously in Liv & Maddie and the Descendants franchise, dipped away from set to star in Broadway musicals, and hopped back into the studio to voice animated superheroes and record her first solo album. When Cameron isn’t bringing your favorite characters to life on screens, stages and soundtracks, she’s peeling back the curtain on her personal life, allowing her 25 million fans to get a glimpse into her world. Whether she’s slaying red carpets in jewel-studded gowns, posting goofy behind-the-scenes moments from her life on set, or snapping seriously adorable selfies with her boyfriend and Descendants co-star, Thomas Doherty, Cameron appears to be living a real-life fairy tale. But she’ll be the first to tell you, not everything is as it seems.
Coach 1941 dress and shoes, Jenny Bird ring, France Luxe headband.
At the age of eight, Cameron decided she was destined for the stage. After scoring leading roles as Young Cosette in Les Miserables and Mary in The Secret Garden in her hometown of Bainbridge Island, Washington, she auditioned for the movie True Grit and became a frontrunner for the role before it went to Hailee Steinfeld.
Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 14 and Cameron joined Burbank High School’s show choir team. She adored her time on stage, but dreaded the moments she spent off of it. Cameron didn’t make a lot of friends, and she found herself face-to-face with her school’s mean girls. One group locked her in a janitor’s closet while another threw shaving razors at her and told her to kill herself. Being herself in high school was a challenge for Cameron, so she relished the opportunity to play someone else.
In 2013, when Cameron was just 17, she was cast as not one, but two characters on the hit Disney Channel show Liv & Maddie. If you thought playing one iconic teen star sounds like hard work, try playing two. “I was so tired I could hardly function,” Cameron recalls of the time she played twins with polar opposite personalities. “But I figured out how to manage the twin thing pretty quickly. Doing everything twice, with the energy of two humans, and at the decibel of a Disney show is no joke!”
While some stars have been quick to move beyond their nascent Disney days, Cameron embraces the 4 years she starred on the show. “There will never be a day when I don’t miss that show. It is home to me and I am so grateful that I got my start there with all of those true angel humans,” she says of the Liv & Maddie cast.
While starring on the show, Cameron also took on the role of Mal, Maleficent’s daughter, in the Descendants franchise, which premiered in 2015 and will be releasing its third and final film on August 2, 2019. But Mal isn’t your stereotypical Disney character. Despite her mother’s penchant for evil, Mal wants more for her life and yearns to make others happy. Cameron loved the opportunity to truly shape her character over the past three movies.
“So much of me is in Mal because she wasn't complete when I got to her. I got to really craft her,” she says. “She's incredibly self-possessed, very strong, very persistent, and resilient.” These traits are not unfamiliar to Cameron herself.
On July 6, 2019, Cameron and the rest of the Descendants cast learned that co-star Cameron Boyce, 20, had died after complications with epilepsy. Boyce played Carlos De Vil, the son of Cruella De Vil in the Disney Channel Original Movies.
“When I heard about Cameron, I had just woken up early in a London hotel room to the sound of my phone ringing off the hook,” Cameron says. “I was nervous about why I could be getting so many texts and calls, so I only looked at my mother’s text. I knew she would be the gentlest, and the most concise, whatever it was. It explained what had happened and I immediately phoned Boo Boo [Stewart], who had already called me twice. We just sobbed without speaking. If there was a word stronger than devastated that could describe the depth of pain that I was feeling, I would use it.”
Cameron met Boyce right after they both signed on to Descendants, and reveals she had always wanted to meet him after watching him on Jessie. “I had always thought, ‘damn, what a charismatic, bright and brilliant kid.’” After seeing him on the lot where they both filmed their respective shows, Cameron recalls jumping out of the car and hugging him, saying, “This is going to sound so weird, but we’re about to do this new thing together, and I’m going to hug you, because I can promise you now, we are going to be friends.”
And they were. “From that first day onward, Cameron was my friend and he treated me, like he treated everyone else, like they were the most important person in the room. I loved him like a brother, and I learned from him every day, how to be joyful, how to be resilient, how to be patient, no matter the circumstances. I couldn’t begin to quantify the wisdom and generosity that this kid had. I still learn from him every day.”
Since finding out about his death, Cameron says the cast has kept in close contact, helping each other through this difficult time.
“Me, Boo Boo, Cam and Sofia [Carson] still have our core 4 group chat active and open, as we have for 5 years. It’s hard when there are no adequate words to express the pain we are all feeling, but the usual text is ‘love you.’ Or ‘are you eating?’ Or ‘how are we all today?’ I think something like this horrible loss makes you realize how important you are all to each other. I am grateful for my chosen family at a time like this.”
Coach 1941 dress and shoes, Jenny Bird ring, France Luxe headband.
At the age of eight, Cameron decided she was destined for the stage. After scoring leading roles as Young Cosette in Les Miserables and Mary in The Secret Garden in her hometown of Bainbridge Island, Washington, she auditioned for the movie True Grit and became a frontrunner for the role before it went to Hailee Steinfeld.
Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 14 and Cameron joined Burbank High School’s show choir team. She adored her time on stage, but dreaded the moments she spent off of it. Cameron didn’t make a lot of friends, and she found herself face-to-face with her school’s mean girls. One group locked her in a janitor’s closet while another threw shaving razors at her and told her to kill herself. Being herself in high school was a challenge for Cameron, so she relished the opportunity to play someone else.
In 2013, when Cameron was just 17, she was cast as not one, but two characters on the hit Disney Channel show Liv & Maddie. If you thought playing one iconic teen star sounds like hard work, try playing two. “I was so tired I could hardly function,” Cameron recalls of the time she played twins with polar opposite personalities. “But I figured out how to manage the twin thing pretty quickly. Doing everything twice, with the energy of two humans, and at the decibel of a Disney show is no joke!”
While some stars have been quick to move beyond their nascent Disney days, Cameron embraces the 4 years she starred on the show. “There will never be a day when I don’t miss that show. It is home to me and I am so grateful that I got my start there with all of those true angel humans,” she says of the Liv & Maddie cast.
While starring on the show, Cameron also took on the role of Mal, Maleficent’s daughter, in the Descendants franchise, which premiered in 2015 and will be releasing its third and final film on August 2, 2019. But Mal isn’t your stereotypical Disney character. Despite her mother’s penchant for evil, Mal wants more for her life and yearns to make others happy. Cameron loved the opportunity to truly shape her character over the past three movies.
“So much of me is in Mal because she wasn't complete when I got to her. I got to really craft her,” she says. “She's incredibly self-possessed, very strong, very persistent, and resilient.” These traits are not unfamiliar to Cameron herself.
On July 6, 2019, Cameron and the rest of the Descendants cast learned that co-star Cameron Boyce, 20, had died after complications with epilepsy. Boyce played Carlos De Vil, the son of Cruella De Vil in the Disney Channel Original Movies.
“When I heard about Cameron, I had just woken up early in a London hotel room to the sound of my phone ringing off the hook,” Cameron says. “I was nervous about why I could be getting so many texts and calls, so I only looked at my mother’s text. I knew she would be the gentlest, and the most concise, whatever it was. It explained what had happened and I immediately phoned Boo Boo [Stewart], who had already called me twice. We just sobbed without speaking. If there was a word stronger than devastated that could describe the depth of pain that I was feeling, I would use it.”
Cameron met Boyce right after they both signed on to Descendants, and reveals she had always wanted to meet him after watching him on Jessie. “I had always thought, ‘damn, what a charismatic, bright and brilliant kid.’” After seeing him on the lot where they both filmed their respective shows, Cameron recalls jumping out of the car and hugging him, saying, “This is going to sound so weird, but we’re about to do this new thing together, and I’m going to hug you, because I can promise you now, we are going to be friends.”
And they were. “From that first day onward, Cameron was my friend and he treated me, like he treated everyone else, like they were the most important person in the room. I loved him like a brother, and I learned from him every day, how to be joyful, how to be resilient, how to be patient, no matter the circumstances. I couldn’t begin to quantify the wisdom and generosity that this kid had. I still learn from him every day.”
Since finding out about his death, Cameron says the cast has kept in close contact, helping each other through this difficult time.
“Me, Boo Boo, Cam and Sofia [Carson] still have our core 4 group chat active and open, as we have for 5 years. It’s hard when there are no adequate words to express the pain we are all feeling, but the usual text is ‘love you.’ Or ‘are you eating?’ Or ‘how are we all today?’ I think something like this horrible loss makes you realize how important you are all to each other. I am grateful for my chosen family at a time like this.”
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