International
Disney eyes teen star Bridgit Mendler
MUMBAI: It‘s too early to compare 16-year-old Bridgit Mendler to Miley Cyrus or Vanessa Hudgens, but Disney Channel has given her the lead role in a new sitcom called Good Luck Charlie.
“We just fell in love with her,” said Adam Bonnett, senior vice president original programming at Disney Channel. “She has all the attributes of a Disney star.”
Disney Channel first cast Mendler on freshman comedy “Jonas,” where she appeared in two episodes playing a love interest for Nick Jonas.
That was followed by a four-episode stint on Wizards of Waverly Place. In the upcoming arc, Mendler plays “an everyday girl with a sunny disposition who is a blood-sucking vampire,” Bonnett said.
In her first starring role on Charlie, slated to debut next year on Disney Channels worldwide, Mendler plays Teddy Holliday alongside Disney Channel regular Jason Dolley, who plays her brother Casey. When their parents go back to work full time after having a baby, the care and feeding of their new sister — nicknamed Charlie — falls to the teenage siblings.
