Oh, Just 75 Pictures of Disney Stars Then and Now

After his That’s so Raven days ended in 2007, he appeared in the 2015 movie Straight Outta Compton. He’s also gotten into some trouble with the law for a DUI.

Jason played PJ on Good Luck Charlie, the iconic show that ended in 2014. Since then, he has started pursuing some very different roles from his innocent Disney beginnings, like starring as a murderer in the movie Staged Killer. You may have also seen him guest-star in the shows Major Crimes and American Housewife.

As a kid, he was best known for his role as the mischievous Rico in Hannah Montana. More recently, you’ve probably seen him appear in the movies The Kings of Summer, Five Feet Apart, and The King of Staten Island with Pete Davidson.

Jason is best known for his roles as Jackson Stewart in the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana and as Rudy Gillespie in the Disney XD series Kickin’ It. These days though? Jason is married and generally just living his life.

You’re lying if you say that Aly & AJ’s 2007 smash hit “Potential Breakup Song” isn’t still a bop. Now that she’s past her Cow Belles days, AJ is an ambassador for the National Women’s History Museum and starring in Netflix’s DreamWorks She-Ra as well as ABC’s Schooled.

True Jackson, VP, anyone? Okay, that came on Nickelodeon, but! Before Keke went to the ~rival network~ she starred in Jump In, one of the finest DCOM's to grace the network if I do say so myself. Keke starred in some pretty great shows and films back in the day, and she hasn't stopped now. In 2019, she appeared in Hustlers and these days she has a buncha new TV shows in production.

As if he wasn’t already cute in his High School Musical days, LOOK AT HIM NOW. In case you forgot, Corbin's song “I Don’t Dance” from HSM 2 peaked at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100. Now, he’s happily married to Canadian actor/model Sasha Clements.

Miley Cyrus played the titular character on Hannah Montana from 2006 to 2011 and nowadays she's, well, a total living legend.

If you were a tween girl in the early 2000s, Lizzie McGuire was the TV character you aspired to be. Hilary Duff played Lizzie from 2001 to 2004 and then hit up The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003. Now, Hilary stars in the Hulu series How I Met Your Father, a reboot of the original CBS show, and is a mom to three cute kids.

Few Disney Channel Original Movies had as long a shelf life as High School Musical, which got not one but two sequels (and a Sharpay-focused spin-off). And we can all agree that Vanessa Hudgens, who played Gabriella, was a standout. Vanessa has since gone on to star in more adult fare like 2011’s Sucker Punch and 2013’s Spring Breakers.

You can’t do a Disney retrospective without Zac Efron, aka East High School heartthrob Troy Bolton. Zac played Troy in all three installments of the High School Musical franchise and then went on to get really jacked for movies like The Lucky One, Neighbors, and Baywatch. Most recently, he played Ted Bundy in the biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil.

Ashley Tisdale played Sharpay Evans in High School Musical—a character so beloved that she got her own spin-off in 2011 called Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. After her Disney days were over, she appeared in movies like Playing It Cool and Amateur Night.

Lucas Grabeel played Sharpay’s twin brother, Ryan, and he’s worked steadily as a voice actor since his Disney days. Another fun fact: He played young Lex Luthor on Smallville, and five years later, he played Superboy on the same show.

Way back in 2003, Adrienne Bailon starred in North West’s favorite movie, The Cheetah Girls. As Kim Kardashian jokingly pointed out, she could have been North’s aunt, since she once dated Rob Kardashian. Adrienne is currently a host on the daytime talk show The Real.

Although she started acting as early as 2002 on Barney & Friends, Selena didn’t quite break out until 2007, when she began playing Alex Russo on Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place. Sel held that job until the show ended in 2012 and now she’s, well, Selena Gomez.

Before she landed the lead role on Disney’s Shake It Up in 2010, Bella Thorne also appeared on Dirty Sexy Money, Entourage, and in one episode of The O.C. as a young Taylor Townsend. More recently, Bella was on Freeform’s Famous in Love and started her own makeup line.

Brenda Song holds the fine distinction of having starred in shows on both Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, the one-two punch of child-star achievements. Her biggest Disney show was The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, which aired from 2005 to 2008 and starred the Sprouse twins as the titular brothers. More recently, she’s appeared in Hulu's Dollface, as well as appearances on New Girl, Pure Genius, and Superstore.

The man now known as Riverdale’s Jughead also got his big break on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, playing Cody. Cole also played Ross’s son on Friends from 2000 to 2002.