Janel Parrish Biography

Janel Meilani Parrish (born October 30, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Mona Vanderwaal on the Freeform mystery drama series Pretty Little Liars. She is also known for portraying Young Cosette in the Broadway production of Les Misrables (1996), and Jade in the teen comedy film Bratz (2007). In 2014, Parrish participated in the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars, taking third place.

Early life

Parrish was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Joanne (ne Mew), who is of Han Chinese descent, and Mark Phillip Parrish, who is of European descent. She has one sister, Melissa Nohelani, who is eight years older and served in the U.S. Army. Her parents were former bodybuilders, and her mother worked for a Honolulu health club.

At age six, Parrish saw a production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center and fell in love with the idea of performing. She began playing the piano, and within a year was also studying acting, singing, tap and jazz dance. She entered several talent contests, and became well known to local Oahu residents. At age 14, she appeared in the 2003 remake of Star Search, performing the song "On My Own" from Les Misrables. She attended Moanalua Elementary School, and Moanalua High School for her freshman year. Parrish lived in Kaneohe, Hawaii until the age of 14, when she and her family moved to Burbank, Los Angeles so she could pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Parrish was then homeschooled in order to accommodate her work schedule.

Career

Acting

Parrish began her acting career when she was cast as Young Cosette in the National Touring Company of Les Misrables, and later portrayed the role for two months in the Broadway production at the Imperial Theatre. She subsequently appeared in several community theatre productions in Hawaii - most notably as Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in Manoa Valley Theatre's revival of To Kill a Mockingbird in 1998. In 1999, Parrish landed her first substantial television role in NBC's action series Baywatch, appearing in two episodes as Hina, a young girl whom Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff) saves from drowning.

In 2000, Parrish was featured in Disney's live-action television film based on the Pinocchio story, Geppetto, portraying the role of Natalie. She then went on to appear as Vanessa in The WB's short-lived sitcom The O'Keefes. Parrish also appeared in shows and made-for-television films on the Disney Channel, and also guest starred in Fox's sitcom The Bernie Mac Show, Nickelodeon's children's comedy-drama series Zoey 101, and Fox's teen drama series The O.C.. Parrish then portrayed Bratz member Jade in the 2007 live-action film Bratz. The role was her first in a motion picture, as well as her first starring role. In May 2007, shortly before the release of Bratz, she was signed to the William Morris Agency. She then landed a recurring role in the NBC supernatural drama series Heroes.

Parrish played Mona Vanderwaal for the duration of the Freeform teen drama series Pretty Little Liars, based on the book series by Sara Shepard. Mona is introduced in the first season as a teenage outsider who uses her intelligence and resources to torment others anonymously. In March 2012, Parrish was promoted to a series regular for the third season, and stayed a regular for the remainder of the series. For her performance as Mona, she won Choice TV - Villain at the Teen Choice Awards four times from five nominations.

In February 2012, Parrish returned to her stage roots in a production of the musical Spring Awakening. She portrayed Anna, while also understudying the lead female role of Wendla Bergmann. That same year, she had a supporting role in the romantic comedy-drama film Celeste and Jesse Forever. She subsequently guest starred in the CBS drama series Hawaii Five-0, playing the role of Rebecca Fine, an ambitious and strong-willed chemistry student, and made a guest appearance in Lifetime's fantasy legal drama series Drop Dead Diva as cheerleader Chelsea Putnam. Also in 2014, Parrish led the cast of the Lifetime thriller film High School Possession as Lauren Brady. The following year, she had a guest role as villainess Jillian Havemeyer in NBC's comedy-drama series The Mysteries of Laura. In 2017, she guest starred in Fox's procedural drama series Rosewood, playing Selena Monet, a young popstar. In November 2017, Parrish began portraying Sandy Dumbrowski in a Toronto production of Grease, alongside Katie Findlay.

Parrish will co-star with Mickey Rourke in the boxing drama Tiger, and portrays Lisa Wagner in the upcoming romance film Until We Meet Again, alongside Jackson Rathbone. She will also co-star as Margot Covey in the film adaptation of Jenny Han's young adult romance novel To All the Boys I've Loved Before, with Lana Condor and John Corbett. Parrish will then appear alongside Angela Trimbur and Fairuza Balk in the home-invasion thriller Hell Is Where the Home Is. She is set to reprise her role as Mona Vanderwaal in the upcoming Pretty Little Liars spin-off drama series titled, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.

Music

At age eight, Parrish won a statewide singing competition in Hawaii. She began writing her own music as a teenager and eventually became the lead singer of the three-piece girl group, Impulse. In 2007, Parrish was signed to Geffen Records as a solo artist to produce her first album. Her first single, "Rainy Day", which she wrote herself, and its music video, was released on July 7, 2007. The song also featured on the Bratz soundtrack. Parrish made appearances in Prima J's music video for "Rock Star" and NLT's music video for "She Said, I Said", which were both featured on the Bratz soundtrack. She also provided background vocals for the latter. In April 2015, she released two songs, "Heart Made of Stone" and "Senseless", both of which she co-wrote with Vince Pizzinga.

Other ventures

In August 2014, Parrish was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars. She was paired with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy. During week three, "Movie Night", the couple became the first to earn a perfect score with their Jazz dance, and held the record for earliest perfect score on the show (the record was later matched by Bethany Mota and her partner Derek Hough on the same night). Parrish and Chmerkovskiy reached the final but ended up in third place, behind Alfonso Ribeiro and Sadie Robertson, who took first and second place respectively.

Personal life

Parrish began dating Chris Long in September 2016, and became engaged to him on October 23, 2017.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Bratz	Jade
2009	Fired Up!	Lana
	April Showers	Vicki
2010	Triple Dog	Cecily Gerber
2011	One Kine Day	Leilani
	4 Wedding Planners	Hoku Wolf
2012	Celeste and Jesse Forever	Savannah
2013	To Those Nights	Audrey	Short film
	Something Wicked	Ronnie	Short film
2018	Until We Meet Again	Lisa Wagner	Completed
	Tiger	Charlotte	Completed
	The Purple Rose	Kate Riley	In post-production
	To All the Boys I've Loved Before	Margot Covey	In post-production
	Hell Is Where the Home Is	Estelle	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Baywatch	Hina	2 episodes
2000	Geppetto	Natalie	Television film
2003	The O'Keefes	Vanessa	Episode: "Party"
2004	'	Laura	Episode: "Being Bernie Mac"
2006	Zoey 101	Sara	Episode: "The Silver Hammer Society"
	'	Leah	Episode: "The Summer Bummer"
2007-2008	Heroes	May	4 episodes
2009	True Jackson, VP	Kyla	Episode: "Flirting with Fame"
2010-2017	Pretty Little Liars	Mona Vanderwaal	Recurring role (seasons 1-2) Main role (seasons 3-7)
2013	Hawaii Five-0	Rebecca Fine	Episode: "Kapu"
2014	Drop Dead Diva	Chelsea Putnam	Episode: "Cheers & Jeers"
	Dancing with the Stars	Herself	Contestant on season 19
	High School Possession	Lauren Brady	Television film
2015	'	Jillian Havemeyer	Episode: "The Mystery of the Crooked Clubber"
2016	Rush Hour	Nina Taylor	Episode: "Wind Beneath My Wingman"
2017	Rosewood	Selena Monet	Episode: "Mummies & Meltdowns"
2018	Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists	Mona Vanderwaal	Main role; upcoming series

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Location(s)
1996	Les Misrables	Young Cosette	National tour and Imperial Theatre
1998	To Kill a Mockingbird	Scout Finch	Manoa Valley Theatre
1999	Here's Love	Susan Walker	Diamond Head Theatre
2000	The Best Christmas Pageant Ever	Beth Bradley	Diamond Head Theatre
2001	On Dragonfly Wings	Wendy Waterbug	Leeward Community College Theater
2012	Spring Awakening	Anna	Theatre of Arts Arena Stage
2015	Cruel Intentions: The Musical	Kathryn Merteuil	Rockwell Table & Stage
2017	A Walk to Remember: The Musical	Jamie Sullivan	Prospect Theatre
	Cruel Intentions: The Musical	Cecile Caldwell	(Le) Poisson Rouge
2017-2018	Grease	Sandy Dumbrowski	Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres

Soundtrack

Year	Film	Song	Notes
2007	Bratz	"Rainy Day"	Writer and performer
2008	Guiding Light	"Won't Let You Go"	Writer and performer
2009	April Showers	"I Won't Cry"	Performer
	The Kings of Appletown	"I'm Changing"	Performer
2010	Triple Dog	"Rush"	Performer
2014	Pretty Little Liars	"Gravity"	Performer
2017	Rosewood	"Dance for Me"	Performer

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1999	Po'okela Awards	Leading Female in a Play	To Kill a Mockingbird
2000	Po'okela Awards	Leading Female in a Musical	Here's Love
2002	Po'okela Awards	Leading Female in a Musical	On Dragonfly Wings
2012	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV - Villain	Pretty Little Liars
2013	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV - Villain	Pretty Little Liars
2013	TV Guide Awards	Favorite Villain (with Keegan Allen)	Pretty Little Liars
2014	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV - Villain	Pretty Little Liars
2016	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV - Villain	Pretty Little Liars
2017	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV - Villain	Pretty Little Liars