Gillies made her musical debut contributing to the soundtrack of Victorious in 2011, where she performed the song "Give It Up" alongside Ariana Grande. She had since co-performed other songs while on the show, including the RIAA platinum certified "Take a Hint" alongside Victoria Justice, and "You Don't Know Me". Her debut studio album, We Wish You the Merriest (2023)—a collection of Christmas duets with Seth MacFarlane—was released by Republic Records.
Early life
Elizabeth Egan Gillies was born on July 26, 1993, in Haworth, New Jersey, to Dave and Lorrie Gillies. She has one younger brother (b. 1996).[5] Gillies has stated that she has Irish ancestry, and an Italian grandmother and great-grandmother.[3][6] She left high school in her freshman year to pursue acting and participated in an online high school program.[7]
Career
2005–2009: Early work
Gillies' acting career began at age 12 when she started going to local open casting calls. She quickly began appearing in commercials for companies such as Virgin Mobile.[8] Gillies' first television role was as a recurring character in three episodes of The Black Donnellys.[9]
In 2008, she played small roles in The Clique, Harold, and Locker 514. That year she was also cast as Lucy in a Goodspeed production of Jason Robert Brown's new musical 13, alongside her future Victorious co-star, Ariana Grande. Later that year, 13 moved to Broadway, which made it the first Broadway production to have a cast and band entirely made up of teenagers.[4] Gillies remained with the production until its closure on January 4, 2009.[10]
2010–2014: Nickelodeon breakthrough
In 2010, Gillies was cast as bad girl and occasional antagonist Jade West in the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, a sitcom revolving around teenagers at a performing arts high school in Hollywood,[11] which marked her second time working alongside 13 co-star Grande.[12][13] Regarding her Victorious character, Gillies said "It's wonderful. I love playing Jade. I always say she's not so much the 'mean' girl, but the 'bad' girl in so many ways. She has a lot of human qualities to her – she's not just completely sociopathic. She's sweet with her boyfriend. It's nice to play a character with some depth."[14] The show premiered on March 27, 2010. During her time on Victorious, Gillies was featured in several songs on the soundtracks Victorious and Victorious 2.0, including "Give It Up" (duet with Grande), and "Take a Hint" (duet with Victoria Justice). She also wrote and recorded the song "You Don't Know Me" for an episode of Victorious,[15] and it was later featured in Victorious 3.0.[16][17]
Gillies at the 2012 Primetime Creative Arts Emmys
She lent her talents to other Nick shows, voicing the character of Daphne on the Nickelodeon revival of Winx Club[18] and recording Winx Club's official song, "We Are Believix".[19] She also appeared in an episode of Big Time Rush and as a contestant on BrainSurge and Figure It Out. Beginning in 2012, Gillies began playing small guest roles outside Nickelodeon. Notable appearances include White Collar and The Exes. In July 2012, it was reported that Gillies was working on an alternative rock album.[20][21]Victorious ended on February 2, 2013, after four seasons. Following the cancellation of the series, Gillies took some time off from acting.
In 2013, she was cast as Courtney in the musical adaptation of Jawbreaker and participated in a reading of the show in Manhattan.[22] The musical did not end up being taken to Broadway. On December 10, 2013, Gillies recorded a duet of "Santa Baby" with Grande for the latter's Christmas Kisses EP.[23] In 2014, Gillies appeared in the horror film Animal as Mandy and the Lifetime movie Killing Daddy, playing Callie Ross. Animal was filmed in the summer of 2013 in Manchester, Connecticut, and was produced by Drew Barrymore. The film also features Gillies' former Winx Club co-star Keke Palmer and was released on iTunes June 17, 2014.[24]
2015–present: Current work
In 2015, Gillies was cast as Heather in the remake of Vacation. The film received a wide release on July 29, 2015. She was then cast in the comedy series Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll as Gigi, an aspiring singer and daughter of a former rock star named Johnny Rock (portrayed by the show's creator, Denis Leary).[25] The show premiered on July 16, 2015, to mixed reviews,[26] but Gillies' performance as Gigi was well received.[27] On September 9, 2016, FX declined to renew the show for a third season, effectively canceling the series.[28]
In 2019, Gillies, alongside Matt Bennett, made a surprise appearance during the November 19 show of her Victorious co-star Grande's Sweetener World Tour in Atlanta, in which Grande and Bennett performed "I Think You're Swell", while Grande and Gillies performed "Give It Up", both songs from Victorious.[37] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gillies collaborated with Seth MacFarlane on a series of songs, eight in total, on an album entitled Songs from Home.[38] In 2021, it was announced Gillies would voice the titular character in the 2022 superhero feature Catwoman: Hunted.[39] In 2023, Gillies released her debut studio album with Seth MacFarlane, titled We Wish You the Merriest.[40][41]
Personal life
Gillies met American music producer Michael Corcoran on the set of the Nickelodeon show Victorious, when she was 16 and he was 36. Corcoran co-wrote and produced the songs that Gillies sang on the show.[42] The pair began dating in late 2012, when she was 19.[43] On August 8, 2020, Gillies married Corcoran at a private ceremony in Chesterfield Township, New Jersey.[44] They reside in Atlanta, Georgia.[45]
^"Kidsday interviews actress Elizabeth Gillies"Archived November 8, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Newsday, October 26, 2011. Accessed December 17, 2019. "[Q] How do you balance your schoolwork and acting? [A] It’s hard. It’s very tricky. I had to leave high school freshman year, but I didn’t want to leave school in general because I want to have an education. It’s important. I’m doing online school."
^Rohan, Virginia (July 20, 2011). "TV Mean Girl: Haworth's Elizabeth Gillies talks iParty with Victorious". Bergen.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2015. Elizabeth Gillies is not a diva. She just plays one on TV. The Haworth teen is nothing but charming as she chats on the phone about Jade, the gifted character with attitude she plays on Nickelodeon's Victorious.
^"Viacom Press - Nickelodeon Winx Club". ViacomCBS. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2020. The series features the voices of some of Nick's biggest stars including ... Elizabeth Gillies (Victorious) as Daphne
