Elizabeth Gillies

1993–2007: Early life and career

Gillies was born in Haworth, New Jersey to Dave and Lorrie Gillies. She has one younger brother born in 1996. She is of Irish and Italian descent.

Gillies' acting career began at age twelve, when she started going to local open casting calls. She quickly began appearing in commercials for companies such as Virgin Mobile. Her first television role was as a recurring character in The Black Donnellys. She has stated that she was not allowed to watch the finished show in its entirety because her parents felt it was not appropriate for her at the time. She appeared in three episodes. In 2007, she played small roles in The Clique, Harold, and Locker 514. In the summer of 2008, Gillies was 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. Gillies remained with the production until its closure on January 4, 2009.

2010–14: 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-based high school in Hollywood. This marked her second time working alongside 13 co-star Ariana Grande. 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." 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 Ariana 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, and it was later featured in Victorious 3.0. She lent her talents to other Nickelodeon shows, voicing the character of Daphne on the animated series Winx Club and recording Winx Club's official song, "We Are Believix." She also appeared in an episode of Big Time Rush and as a contestant on game shows 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. 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. The musical did not end up being taken to Broadway. On December 10, 2013, Gillies recorded a duet with Ariana Grande called "Santa Baby" for Grande's Christmas EP Christmas Kisses. 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. Gillies reprised her role as Jade in a special episode of the iCarly and Victorious spinoff series Sam and Cat. Killing Daddy, a Lifetime original movie, stars Gillies as Calista "Callie" Ross, a troubled young woman who returns to her estranged family with a plan for her recently disabled father and her inheritance. The movie aired on Lifetime on July 5, 2014.

2015–present: Further acting

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). The show premiered July 16, 2015 to mixed reviews, but Gillies' performance as Gigi was well received. The show ran for two seasons, with the second-season finale airing on September 1, 2016. On September 9, 2016, FX declined to renew the show for a third season, effectively canceling the series.

In February 2017, Gillies was cast in the role of Fallon Carrington in The CW's Dynasty reboot.