Sasha Pieterse

Personal life

Pieterse was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on February 17, 1996. Moving to the United States in 2001, she was raised in Las Vegas, before moving to Los Angeles. She became accustomed to a career in entertainment at an early age, as her parents were a professional acrobatic dance team who performed internationally. Pieterse was homeschooled and graduated at 14.

On December 22, 2015, Pieterse became engaged to her longterm boyfriend, Hudson Sheaffer.

Modeling

When Pieterse was younger, she was featured on a national billboard for Supercuts, and modeled in the Macy's Passport Fashion Show, performing throughout California. Pieterse was featured on the cover of BELLO magazine "Young Hollywood", December 2014 issue. Pieterse appeared on the cover of the 2015 issue of TeenProm magazine.

Acting

At six years old, Pieterse got her start in television, co-starring in 2002 as Buffy on The WB's revival of the CBS sitcom Family Affair (1966–1971). She guest starred in an episode of Stargate SG-1 with Amanda Tapping as a little girl named Grace and in 2005, she appeared on an episode of House titled "Autopsy", portraying Andie, a young girl with terminal cancer. That same year, she made her film debut in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D as Marissa, the Ice Princess, and also appeared as Millie Rose for two episodes of the short-lived TNT series Wanted, alongside her former Family Affair co-star, Gary Cole.

Pieterse appeared in the 2007 film Good Luck Chuck, playing a young goth girl who places a curse on the titular character. She played the younger version of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character in the 2007 film The Air I Breathe, along with such co-stars as Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, and Emile Hirsch. She also played a leading character in the Hallmark original film Claire, also released in 2007.

In December 2009, Pieterse was cast in the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars as Alison DiLaurentis, the former "queen bee" of her high school clique. She has had a regular role in the series since its premiere on June 8, 2010. In June 2014, Pretty Little Liars was renewed for a sixth and seventh season.

Other roles Pieterse has had include a 2009 appearance in Without a Trace, and a recurring role as Amanda Strazzulla, an abandoned daughter, in Heroes. In 2011, she appeared as Amy Loubalu in the Disney Channel Original Movie Geek Charming, and also as a teenage girl in the film X-Men: First Class. More recently, Pieterse has appeared in the film G.B.F. and in an episode of Hawaii Five-0 as a terrorist pupil named Dawn Hatfield. Pieterse played Japonica Fenway, a young lady involved with cocaine, in the film Inherent Vice (2014), based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon.

Music

Pieterse describes her music as "country with southern rock". Pieterse was signed to record label Dan Franklin Music. Her debut single "This Country is Bad Ass" was released on April 12, 2013. Pieterse described the patriotism behind the song: “I just love this country so much and I would never have been able to be where I am if I wasn't in America, so we decided to come up with this [track].” Her second single, "R.P.M", was released on June 13, 2013.

Her third single, "I Can't Fix You", was released on July 12, 2013. On December 10, 2013, she released her fourth single "No", an upbeat track about "standing strong in your convictions" and saying no when an unfaithful, lying ex-boyfriend asks for a second chance.

Dancing with the Stars

In September 2017, Pieterse was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on the 25th season of Dancing with the Stars. She is paired with professional dancer Gleb Savchenko.