Amanda Joy Michalka is an American actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, and musician. She was a model before becoming an actress and is best known as one half of the duo Aly and AJ with her sister Aly Michalka. AJ recorded the theme song and accompanying music video for the film Secretariat, titled "It's Who You Are". She also issued a single and video called "All I've Ever Needed" from her 2013 film Grace Unplugged. She has had a successful acting career and had the reoccurring role of Lainey Lewis on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs for the first, second, and fifth season, and she was promoted to a regular role on the series for the third and fourth seasons. She has starred with her Goldbergs colleagues Tim Meadows and Bryan Callen in the spin-off Schooled since January 2019. Michalka also has a lead role in the Netflix series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, in which she voices Catra, the former best friend-turned-rival to She-Ra. She voices the character Stevonnie in Steven Universe, a fusion of the protagonist Steven and his best friend-turned-girlfriend Connie.
Early life
Michalka was born and raised in Torrance, California and is the younger sister of actress and musician Aly Michalka. Her father, Mark, owns a contracting company, and her mother, Carrie, is a musician and performed with the Christian rock band "JC Band". Her parents are divorced. As a little girl, she briefly lived in Seattle and Milwaukee. Both she and her sister attended Mack Elementary. She has played the piano since she was six and started playing the guitar in her early life. She started acting when she was five, mostly in church play productions. She was raised as a Christian and homeschooled for part of her childhood. Michalka was in a number of musical productions at her school in Milwaukee as a young woman.
Career
She plays a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and piano. She was a model for catalogs. In 2006 she made her Disney Channel debut in the Disney Channel Original MovieCow Belles, as "Courtney Callum," along with sister Aly, as "Taylor Callum." She has also appeared on shows such as Oliver Beene, Six Feet Under, The Guardian, and General Hospital. She and her sister appeared in the MTV film . In 2009 she was featured in the Peter Jackson film The Lovely Bones, released widely on January 15, 2010. From 2009 to 2013 Michalka and her sister performed as the musical duo78violet. They decided to change its name back to "Aly and AJ" in 2015. She was cast as a recurring character on The CW series Hellcats starring Ashley Tisdale and her sister Aly Michalka. The series ran for one season and was cancelled in May 2011. Michalka appeared in the 2011 film Super 8, directed by J. J. Abrams. Her first big-screen starring role was as the title character in 2013's Grace Unplugged. Since 2013 Michalka has had a recurring role on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs as Lainey Lewis, the girlfriend of one of the main characters. In May 2015 it was announced that she would be a series regular for the show's upcoming third season. She also plays this character on the spinoff series Schooled. She also voices the character, Stevonnie in Steven Universe, a fusion of the protagonist Steven and his best friend Connie. In July 2014 she and her sister filmed an untitled drama in Laurel Canyon, California. The film was directed and written by Aly's husband, Stephen Ringer. Michalka was one of the producers of the film, with her sister and Ringer, and participated in the casting process. In May 2015 it was announced that the film, Weepah Way for Now, would premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 16, 2015. The film was released on DVD, iTunes, and other streaming platforms in June 2016.
