Maddie Ziegler is Still Slaying the Stage After 'Dance Moms'
Maddie Ziegler has always been a force to be reckoned with. When she started Dance Moms at the age of 8, she was already Abby Lee Miller’s favorite student, boasting incredible dance techniques that continually earned her the top on the pyramid and at competitions. But despite her clear favoritism on the show, she later admitted that the stress of having to be perfect lead her desire to pursue other projects. Now a 16 years old, Maddie Ziegler has amassed an impressive net worth, several licensing and merchandise deals, and even an A-list celeb mentor, all without the help of her former dance teacher.
Born Madison Nicole Ziegler, the Pittsburgh native was a gifted dancer from a young age. When she was just 4, her mother Melissa Gisoni enrolled her at Abby Lee Dance Company, a decision that would change her daughter’s life. Emerging as a bona fide star throughout the six seasons she appeared on Dance Moms, Maddie racked up the titles and first-place wins.
A post shared by Dance Moms (@dancemomstv) on Apr 2, 2019 at 10:07am PDT
When she left the show after five years, Maddie had already begun to establish her name outside of the Dance Moms franchise. Before it was officially announced that both the Zielger girls would not be returning, Maddie had already starred in three of pop singer Sia’s music videos, beginning with the viral video for “Chandelier,” which skyrocketed Maddie to more widespread fame and began her and Sia’s long time friendship.
To this day, Maddie continues to view Sia as a friend and positive influence on her career, and works with her on a regular basis. Sia even bought Maddie a car for her 16th birthday, and cast her alongside Kate Hudson in a film called Music that’s set for release in October 2019.
Interested in expanding her acting chops, Maddie recently announced on her Instagram that she’ll be in Steven Spielberg’s 2020 remake of the iconic musical, West Side Story, where she’ll play a Jet Girl alongside Ansel Elgort. It won’t be the first time Maddie’s been on the big screen. She made her debut in 2017’s Book of Henry.
In the meantime, Maddie keeps busy through projects and partnerships, including authoring four books. She wrote The Maddie Diaries in 2017, and also penned a trilogy of fiction books called The Dance Your Heart Out Collection about an aspiring dancer (not far from her own experience!).
Maddie and her little sister Mackenzie also do joint projects, and the two just finished an epic dance tour in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Most recently, Maddie dropped a cool partnership with Kate Hudson’s brand of athletic wear, Fabletitcs.
A post shared by maddie (@maddieziegler) on Jun 7, 2019 at 9:00am PDT
Maddie makes appearances at several award shows and is even rumored to be best friends with young Hollywood starlets Millie Bobbie Brown and former America’s Got Talent winner, Grace Vanderwaal. She no longer keeps in contact with Abby Lee Miller.
She might still be young, but it’s clear that Maddie is tenacious about furthering her performance career. We can't see what's next from this OG member.
Meet the new cast of Dance Moms and watch season 8 on Tuesdays on Lifetime or catch up on the old seasons on Hulu.
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