Here Are The Stars Miley Cyrus Beat Out For Original Role of 'Hannah Montana'

The Popular 2000s Disney show "Hannah Montana," starring Miley Cyrus, almost had an entirely different lead actress.

While Cyrus played the role perfectly, during the time of the audition, she had two other equally impressive child actors vying for the role. The show's casting director, Lisa London, recently revealed that those two actresses were Taylor Momsen and Daniella Monet.

Although the Momsen and Monet did not get the role, they continued their acting careers in other very successful shows. Momsen was notably in "Gossip Girl" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," while Monet appeared in Nickelodeon's "Zoey 101" and "Victorious."

Read on to learn more about the show and how it came to be.

London, the casting director of the Disney hit tv series "Hannah Montana," recently revealed the top two actresses Cyrus had to go against while auditioning for her role as the lead actress in the show. She also claimed to have "discovered" the "Wrecking Ball" singer.

The 65-year-old's post was made after a TikToker wrongly put out information that Belinda, a famous Spanish Mexican singer, was part of the top choices. The singer played a starring role in a separate popular Disney show, "Cheetah Girls 2."

London said, "I wanted to let everybody know that Belinda — who's lovely, by the way — was never in the top three for the role of Hannah." She went on to post a piece of paper that was seemingly used in 2005.

In the document dated May 6, 2005, Momsen and Monet were listed alongside Cyrus as the top choices. The casting director said, "These are the final three actresses that auditioned at the network test out of over 1,200 girls."

https://www.tiktok.com/@lisalondoncasting/video/7133066655621598506?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7124406754276886021

"Hannah Montana" was a widely popular Disney series that ran from 2006 till 2011. Cyrus played alongside her famous father, Billy Ray Cyrus as his daughter. The series followed her adventures as a typical teen named Miley Stewart and her secret identity as a global superstar, Hannah Montana.

According to reports, the lead character's name was initially not meant to be Miley. The name chosen for the fictional character was Chloe Stewart; however, the studio decided to change it to Miley when the singer got cast in the titular role.

This change is evidenced in London's casting list, which showed the names of the potential actresses and the appearance of "Chloe" beside them. The cast manager explained, "This was when her name was originally Chloe Stewart before they changed it to Miley Stewart."

Despite not being cast for the child role, Momsen still appeared in a popular movie at the time. She reportedly played Cindy Lou Who alongside Jim Carrey in the popular Christmas movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

She was also a part of the American teen drama "Gossip Girl" in 2007 as Jenny Humphrey. Currently, the actress is more musically inclined and occupies herself with her rock band, "The Pretty Reckless." The band was formed in 2009 and consists of three other members.

A year after she formed the band, the 29-year-old talked about when she was almost cast in "Hannah Montana," revealing that she might have felt differently about the show if she stayed there for too long.

Momsen said, "Honestly if I'd have ended up as Hannah Montana, I don't know if the show would have gone as well. I probably would have told them all to go f–k themselves by the time I hit 11."

Momsen was not the only one who got her big break. Monet, who was also among the top contenders for the role of Hannah Montana, went on to guest star in Nickelodeon's "Zoey 101" in 2006 as Rebecca Martin. However, it was her role in the hit show "Victorious" that earned her international recognition.

When the Nickelodeon show was released in 2010, Monet played Trina Vega, the endearingly loud sister of the main character, Victoria Justice. She gave the show some of its funniest quotable moments, one of which was her bizarre one-woman performance of the Broadway show "Chicago."

Monet was also in the "Fred" movies as Bertha. She notably hosted "Awesomeness TV" in 2013 for two seasons and the Nickelodeon game show "Paradise Run" for two years. The actress's last acting credit was "Aloha Surf Hotel. The mother of two played the role of Babymooner in the independent American film.