Millions of Aussies know this little girl's name now because of Taylor Swift (2024)

It's not every day that a 24-year-old gets to perform for hundreds of thousands of screaming Aussies, but that's exactly what Sabrina Carpenter did this February.

As the sole support act for the Australian leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, the pint-sized powerhouse has won over countless Aussies who didn't know who she was just a few months ago.

Many younger Swifties recognise Carpenter from her days on Disney Channel, but the young star has done much more in her short career than you might think.

Keep reading to learn more about how Sabrina Carpenter rose to fame and just keeps rising. 

For anyone who missed it, Carpenter won Aussie hearts when she took to the stage with Swift on the pop megastar's first night in Sydney for the Eras Tour.

Stormy weather had forced Carpenter to call off her opening set at the last minute, so Swift brought her out during the 'secret song' segment of the show and the pair sang White Horse together.

It's a particularly special track to Carpenter, as she sang it for a contest when she was nine.

"Nine year old Sabrina singing White Horse would never see this s--t coming!" Carpenter wrote on Instagram of this moment with Swift.

"I love you so so so dearly Taylor. Always have always will. Thank you Sydney for making me feel so welcome!!"

So how did she go from karaoke contests to the world stage?

Born in Pennsylvania, USA on May 1999, Carpenter loved performing from a young age and started posting her first singing videos on YouTube at about 10 years old.

She would enter karaoke and singing contests as a child and even placed in one run by Miley Cyrus called The Next Miley Cyrus Project in 2009.

But it was her acting that really helped get Carpenter's name in the spotlight.

Her first was on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where she guest starred as a young victim named Paula in a Season 12 episode titled Possessed. She was just 12 at the time.

The youngster looked very different without her signature bleach blonde locks and statement fringe, which would come much later in her acting career.

In 2012, Carpenter secured a recurring role on The Goodwin Games.

She starred as the young version of the show's main character, Chloe Goodwin, appearing in five episodes overall.

Her acting career was picking up, but that's not all the 13-year-old was working on.

That same year, Carpenter kickstarted her music career by record her first song, Smile, which was included on Disney the compilation album Disney Fairies: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust.

The song even charted on Radio Disney. 

Later that year, she landed a gig voicing Princess Vivian in Sofia the First, an animated Disney show that lasted for four seasons.

As well as getting her into the Disney talent system (which has pumped out starts like Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron), the show gave Carpenter the chance to record her second song, All You Need, alongside Modern Family's Ariel Winter.

Carpenter's big break came in 2013 when she scored her breakthrough role on Girl Meets World.

The show was a spin-off of '90s sitcome classic Boy Meets World and saw Carpenter star as Maya Hart, a role that introduced her to millions of young fans that still follow her today.

She sings on the show's theme song alongside her co-star Rowan Blanchard and was just 14 when production started.

By the time the show wrapped in January 2017 after three seasons, she was almost 18.

While working on Girl Meets World, Carpenter was also able to pursue other film and music projects - like appearing in her first feature film, Horns, alongside stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple.

Though her role was small, Carpenter was quickly making a name for herself in the US entertainment industry.

Remember what we said about Carpenter pursuing other music projects too? Well, at just 15 she signed her first record deal.

In 2014 she signed a five-album agreement with Hollywood Records, which was owned by Disney at the time, so it didn't conflict with her Girl Meets World responsibilities.

Her debut single was called Can't Blame a Girl for Trying and was co-written by Meghan Trainor, best known for hits like All About That Bass and NO.

Carpenter's debut EP of the same name released in April 2014 and by the end of the year she'd recorded a Christmas single, Silver Nights, and her first song for a film; Stand Out for the Disney Channel move How to Build a Better Boy.

In April 2015, Carpenter went a step further and dropped her debut studio album titled Eyes Wide Open with the lead single We'll be The Stars, the lead single of her debut studio album.

It sold over 12,000 copies, peaked at number 43 on the Billboard 200, and snagged her two Radio Disney Music Awards.

Pretty impressive for someone who hadn't even turned 17 at the time.

Carpenter continued working on her music career in 2016 and performed her standalone single Smoke and Fire at the Radio Disney Awards, a major milestone for the 17-year-old.

Her acting career at Disney also expanded when she starred alongside Sofia Carson in the Disney Channel Original Movie Adventures in Babysitting.

Deciding that a TV and music career wasn't quite enough work already, Carpenter even tackled theatre and made her stage debut in the Pasadena Playhouse's production of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell.

Carpenter really started making headway in her music career with her second studio album Evolution, which released in October 2016.

The album went even better than her first, debuting at number 28 on the Billboard 200 and selling more than 13,000 copies in its first week.

Her single On Purpose was nominated for two Radio Disney Music Awards and soon went Platinum, she was invited to perform on the US Today Show and the Late Late Show with James Corden, and by the end of the year she had kicked off the Evolution Tour - her first ever headlining tour.

Touring became the name of the game for Carpenter, who embarked on her second headlining tour, the De-Tour, in the second half of 2017 after wrapping up her time on Girl Meets World at the start of the year.

She also caught the attention of another big-name former Disney Channel star; Ariana Grande.

The Yes, And? hitmaker invited Carpenter to tour with her as the opening act for the Sao Paulo leg of Grande's Dangerous Woman Tour.

The following year, Carpenter starred in The Hate U Give, a coming-of-age film that tackles race and growing up in the US based on the book by the same name.

It boosted her acting career and drew more fans to her music, which was convenient as the star released her third studio album titled Singular: Act I in November 2018.

She was also included in Nylon magazine's 25 Gen Z'ers Changing The World, performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and started amassing social media followers in the hundreds of thousands.

In March of 2019 she embarked on the Singular Tour, her third string of headlining concerts, before dropping her fourth studio album, Singular: Act II, in July of that year.

Carpenter also starred in the film The Short History of the Long Road, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the 20-year-old praise by critics and everyday movie-goers alike.

Around the same time, she started moving away from the clean 'Disney girl' image she'd had for years and embracing an edgier style.

Unfortunately her next flick, Netflix original Tall Girl, didn't receive quite the same positive reception.

Though the movie was ridiculed for its odd premise (in which a tall teenage girl gets bullied for being tall), many viewers still found Carpenter's performance delightful.

Carpenter continued working on her acting and stage career the following year, landing roles in musical comedy series Royalties, the Netfllix movie Work It, and Clouds for Disney+.

She also made her Broadway debut as Cady Heron in Mean Girls The Musical, but her time on the stage was cut short when the production was closed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

It didn't stop her from ending the year on a high note though; in December 2022 she was named one of Forbes' 30 under 30 in the entertainment category. 

In January 2021, Carpenter signed a new record deal with Universal Music Group's Island Records and released her first single with the label, Skin.

It became her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 48 and earning her a mass of new fans before she dropped Skinny Dipping, the lead single of her fifth studio album, towards the end of the year.

By that time, Carpenter was comfortable embracing her sensual side despite being a former Disney star and didn't mind singing more risque lyrics either.

Her second single, Fast Times, released in February 2022, followed by the album titled Emails I Can't Send in July.

It was a hit with fans and several singles became popular with wider audiences, including Nonsense, which went Platinum and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Naturally, Carpenter followed the album with a tour but she had to cancel one show in Portland, Oregon due to a terrifying bomb threat.

"Employees with the Crystal Ballroom called after they received a phone call from an anonymous person claiming they were going to blow up the venue," Lieutenant Nathan Sheppard with the Portland Police Bureau told Rolling Stone at the time.