Grace Avery VanderWaal (born January 15, 2004) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She is known for her distinctive voice and has often accompanied herself on the ukulele. VanderWaal began her musical career by posting videos of her original songs and covers on YouTube and performing at open mic nights near her home in Suffern, New York. In September 2016, at age 12, she won the eleventh season of the NBC competition show America's Got Talent (AGT), performing her original songs. In December 2016, with Columbia Records and Syco Music, she released her debut EP Perfectly Imperfect, which became the best selling EP that year. Her first full-length studio album, Just the Beginning (2017), debuted at number 22 on the U.S Billboard 200. She released a second EP, Letters Vol. 1, in 2019. She has performed at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Madison Square Garden, the opening and closing of the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria, various benefit concerts, the Austin City Limits Music Festival and on various television talk shows. VanderWaal conducted her first concert tour in 2017 in support of Just the Beginning. She next toured in mid-2018 with Imagine Dragons in their Evolve World Tour, and in 2019, after opening in a tour for Florence and the Machine, she conducted her own Ur So Beautiful tour. She made her acting debut in 2020, starring as Susan "Stargirl" Caraway in the Disney+ musical drama film Stargirl, followed by its 2022 sequel Hollywood Stargirl. VanderWaal released her second full-length album, Childstar, in April 2025, which she followed with a Childstar Tour in May. VanderWaal has received two Radio Disney Music Awards (including a Best New Artist award), a Teen Choice Award, the 2017 Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award, and the 2018 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Push Act. She has been named to Billboard magazine's 21 Under 21 list of fast-rising young music stars five times (2016–2019 and 2021) and is the youngest person ever included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 music list. Description above from the Wikipedia article Grace VanderWaal, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 15, 2004 (22)
- Lenexa, Kansas, USA
- Actor and composer
- 4 on MovieCove
What are Grace VanderWaal's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Ideas.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 2
Light 2 · Serious 1 · Dark 0
Grounded 1 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 1 · Intense 1
A split, not a type: Steady 2 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 0 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 3 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 0
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1
Roles they play
- Heraldas Stargirl Caraway in Stargirl (2020)
- Heroas Stargirl Caraway in Hollywood Stargirl (2022)
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Grace VanderWaal's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 1 of their 4 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, on Hallmark+ (1).
Subscription and free streaming for Grace VanderWaal's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
4 credits, 4 with a MovieCove page; 9 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Megalopolis(2024)
Midcredits score: 12th percentile of all films
Hollywood Stargirl(2022)
Midcredits score: 44th percentile of all films
Christmas in Vienna(2020)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films
Stargirl(2020)
Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all films
Career shape
Star power in the 89th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 4 titles from 2020 to 2024; peak year 2021.
Biggest box office
Megalopolis (2024)
Highest rated
Stargirl (2020)
Most popular right now
Megalopolis (2024)
Film career
Peak 2021 · steadily prominent in film for years. Top draw in 2 MovieCove titles. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
How do Grace VanderWaal's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 50th percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 47th percentile for acclaim.
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
2 of their 4 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser2
- Mixed1
Reviewers score the acting 64/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 78, detractors 35. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Grace VanderWaal work with?
People who share at least 2 of Grace VanderWaal's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Julia Hart shares the most, 3.
Directors
- Julia HartShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Disney Insider (2020), Stargirl (2020)See all 3 shared titles with Julia Hart
Writers
- Jerry SpinelliShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Jerry Spinelli
- Jordan HorowitzShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Jordan Horowitz
Actors
- Giancarlo EspositoShared titles: Megalopolis (2024), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Giancarlo Esposito
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Bryce FortnerShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Bryce Fortner
- Rob SimonsenShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Rob Simonsen
- Shayar BhansaliShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Shayar Bhansali
Producers
- Ellen Goldsmith-VeinShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Ellen Goldsmith-Vein
- Kristin HahnShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Kristin Hahn
- Lee StollmanShared titles: Hollywood Stargirl (2022), Stargirl (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Lee Stollman
