Jackie Evancho

Being a singing prodigy won Jackie Evancho her first major film role. In 2011, Robert Redford was casting his feature film, The Company You Keep (2012), when he saw Jackie for the first time, as she sang on television a piece from Pucinni.Jacqueline Marie "Jackie" Evancho began singing just before turning eight in 2008, when the movie The Phantom of the Opera (2004) mesmerized her. Entering a series of talent competitions in which she came in second over and over again, and singing in whatever venue would have her, she began to be recognized locally around her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After being turned down, twice, by the casting judges for the television competition America's Got Talent (2006) (AGT), she finally won a place on the show, in the spring of 2010 as her youtube submission received the most votes from viewers.Being the second child of Michael and Lisa Evancho, with an older and younger brother and a younger sister, and with her experience in being the runner-up in so many talent competitions, she laughs about having been second so often, and her disappointment wasn't finished yet. Continuing on AGT to sing in the style she has humorously dubbed "popsical", she reached the final two where, despite dueting with the renowned Sarah Brightman, she finished second yet again. But success was assured. Almost solely because of her, the AGT finale gave the show its highest-rated episode in three years, and Jackie was to go on to become one of the two most successful AGT alumni of all time.In her rocket-ride to international stardom, shortly after the Fall conclusion of AGT, she signed with Simon Cowell's SYCO and Columbia records (moving over to Sony Music Masterworks in 2014). Releasing a four-song holiday album, "O Holy Night EP", she became the best-selling debut artist of 2010, the youngest top-10 debut artist in U.S. history, and the youngest solo artist ever to achieve platinum sales. With Columbia? In June 2011, her first full-length album, "Dream With Me", produced by the renowned David Foster, was released and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Jackie's solo concert television special, Great Performances: Jackie Evancho: Dream with Me in Concert (2011), for the 2011 PBS Great Performances (1971) series became one of the most viewed specials in the 38-year-history of the series, raising record amounts for PBS stations. Released as a CD/DVD set in September 2011, it reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Music Video chart and ranked on the Billboard.biz Top Music Video chart for more than 60 weeks by the end of 2012.Another studio album, "Heavenly Christmas", was released in November 2011, entering the Billboard Classical Albums chart at No. 1, the Holiday Albums chart at No. 3, and the Billboard 200 at No. 16, peaking at No. 11. Billboard ranked her the top Classical Albums Artist for 2011.Her fourth full-length album and third top-ten album debut, "Songs from the Silver Screen", was released in October 2012, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Classical Albums chart, making 12-year-old Jackie join Michael Jackson in having three top-10 albums on the Billboard 200 at such a young age. The album remained on the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks and, as of January 2014, charted on the Billboard Classical Albums chart for 66 weeks. [Bring up to date] PBS Great Performances (1971) filmed another special, called Great Performances: Jackie Evancho 'Music of the Movies' (2012), which began airing on PBS stations on August 11, 2012. Her fifth album, "Awakening", is due to be released on September 23, 2014.Jackie began her acting career by performing in "High School Musical" with the Pittsburgh Musical Theater in 2007 and musical theater versions of "A Christmas Carol" and "Little Red Riding Hood", in which she played the title role in 2009. She appeared briefly as an extra in the 2010 film, She's Out of My League (2010), while her first featured television appearance was in the 2011 episode, Wizards of Waverly Place: Back to Max (2011), from the Disney Channel series, Wizards of Waverly Place (2007), where she earnestly hoped her rendition of "America the Beautiful" was sufficient to work off her school detention. It was.After another day of coming up empty, he was in his hotel room, "sitting there all depressed, surfing and drinking and suddenly I'm skipping across the channels and this golden-haired, angelic face is pouring out, singing", Redford recalled just before The Company You Keep (2012) had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012.Jackie modeled for the GUESS Kids fall 2012 advertising campaign, and has appeared in other product advertisements, as well as doing several public service campaigns, including partnering with "WhyHunger", "philosophy.com" and "Sephora" to offer a bath product, to believe, inspired by the lyrics of her song "To Believe" with the proceeds to support WhyHunger's efforts to end world hunger. She is an ambassador of the Humane Society of the United States for "Mission: Humane", a program that encourages children to help protect animals. Show less «