Blast off: how Bridgit Mendler went from Disney star to space start-up CEO

Here’s a look back at her career evolution, her return to education and her love life so far.

How Bridgit Mendler got her start on the Disney Channel

Bridgit Mendler (centre, on the sofa) in the last episode of Good Luck Charlie. Photo: @bridgitmendler/Instagram

Mendler, 31, first captured hearts as a charismatic youngster on Disney Channel, bringing life to popular key characters in Wizards of Waverly Place and Good Luck Charlie, quickly rising to fame. She got her first role on the network at age 17.

Her charm and talent made her a favourite among audiences worldwide, but it was her role in the Disney Channel original movie Lemonade Mouth that truly showcased her versatility, blending acting with singing and setting the stage for a career that would soon blossom beyond the boundaries of teen stardom.

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Her music career was just as successful

Bridgit Mendler’s first single received platinum sales status in 2014. Photo: @bridgitmendler/Instagram

With the world’s spotlight firmly on her, Mendler then turned her sights to the music industry, dropping her debut single “Ready or Not” in 2012 on Radio Disney. The song was a runaway hit, etching her name in the annals of music history as a formidable singer-songwriter.

Her album Hello My Name Is … followed in the same year, striking a chord with its mix of lively pop songs and soul-stirring ballads, earning her a spot among the promising musical talents of her time.

From showbiz to scholarship

Actress Bridgit Mendler speaks onstage at a talk called Digital Revolution: A Look at Music’s New Frontier at the annual South by Southwest Conference and Festivals event in Austin, Texas, 2017. Photo: Getty Images

Beyond the glitz and glamour of showbiz, Mendler also nurtured a deep thirst for knowledge. Not content with merely lighting up screens and stages, she dived into academia, earning a degree in anthropology from the University of Southern California in 2016.

But why stop there? Mendler’s intellectual journey took her to the prestigious corridors of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was honoured as a Director’s Fellow before embarking on a graduate programme.

With a master’s degree already under her belt, she’s now juggling a PhD at MIT with a JD (Juris Doctor, or doctor of law) at Harvard Law School, as recently reported in People, proving that her appetite for learning knows no bounds.

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What about her family and love life?

Feeling the love: Bridgit Mendler and Griffin Cleverly as blissed-out newlyweds in 2019. Photo: @bridgitmendler/Instagram

Amid her professional and academic achievements, Mendler’s personal life has flourished. She found her heart’s companion in Griffin Cleverly, with whom she exchanged vows in October 2019.

Their journey together took an even more joyful turn with the recent adoption of a four-year-old boy, a journey that began with fostering in 2021 and blossomed into a forever family by Christmas 2022.

Her new role as a start-up CEO for Northwood Space

In another unexpected pivot into a new realm, Mendler recently embraced the role of CEO at Northwood Space, a start-up set on crafting an effective “data highway” between Earth and space. This venture into the tech and space industry will see Mendler help tackle the ongoing challenge of efficiently sending and receiving data between low-orbit satellites and our planet, according to a recent CNBC report.

Under her leadership, Northwood Space is poised at the edge of pioneering space technology, ready to explore the final frontier.

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