Grace VanderWaal

Grace Avery VanderWaal is an American singer-songwriter and actress known for her distinctive voice and ukulele-driven music. She gained national prominence in 2016 at the age of 12 when she won the eleventh season of the NBC talent competition show America's Got Talent. Following her victory, she launched a recording and touring career, later expanding into feature film acting.

VanderWaal was born near Kansas City, Kansas, to Tina and David VanderWaal, and grew up with an older brother and sister. Her family moved to Suffern, New York, in 2007. She began singing and making up songs at age three and taught herself to play the ukulele at age 11 after buying an instrument with birthday money. She also played saxophone in her school's marching band. In 2015, she began sharing song covers and originals on YouTube and performing at local open mic nights. After her television breakthrough, she was home-schooled, attended public school part of the time, and graduated from the Laurel Springs School in 2022.

During her 2016 audition for America's Got Talent, VanderWaal performed her original song "I Don't Know My Name," receiving Howie Mandel's golden buzzer. She continued to perform her own original songs throughout the competition and was named the season winner in September 2016. She signed with Columbia Records and Syco Music, releasing her debut EP, Perfectly Imperfect, in December 2016. The project debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 chart and became the best-selling EP of that year.

In November 2017, VanderWaal released her debut full-length album, Just the Beginning, which reached number 22 on the Billboard 200. She supported the album with her first headlining tour, which sold out ahead of its launch. She performed at venues such as Madison Square Garden and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria. She also toured as an opening act for Imagine Dragons on their Evolve World Tour in 2018 and for Florence and the Machine in 2019.

VanderWaal released her second EP, Letters Vol. 1, in November 2019 alongside her Ur So Beautiful tour. She made her acting debut in 2020, starring as Susan "Stargirl" Caraway in the Disney+ musical drama Stargirl, and reprised the role in the 2022 sequel Hollywood Stargirl. In 2024, she played pop star Vesta Sweetwater in Francis Ford Coppola's film Megalopolis, contributing two original songs to the soundtrack. She released her second studio album, Childstar, in April 2025, followed by her Childstar Tour in May.

Over her career, VanderWaal has earned two Radio Disney Music Awards, 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 appeared on Billboard's 21 Under 21 list five times and is the youngest person included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 music list.