Bella Thorne

Early life and first roles

Annabella Avery Thorne, known as Bella Thorne, was born on October 8, 1997, in Pembroke Pines, Florida. She became known as an American actress, singer, and writer, starting work onscreen as a child and growing into one of the more visible young performers of her generation. Her first film appearance was an uncredited role as a sidelines fan in the 2003 film Stuck on You, followed by appearances in projects such as Entourage and The O.C.

Thorne’s early life was marked by hardship as well as work. She was the daughter of Tamara Thorne and Delancey Reinaldo “Rey” Thorne, and had three siblings who were also actors. Her father, who was of Cuban descent, died in a traffic accident in April 2007. Thorne has said her mother supported four children, that the family was very poor, and that she began working as a child actress to help support them. She has also said Spanish was her first language, and that she was bullied while growing up because she was dyslexic.

Diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade, Thorne was home-schooled after attending public school, where she had been bullied. She later improved after attending a Sylvan Learning center and said in 2010 that she had overcome dyslexia by rigorously reading everything she could find, even cereal box labels. In 2018, she wrote publicly that she had been physically and sexually abused as a child, and in 2019 said the abuse began when she was six years old. These experiences form part of the public record around her resilience and directness.

Breakthrough, music, and later work

Thorne first received wider recognition as Margaux Darling in Dirty Sexy Money from 2007 to 2008, and as Ruthy Spivey in My Own Worst Enemy in 2009, a role that earned her a Young Artist Award. Her biggest early break came with the Disney Channel series Shake It Up, which aired from 2010 to 2013. She played CeCe Jones, a dancer with ambitions for the spotlight despite having dyslexia. Although she had no professional dance experience when cast, she began taking three dance classes every night after signing on.

During and after Shake It Up, Thorne moved between television, film, music, and writing. Her debut single, “Watch Me,” was released in 2011 and reached number 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100. She later released the EPs Made in Japan in 2012 and Jersey in 2014. She appeared in films including Blended, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, The Babysitter and its sequel, and received praise for roles in The DUFF, Amityville: The Awakening, and Infamous. She also led the drama series Famous in Love from 2017 to 2018, earning Teen Choice Award nominations.

Thorne also signed a deal to write a series of books beginning with her first novel, Autumn Falls, and made her directorial debut in 2019 with the adult film Her & Him, which received positive reviews and won a Pornhub Visionary Award. Her quote, “If someone is trying to bring you down, it only means you are above them,” fits the public image built from her life and career: a performer who spoke openly about difficulty, kept working across forms, and turned visibility into a platform for her own voice.