Why Margo From Despicable Me Sounds So Familiar

Born in Los Angeles in 1993, Miranda Cosgrove was discovered at the age of 3 by a talent agent, who signed the youngster after noticing her singing and dancing in a local restaurant. Just a couple of years later, Cosgrove got her big break when she landed a role in a movie from indie stalwart Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, the Before Sunrise trilogy, Boyhood). The movie in question was 2003's raucous musical farce School of Rock, and found Cosgrove going toe-to-toe with live-wire funnyman Jack Black.

Set largely within the confines of a stuffy private school, School of Rock found Black's hard-rocking Dewey Finn busted, bandless, and on the verge of being evicted from his best friend Ned Schneebly's (Mike White) apartment. Dewey, looking to make some quick cash and pay Ned his share of the rent, claims a substitute teaching gig under false pretenses: he pretends to be Ned, who's a substitute teacher himself. Once inside the hallowed halls of Horace Green, Dewey discovers that his students are skilled musicians but know nothing about rock and roll history. He sees this as an opportunity to assemble a supergroup capable of winning the local Battle of the Bands, which would secure Dewey even more money. 

The requisite hijinks ensue, of course, with matters spinning wildly out of control for Dewey and School of Rock's young cast. You no doubt recall one of the key players in that cast was the precocious young teacher's pet Summer "Tinkerbell" Hathaway. Miranda Cosgrove played Summer, frequently side-eyeing Jack Black's Dewey and absolutely butchering the song "Memory" during her band audition — an act that apparently required Cosgrove, a gifted singer in her own right, to take "bad singing" lessons in preparation.