Joanna 'JoJo' Levesque Biography

Date of Birth: December 20, 1990

Born in Foxborough, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, Joanna Levesque decided at a young age to follow in her church soloist/musical theater performer mother's footsteps. At the age of eight, she made her professional acting debut at the Huntington Theater in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Work in several Boston area television and radio commercials were followed by an appearance on Kids Say the Darndest Things hosted by Bill Cosby. On the show, she sang "Respect" for the audience. As a result, talk show producers and festival organizers began to call.

JoJo (as she's nicknamed) performed at the Republican National Convention, 2001 Gospelfest and with her mother, moved to Los Angeles, where she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and landed a singing/acting role in the musical Nuncrackers at the Freemont Centre Theatre in Pasadena. While competing in NBC's America's Most Talented Kid (she lost to Diana DeGarmo, who went on to become an American Idol finalist), she met James Womack, who introduced her to an executive at Da Family entertainment. Just 12 at the time, she signed a recording contract and released her debut album, "JoJo." To promote it, she went on tour with Usher. When her first single, "Leave (get out)" was released, she became the youngest solo artist ever to have a No. 1 hit song in America. Her album, for which she wrote three tracks, went multi-platinum.

Levesque made her feature film debut in Aquamarine (2006) opposite Sara Paxton and Emma Roberts, with whom she remains friends. She lives with her mother in the Los Angeles area.