Claim: Miranda Cosgrove is a thespian.

Miranda Taylor Cosgrove -LRB- born May 14 , 1993 -RRB- is an American actress , singer and songwriter .   Her career began at the age of 3 with several television commercial appearances . Cosgrove 's film debut came in 2003 , when she appeared as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock . She appeared in a number of minor television roles over several years before coming to prominence as Megan Parker on the Nickelodeon television series Drake & Josh .   In 2007 , she landed the role of Carly Shay , the lead character on the Nickelodeon teen sitcom iCarly , on which she starred until 2012 . As of May 2010 , Cosgrove earned $ 180,000 per episode of iCarly , making her the second-highest-paid child star on television , and in 2012 was listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest paid child actress . Cosgrove also voiced Margo in the animated film Despicable Me -LRB- 2010 -RRB- and its 2013 sequel . That year , Cosgrove was cast in an NBC television pilot titled Girlfriend in a Coma , which did n't materialize after Christina Ricci left the production . In 2016 , she starred on the short-lived NBC sitcom Crowded .   In music , Cosgrove debuted with iCarly -LRB- 2008 -RRB- , a soundtrack album for the series in which she performs four songs . In 2009 , she released her debut extended play , About You Now . Cosgrove 's debut studio album , Sparks Fly , was released in April 2010 , followed by her second extended play , High Maintenance , the following year . The EP 's lead single , `` Dancing Crazy '' , written by Avril Lavigne , debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard Adult Pop Songs and peaked at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 .