These days, Maia Mitchell has more than 10 million followers on Instagram.
“I kind of post what I post then sort of check out a little bit.
“I feel like I’ve got a really nice little balance.”
That wasn’t always the case, though.
I was like, ‘Uh no, sorry.’
Then I just up and left.”
She’s been a television star and a singer, a Gen-Z fashion icon and even a farmer.
“[I was] definitely a little wild, hippie kid,” she told Elle Australia.
“My parents are giant hippies.”
At first, she tried dance.
“I was a ballerina, but I got scoliosis so I couldn’t do ballet anymore.
I was devastated.”
The fact that she couldn’t dance anymore led Mitchell to explore acting instead.
“I don’t ever remember consciously thinking, ‘I want to be an actor.’
But I grew up doing theatre,” she recalled.
“That is where I felt most comfortable.”
“It became clear that acting was what I really wanted to do,” Mitchell told Aritzia.
Soon, Hollywood came calling.
In 2013, she booked a role in the Disney Channel Original Movie, “Teen Beach Movie.”
“When I landed the role I had never touched a surfboard.
Now it’s one of my favorite things to do.”
The film was such a massive hit that it drew ratings comparable only to “High School Musical.”
Reuniting for a sequel was a no-brainer, and “Teen Beach 2” premiered in 2015.
“Just putting it out there, for the record, it was him,” Mitchell toldHollywood Life.
“I read and attempt to get some work done,” she said.
“I can never sleep on planes and the last couple of hours are always unbearable.”
“I had just decided to, like, give up on America,” she toldShine On Media.
“I came back to audition for it and blew my first audition.
It was so bad.
It was awful.”
Ultimately, her own personal life helped inform the way she approached the role.
“The role had texture.”
It’s been really great.
“Being an actor is so public.
Music is a very private thing for me,” she said.
“Some people keep a journal.
I make quite folky and simple music.
I write about people I know, people I don’t know, the industry.
It helps me vent some frustrations.”
In other words, she was telling the outlet not to expect a Maia Mitchell album any time soon.
As the years passed, however, Mitchell began sharing her music on YouTube.
She also uploaded music alongside YouTube star Rudy Mancuso, her then-boyfriend.
In 2018, she was the featured artist on Mancuso’s single “Magic.”
He toldBillboard, “Maia was the perfect partner for the project.
… She would challenge me in ways I truly hadn’t anticipated.
The song and videos are direct products of that daring spirit.”
She shares glamorous snapshots online with her millions of fans, showing off her enviable style to everyone scrolling.
As such, it’s only natural that the fashion world came calling.
That bit about dressing up for work, though?
She shared some snaps onInstagramshowing herself in an enviable pinstripe blue suit.
As Mitchell alluded to, much of her personal wardrobe is significantly less luxurious than Louis Vuitton.
I don’t really shop, and I don’t usually go for high-end designers when I shop."
She toldEntertainment Weeklythat she’d sent her mother home just before the show got shut down.
“It was during that shutdown when I couldn’t be around … my ‘Good Trouble’family either.
Leaving the show was an emotional experience after nearly a decade of playing one character.
Nevertheless, she found that her cast and crew had her back.
“There was only support,” she said.
“Everyone knows that family comes first right now.
So I was terrified but I didn’t need to be, they were really amazing.”
“She’s great.
I just don’t deserve her, and she’s way smarter and cooler than I am.”
Mancuso started out making videos online, making content himself rather than acting in other people’s projects.
For a time, he gave it a shot, noting that Mitchell helped him learn the ropes.
“Maia is incredibly good at auditioning.
It’s a muscle that she has worked out,” he said.
“[She] memorizes lines so quickly …
I hate it.”
Instead, Mancuso continued developing his own content, often including his girlfriend in his videos.
In 2022, the two broke up, going their separate ways after six years together.
Mancuso laterpartnered up with a member of the “Riverdale” cast, Camila Mendes.
As she expected, heading back to Australia was a massive life change.
“You have to undo those tethers and be okay with stepping away.”
“LA’s not for me,” she said.
“It’s not my favorite city …
I’m a small town girl.
I’m a country girl.
I just wanted to be home and closer to family.”
Whereas her life in Los Angeles involved constant industry pressure, she gets to relax in Australia.
“I live on a farm, a 20-acre farm,” she said.
“I just hang out there by myself.”
She explained, “I was just looking for something transported you to another world.
“It was good, but it was very hot and so sweaty,” she said.
“We would have AC vents just pumping directly under our skirts at moments.
It was chaos.”
