Amanda Bynes
Bynes, 14, was discovered at age 9 while doing a routine at a local comedy club. Producers of Nickelodeon's "All That" saw her and promptly put her to work on the show for four seasons.
"The Amanda Show," a kind of "Mad TV" for kids, features Bynes with regular cast members as a variety of quirky characters in tongue-in-cheek vignettes, commercial spoofs and comedy segments.
Bynes has her entire family's support -- "from dogs to grandparents" -- and says she owes her success to being in the right place at the right time.
"I am really lucky that people found me and believed in me," she says, noting her gratitude for "Amanda Show" producers Dan Schneider and Brian Robbins, who convinced the network to build the namesake show around her talents.
Bynes would like to do feature film work and is hopeful her career will continue to grow. But if that's not how it pans out, she will take it in stride.
"If it all ended tomorrow, I'd know I had a great time while I was doing it," Bynes admits.
She's also enterering the Web world, as the lede voice-over for "The Day I Saved America," a 48-minute kids' feature film that will premiere Nov. 21 on www.rumpus.com.
Her attitude is as applaudable as her ability, but Bynes evidently has no need to worry, since "Amanda," to many parents and teens alike, is already a household name.
