Meg Donnelly and Kylie Cantrall are Disney Channel queens of the moment, but they're also looking ahead. (Photo Illustration: Yahoo News; photo: River Callaway/Variety via Getty Images)Disney Channel has long been a pop culture springboard, minting stars like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Zendaya and the Jonas Brothers. But being a Disney star in 2025 looks different from the Hannah Montana and Camp Rock days.
Back then, the formula was clear: land a hit show or movie, make crossover appearances in other Disney projects, release music through the Disney machine and maintain a carefully curated, wholesome image.
Global stardom came with perks, but being a young person navigating that world without a roadmap made for a high-stakes balancing act, especially in a culture quick to pick apart Disney stars. The lucky few, often backed by strong support systems, broke out beyond their early success.
AdvertisementAdvertisementToday's Disney stars benefit from the legacy, but face new hurdles. Thanks to social media, they're always on the clock - expected to perform, share and present perfection 24/7. They're brands within brands before they're old enough to drive.
Kylie Cantrall, 20, and Meg Donnelly, 25 - who lead the network's biggest ongoing properties, Descendants and Zombies, both musical fantasy films - represent the modern blueprint for Disney stardom.
They talk to Yahoo about growing up Disney, from dreaming about mouse-eared stardom as girls to movie- and music-making. But they're also pushing back against labels, steering their careers and trying to avoid the inevitable "Disney star gone wild" headlines.'Nobody really knows what I can do'Disney Channel was Donnelly's "everything" growing up. A theater kid from New Jersey, she started auditioning for roles on the network at age 8. Being cast in the ABC sitcom American Housewife in 2016 opened the door to Disney. A year later, at age 15, she landed Zombies after many auditions. The movie was an instant hit when it premiered in 2018, catapulting Donnelly to Disney stardom, powered by an army of tween fans.
Donnelly, at the 2025 Billboard Women in Music event, released her first EP, Dying Art, in June and says the songs feel more her than any of her earlier music. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic via Getty Images)Zombies' hit soundtracks, with punchy pop anthems, have gone hand-in-hand with their success. "Someday," which Donnelly sang in the original film, has 109 million streams on Spotify. Fans who search for that may discover her original songs too. That includes her 2019 album, Trust.
AdvertisementAdvertisement"When I was a kid, it was really hard for me to stand up for myself," she tells Yahoo. "A lot of the music I put out - even though it's still special to me, and I know a lot of people listen to it and they like it, so I'm not trying to discredit that at all - definitely wasn't 100% me."Looking back, it felt like a bit of a runaway train."I definitely was doing what I thought I had to do, or listening to the people I thought I had to, because I was scared to speak up," she says. "I'm still learning how to do that. I'm not 100% good at that."Feeling more in control, Donnelly released her new EP, Dying Art, in June, on the heels of showcasing her talent as the youngest finalist on The Masked Singer. She calls the project a "stepping stone" to more ownership of her career.
Then and now: Donnelly landed her role in 2018's Zombies at age 15. For the latest installment in the franchise, she and costar Milo Manheim also became executive producers as they transitioned to behind-the-scenes roles. (Disney Channel/Everett Collection, Disney Channel)"I did exactly what I felt comfortable with and what I wanted to put out there," she says. "It's a lot different than the music I put out in 2019, because ... not that I know who I am now, but I really didn't know then."AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile Donnelly is optimistic about her music career, figuring out what's next in acting has been trickier. The latest Zombies movie - another hit, drawing 9.3 million views on Disney+ in its first 10 days after its July 10 premiere - marked a turning point. She'll stay on as a producer for a potential Zombies 5 and make cameos if called on, but she's ready to let the next generation take the spotlight.
Transitioning into post-Disney roles hasn't come automatically - and it's something she's still learning to navigate."With acting, it's a bit harder," she says. "In my own insecure brain, I'm like: 'People only know me as a Disney actress. They don't see the behind-the-scenes of all the [audition] tapes I'm sending in and the acting work I'm doing. No one's ever seen me act outside of kids' television or [the] sitcom world.' That gets in my head a lot. I think: 'Nobody really knows what I can do.'"She's working to show her broader range. Outside of Disney fare, Donnelly also played the lead in the CW Supernatural spin-off, The Winchesters, from 2022 to 2023. More recently, she was very close