Lalaine Vargas-Peras — generally credited as simply “Lalaine” — is best known for her role as Miranda Sanchez, best friend to Lizzie McGuire (played by Hilary Duff) in the Disney original, Lizzie McGuire. The show featured a group of tweens as they navigated life, love, and friendship within the hallways of their middle school. Lizzie and Miranda were the best of friends and their relatable characters and friendship helped make the show the success it was. Once the show went off the air, however, while Hilary Duff went on to pursue other acting opportunities, Lalaine seemed to drop off the radar. So the question remains – where did she go? Here’s everything we know about the former Lizzie McGuire bestie, Lalaine.
Lalaine played Miranda Sanchez on Lizzie McGuire from 2000 to 2002. The series was a huge success and rocketed the young actors to fame. Hilary Duff — who played Lizzie McGuire — has starred in several projects since her time on the show, including Younger, How I Met Your Father, Cadet Kelly, and The Haunting of Sharon Tate. Lalaine however, seemed to be immortalized in young viewers’ minds as Miranda Sanchez. Yet, despite her stepping out of the film spotlight, she has actually been one busy girl behind the scenes. Here is everything she’s been up to.
Lalaine’s Lizzie McGuire days
Lalaine was on the show for two years and won several awards including Best Supporting Actress in Television, Best Ensemble in a TV Series, and a Best Young Artist Award. Despite her award-winning performance, Lalaine left Lizzie McGuire in 2002 to pursue other opportunities. Her abrupt departure caused her to miss the final 6 episodes of the show and the Lizzie McGuire movie. It was a blow to fans who had followed the young women’s on-screen friendship for years. Lalaine appeared in the 2003 Disney movie You Wish! with fellow Disney co-stars Aj Trauth and Spencer Breslin.
Lalaine’s life post-Lizzie McGuire
The now 36-year-old Burbank, California native is a woman of many talents, she is a singer-songwriter who has also starred in several Broadway musicals. Her acting career began in a Broadway performance of Les Miserables, where she played the roles of young Cosette and Epinone. She was spotted for the first time on a film screen in the 1999 film Borderline, and soon after as Kate in the 1999 Annie remake. She landed her big break on Lizzie McGuire in 2000.
Following her time on Lizzie McGuire, Lalaine signed with Warner Bros. Records and released Inside Story, her first and unfortunately only album. She was also a part of Radio Disney for a while and did a brief tour with them.
Eventually, Lalaine left the Disney spotlight altogether and appeared in several cameos and guest spots over the years including as Chloe on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a “gossiping girl” in Easy A starring Emma Stone in 2010, and in Royal Kill in 2009. She also continued to pursue a music career by joining the band Vanity Theft in 2010, which she was eventually asked to leave.
While her subsequent acting and musical career attempts were less than successful, an arrest in 2007 may give some indication as to why. In 2007 Lalaine was arrested for felony possession of methamphetamine. After completing court-ordered rehab in Long Beach, California, the felony portion of the crime was expunged, as part of her plea deal.
In 2018 her acting career experienced a rebirth as she played Stacy in One Night Alone and appeared with her former fellow Disney costar, Even Steven’s Christy Carlson Romano in the show Christy’s Kitchen Throwback. She also played Krista in the 2020 movie Definition Please. It seems the once-beloved Miranda has gotten her groove back.
These days Lalaine keeps her profile low and her social media set to private. She continues to pursue acting opportunities although it seems her musical career has been put on hold, at least for the time being. While she has done several other things since her time on Lizza McGuire, in our hearts, she will always be Miranda Sanchez.
