December 10: Raven-Symoné is 28-years-old today.

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Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman, now known as Raven-Symoné, or just Raven, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and is best known for her television roles as Olivia Kendall on The Cosby Show, Galleria Garibaldi in The Cheetah Girls and The Cheetah Girls 2, and as Raven Baxter in the Emmy Award nominated series, That's So Raven. ( Other members of The Cheetah Girls were Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams and Sabrina Bryan.)

Raven-Symoné is returning to television as the star of ABC Family's comedy pilot State of Georgia. The show focuses on "Georgia" an exuberant performer from the south trying to make it as an actress in New York. The series will also be Raven-Symoné's first sitcom in four years since her lead role in That's So Raven.

 

But acting is only part of her talents; she's also a singer, songwriter, comedienne, dancer, television producer, and model. She also lent her voice to the animated series Kim Possible, for the character Monique and films such as Disney‘s Tinker Bell.

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In 1989, Raven-Symoné auditioned for a part in the Bill Cosby movie, Ghost Dad. At three years old she was considered too young for the role, but Bill Cosby liked her so much that he found a part for her on his show, The Cosby Show, as his granddaughter Olivia.

Raven-Symoné played the part of Olivia until 1992. She then appeared as the younger version of Halle Berry's starring character, a headstrong biracial slave, in the TV movie Queen: The Story of an American Family, based on the book by Alex Haley.

Raven-Symoné began her singing career at the age of five, when she signed with MCA Records. She spent that year and the next taking vocal lessons from Missy Elliott. Her debut album, Here's to New Dreams, was released on June 22, 1993, which spawned two singles: "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" and "Raven Is the Flavor," "That's What Little Girls Are Made Of" reached #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album however was not successful, and due to low sales she was dropped from MCA Records in 1995.

In early 2003, she signed a deal with Hollywood Records, a Disney-owned label. On September 21, 2004, she released her third studio album This Is My Time, which included the single "Backflip," which received heavy rotation on both Disney Channel, as well on BET and MTV. The album debuted and peaked at #51 on the Billboard 200.

 

 In March 2012, she confirmed that she has no plans to release a new album, saying that she "couldn't quite get it together" and that the music she had been working on "wasn't going to be something sellable."

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