Amanda Joy Michalka (/miːˈʃɑːkə/ mee-SHAH-kah; born April 10, 1991) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and musician. She was a model before becoming an actress, and is best known as one half of the duo Aly and AJ (formerly 78Violet) with her sister Aly Michalka. AJ recorded the theme song and accompanying music video for the film Secretariat, titled "It\'s Who You Are". She also issued a single and video called "All I\'ve Ever Needed" from her 2013 film Grace Unplugged. She has had a successful acting career, and after two seasons in a recurring role as Lainey Lewis on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, she was promoted to a regular role on the series for the third season. Michalka was demoted to recurring status for the fifth season as her character went to college and thus was in fewer storylines. The character drops out of college in the fifth season but continues to appear. She has starred with her Goldbergs colleagues Tim Meadows and Bryan Callen in the spin-off Schooled since January 2019. Michalka also has a lead role in the Netflix series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, in which she voices Catra, the former best friend and current rival to She-Ra.\n', '

Michalka was born and raised in Torrance, California and is the younger sister of actress and musician Aly Michalka. Her father, Mark, owns a contracting company, and her mother, Carrie, is a musician and performed with the Christian rock band "JC Band". Her parents are divorced. As a little girl, she briefly lived in Seattle and Milwaukee. Both she and her sister attended Mack Elementary. She has played the piano since she was six and started playing the guitar in her early life. She started acting when she was five, mostly in church play productions. She was raised as a Christian and homeschooled for part of her childhood. Michalka was in a number of musical productions at her school in Milwaukee as a young woman. She is of German, English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent.\n', '

She plays a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and piano. She was a model for catalogs. In 2006 she made her Disney Channel debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie Cow Belles, as "Courtney Callum," along with sister Aly, as "Taylor Callum." She has also appeared on shows such as Oliver Beene, Six Feet Under, The Guardian, and General Hospital. She and her sister appeared in the MTV film Super Sweet 16: The Movie.\n', '

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