The Color Purple | Official Trailer

During Halle’s The Little Mermaid press tour, the trailer for The Color Purple was released. Halle will be playing Young Nettie in the film, which is scheduled to premiere on Christmas 2023. Halle is booked and busy!

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Born

Born

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Halle Lynn Bailey was born on March 27, 2000, in Mableton, Georgia to Courtney and Doug Bailey. She has one older sister, Chloe Bailey, and a younger brother, Branson Bailey.

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Young Artists

Young Artists

Chloe x Halle - “Love Is You” Live

Their parents noticed the duo had singing chops after hearing Chloe sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The girls’ parents started posting their local performances on Youtube. Halle is known for her light soprano voice that floats above the deep and rich vocals of her older sister.

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Becoming an actress

Becoming an actress

Chloe (left) and Halle (right)
Chloe (left) and Halle (right)
Photo: Lester Cohen / Contributor (Getty Images)

Halle’s first acting role was as Tina in Last Holiday (2006), followed by playing Tiffany in Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (2007). She was also in Let it Shine (2012) as a choir girl.

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Radio Disney’s “Next Big Thing”

Radio Disney’s “Next Big Thing”

Image for article titled The Evolution of Halle Bailey
Photo: Michael S. Schwartz / Contributor (Getty Images)

The duo, called Chloe X Halle were crowned as Season 5 Radio Disney’s “Next Big Thing” in 2012, a program that was used to give exposure to emerging young music artists. They were then given the opportunity to perform on the Disney show Austin & Ally for their win.

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Signed by Beyoncé

Signed by Beyoncé

Beyonce - “Pretty Hurts (Chloe x Halle Cover)“

The sisters were signed to Queen Bey’s Parkwood Entertainment in 2016 after they grabbed the attention of Beyoncé from their viral cover of her song “Pretty Hurts.”

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The Lightskin Porch

The Lightskin Porch

Image for article titled The Evolution of Halle Bailey
Image: Screen grab from Bloomberg.com (Other)

Halle and Chloe starred in Beyonce’s music video alongside other young women in Hollywood which became a joke and criticism on the internet called the “lightskin porch”.

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Solo debut

Solo debut

Disney World 50: Halle Bailey sings “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”

The rising had her solo singing debut at Disney World’s 50 Anniversary event, singing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King.

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Solo music?

Solo music?

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Unlike her sister, Halle has not yet released solo music. She has expressed on social media and in interviews that she has been working on new music.

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Albums

Albums

Chloe x Halle - Do It (Official Video)

Halle has two studio albums with her sister, The Kids Are Alright (2018) and Ungodly Hour (2020) and a mixtape, The Two of Us (2017). They also wrote and recorded the theme song, “Grown”, for the show Grown-ish. Halle played the recurring character, Sky Forster, on the show.

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Soon to be Grammy winner?

Soon to be Grammy winner?

Image for article titled The Evolution of Halle Bailey
Photo: Kevin Winter / Staff (Getty Images)

Halle and her sister have been nominated for 5 Grammy awards. Although they have yet to win, it is not far-fetched to believe that they will be accepting that award in the near future whether it’s as a duo or solo, possibly for The Little Mermaid?

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Halle is the protective little sister

Halle is the protective little sister

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Although people believed Halle was the quiet little sis to Chloe, she is not the one to mess with. Her older sister has received an unfair amount of criticism for being sexual in her artistic style. Always with her Twitter fingers ready, she has clapped back on her Instagram live, calling people out for their unnecessary comments.

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Dating 

Dating 

Image for article titled The Evolution of Halle Bailey
Photo: Jon Kopaloff / Stringer (Getty Images)

Halle was familiar with her current boyfriend, DDG, from the early days of Youtube. He of course is a Youtuber turned music artist and producer. The couple even attended Beyoncé’s 41st birthday party together recently.

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The Color Purple

The Color Purple

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It was announced this year that Halle will be playing Nettie in the new film adaptation of The Color Purple. The movie is set to release in 2023.

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A Black Ariel

A Black Ariel

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Halle was cast in 2019 as Ariel in the remake of the Disney classic, The Little Mermaid. Since the announcement there have been nonstop, blatantly racist comments made online about the decision to cast a Black woman as Ariel, with the hashtag #NotMyAriel.

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Support for casting Halle

Support for casting Halle

Halle with director Rob Marshall
Halle with director Rob Marshall
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Stringer (Getty Images)

The Little Mermaid director, Rob Marshall, did come out with a statement in support of the casting, recalling when he decided to choose her for the role, “You could tell right away that she was able to harness Ariel’s passion, her fire, her soul, her joy and her heart.”

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Promoting excitement and love

Promoting excitement and love

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In order to spread positivity despite the hate, Halle has promoted the precious moments leading up to the release of the film saying in a Variety interview, “I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special, and that they should be a princess in every single way”. She recently posted a compilation video of Black girls reacting to the much-anticipated trailer that shows the first looks of herself as the mermaid, angelically singing “Part of Your World”. We can’t wait to see this movie in theaters in May 2023.

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