Janel Meilani Parrish

Janel Meilani Parrish is an American actress and singer born on October 30, 1988, in Kāne'ohe, Honolulu, Hawaii. She grew up in Honolulu and later in California. Her mother, Joanne, née Mew, is of Han Chinese descent, and her father, Mark Parrish, is of German, Irish, and English descent. Parrish has one sister, Melissa Nohelani, who is eight years older and served as an officer in the U.S. Army. Her parents are former bodybuilders, and her mother worked for a Honolulu health club.

At age nine, attending a performance of The Phantom of the Opera at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center sparked Parrish's interest in performing. She took up piano and within a year had added acting, singing, tap, and jazz dance to her studies. She became well known to local Oahu residents through talent competitions. At age 14, she appeared in the 2003 remake of Star Search, performing "On My Own" from Les Misérables. She attended Moanalua Elementary School and Moanalua High School for her freshman year before relocating with her family to Burbank, Los Angeles to pursue an entertainment career. She was subsequently homeschooled to accommodate her work schedule.

Parrish's stage career began when she was cast as Young Cosette in the National Touring Company of Les Misérables, a role she later performed for two months in the Broadway production at the Imperial Theatre. Her Broadway appearance is listed in verified records as occurring between 1987 and 1988, with Les Misérables as her sole Broadway credit. Following her Broadway run, she appeared in several community theatre productions in Hawaii, including the role of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in Manoa Valley Theatre's revival of To Kill a Mockingbird in 1998.

Her television career began in 1999 with a two-episode appearance on NBC's action series Baywatch, playing Hina, a young girl rescued from drowning by the character Mitch Buchannon, portrayed by David Hasselhoff. In 2000, she appeared in Disney's live-action television film Geppetto as Natalie, and later played Vanessa in The WB's sitcom The O'Keefes. She went on to guest star in Fox's The Bernie Mac Show, Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, and Fox's teen drama The O.C., and also appeared in Disney Channel productions and made-for-television films. She subsequently landed a recurring role in NBC's supernatural drama series Heroes.

Parrish's first starring role in a motion picture came with the 2007 teen comedy film Bratz, in which she portrayed Jade. She also provided her voice for the Bratz 4 Real video game and co-wrote her first single, "Rainy Day," which appeared on the Bratz soundtrack. That same year she was signed to Geffen Records as a solo artist and to the William Morris Agency. In April 2015, she released two additional songs, "Heart Made of Stone" and "Senseless," both co-written with Vince Pizzinga. Earlier in her music career, Parrish had won a statewide singing competition in Hawaii at age eight and later served as lead singer of the three-piece girl group Impulse.

Her most prominent television role came with the Freeform teen drama series Pretty Little Liars, based on Sara Shepard's book series, in which she played Mona Vanderwaal from 2010 to 2017. Promoted to series regular for the third season in March 2012, she remained a regular for the duration of the series. For the role, she won the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Villain four times from five nominations. She reprised the character in the spin-off series Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, which aired on Freeform from March 20 to May 22, 2019.

In February 2012, Parrish returned to the stage in a production of Spring Awakening, portraying Anna while also understudying the lead female role of Wendla Bergmann. That same year she appeared in the romantic comedy-drama film Celeste and Jesse Forever. She subsequently guest starred in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as chemistry student Rebecca Fine and in Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva as cheerleader Chelsea Putnam. In 2014, she led the cast of the Lifetime thriller High School Possession as Lauren Brady and modeled prom dresses for Seventeen magazine in partnership with Camille La Vie and Group USA. In August 2014, she was announced as a competitor on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars, paired with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy. Their Jazz routine during week three received the season's first perfect score, and the pair reached the finale, finishing in third place behind Alfonso Ribeiro and Sadie Robertson.

In 2015, Parrish guest starred in NBC's The Mysteries of Laura, and in 2017 she appeared in Fox's Rosewood as young pop star Selena Monet. In November 2017, she portrayed Sandy Dumbrowski in a Toronto production of Grease alongside Katie Findlay. She co-starred as Margot Covey in the film adaptation of Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before alongside Lana Condor and John Corbett, a role she reprised across the To All the Boys series from 2018 to 2021. She also appeared in the home-invasion thriller Hell Is Where the Home Is alongside Angela Trimbur and Fairuza Balk, and portrayed Lisa Wagner in the romance film Until We Meet Again opposite Jackson Rathbone.

In 2023, Parrish competed on the tenth season of Fox's The Masked Singer as "Gazelle," finishing in third place. She has also starred in a number of Hallmark films, including Holly and Ivy (2020), Right In Front of Me (2021), Coyote Creek Christmas (2021), Family History Mysteries: Buried Past (2023), Never Been Chris'd (2023), Sugarplummed (2024), Haunted Wedding (2024), and Christmas on Duty (2025).

Parrish was born and raised in Kaneohe, Hawaii, until age 14, when her family moved to Burbank. She has graced the covers of multiple fashion magazines, including Nationalist, Pulse Spikes, Luca, Vulkan, and Modeliste, and has partnered with brands including Room and Board Modern Furniture, Robitussin, Beauty Rest Black, and Glade candles.