A ‘Hannah Montana’ Star Thinks Olivia Rodrigo And Miley Cyrus’ Ascents Are ‘So Shockingly Similar’

There’s a decent-sized group of pop stars who got their starts on Disney TV shows and movies, including Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, the Jonas Brothers, and most recently, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series‘ Olivia Rodrigo. When it comes to Cyrus and Rodrigo, there’s actually one person who got to witness those two catapult to fame firsthand: Jason Earles, who played Jackson Stewart on Hannah Montana and is now an acting coach (and is also stepping into a new on-camera role as a camp counselor named Dewey) on the High School Musical show.

In a new interview with People, Earles spoke about Rodrigo and Cyrus, declaring that their rises to major music success were “so shockingly similar,” saying:

“For me, what has been mind-blowing is I was there during Hannah Montana, and I watched Miley turn into the biggest pop star in the world overnight. The show premiered, we told them, ‘She’s a pop star,’ [and] suddenly, she was a pop star. And then Olivia Rodrigo when ‘Drivers License’ dropped, the world just decided that she was the biggest pop star on the planet. It happened so quickly. It was so shockingly similar to Miley’s rise that I was like, ‘How can I possibly be this close to this twice in one lifetime’ It’s just fascinating to see in the front row as it goes down.”

Read the full interview here.