Cheerleaders Playing Cheerleaders: Kirsten Dunst

Here we have the star of what I would argue is the most recognizable cheerleading movie; Kirsten Dunst. She is deserving of her very own post on my blog, because Bring it On was the reason I began cheerleading 13 years ago. 

Kirsten Dunst cheered on her middle school squad

A cheerleading photo shoot for photographer Ron Davis in 1995

As Torrence Shipman in Bring it On; the movie that launched a the most successful cheerleading movie franchise in Hollywood.

August 2000 cover of American Cheerleader magazine

Cheerleaders Playing Cheerleaders: The Tisdale Sisters

                                            Ashley Tisdale

Cheering as a child in New Jersey

As Savannah Monroe on Hellcats

on the cover of American Cheerleader magazine

2011 Got Milk campaign 

Jennifer Tisdale

(second from right)

Jennifer cheered during high school and college

In an interview with Seventeen Magazine, Jennifer said "I have two [favorite cheer memories], actually. I was a cheerleader for a really long time! My senior year I was captain of my squad and we won camp championships, which meant our team was the best team in our varsity range. And then I ended up making All-American All-Star which was a thing where all the people that made all-star could do the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but you had to have try-outs and only 20 people from each camp were able to go. And then my sophomore year of college my best cheerleading memory was, we were an all-girl squad and we were there at the same time as the USC all-boys cheer squad. They’re yell leaders. I actually met a boy at cheer camp and I ended up dating him so that was great. I got to go to USC football games and sit in the second row."

playing Chelsea in Bring it On: In it to Win it

Cheerleaders Playing Cheerleaders: Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus cheered for a few squads in Tennessee, as well as one in Burlington, Ontario. Some of these squads were competitive.

Premier Tennessee Panthers

Tennessee Coyboys

 

Playing a Miley Stuart in a cheerleading episode of Hannah Montana

Dancing with the Spartian Sparkles cheerleaders.

The Sparkles are a special needs squad who
 impressed Miley with their cheers

Playing a cheerleader in an SNL skit

Cheerleaders Playing Cheerleaders

When you see an actor in a movie about soccer you wonder how much training they had to undergo in order to successfully come across as a soccer player. If their performance is convincing enough you start to wonder if they actually play in real life. I'm not talking about the professional soccer players who are brought in for background work, or even the ones given a few lines. I'm talking about the actors who grew up playing soccer before they started acting, and then getting to revisit this past time through a role. This concept always fascinated me. I wanted to find out how many cheerleaders out there had roles playing cheerleaders on TV or in movies. 

Cheerleaders Playing Cheerleaders is going to be a recurring theme in this blog, but I'd like to start off the list with lifelong cheerleader Charisma Carpenter. You've gotta  give it up for the girl, even her name has spirit.

Charisma Carpenter

Cheered in high school and for the NFL San Diego Chargers.

In 1997, she was cast as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For the first 3 seasons she played a self important queen bee who landed a spot on the cheerleading squad within the first few episodes. 

In 2010, Carpenter joined the Butterfingers Defense League and was in uniform once again for a promotional music video. 

A New York Times reporter titled an article and accompanying interview with the actress "Charisma Carpenter: I had to wear a cheerleader costume... again." In the interview, her exact words are [when approached by Butterfingers to do the video] "Do I have to wear a cheerleader uniform again?" Referring to a cheerleading uniform as a costume is putting cheerleading into a fantasy category. Instead of using the word 'uniform' in his headline, this reporter chose to go for the more eye catching phrase. The words 'cheerleader costume' bring a specific image to mind, especially to male readers. This phrasing sexualizes the sport. Carpenter refers to her wardrobe for the video as a cheerleader uniform, but when the reporter asks her about her cheerleader costume, she doesn't correct him.