AJ Michalka

Amanda Joy "AJ" Michalka (born April 10, 1991), often credited as AJ, is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and musician. She used to be a model prior to becoming an actress, and was best known as one-half of the duo 78 violet (formerly Aly & AJ) with her sister, Aly Michalka. AJ recently recorded the theme song for the film Secretariat, entitled "It's Who You Are". A video was released along with the single. --- Michalka lived and grew up in Seattle, Washington and Southern California with her sister Aly. Her father, Mark, owns a contracting company, and her mother, Carrie, is a musician and performed with JC Band, a Christian band. Michalka has been playing the piano since she was four and started playing the guitar in her early teens. She started acting when she was five years old, mostly in church play productions. She was raised as a Christian and continues to practice the faith. Michalka was in a number of musical productions at her school in Milwaukee as a young adult. She plays a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, and bongos. She was a model for catalogs. In March 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".