In the late 2000s, Miley Cyrus was the child star who rocketed to fame like no one else. The Tennessee girl - the daughter of 'Achy Breaky Heart' singer Billy Ray Cyrus - became known to teenagers all around the world when she took on the title role in Disney Channel show 'Hannah Montana'. In the years since hanging up her famous blonde wig, she has undergone artistic changes that have shocked the world. Take a look back on the first 30 years of this ground-breaking artist on her birthday...

Miley Cyrus was born to 'Achy Breaky Heart' hitmaker Billy Ray Cyrus and his now former wife Tish on November 23 1992 with the name Destiny Hope Cyrus, but her nickname of Smiley eventually morphed into just Miley and the moniker stuck. It wasn't until 2008 that she legally changed her name but her dad said of her: "Before she was born I had this vision that her name should be Destiny Hope but from the time she was born she just smiled all the time so we called her Smiley, then that evolved into Miley. But I just felt like it was her Destiny to bring Hope to the world."

In 2005, Miley was told by a Nashville talent agent that Disney were casting for a new sitcom which would focus on the life of a teenager who lives a double life as a world famous pop star. Although she was considered too young for the part at the time, Miley refused to take no for an answer and repeatedly hassled executives with audition tapes as she went up against the likes of future 'Gossip Girl' actress Taylor Momsen and Nickelodeon star Daniella Monet. She later explained: "They told me I was too small and too young, I was really upset. So they kicked me to the curb and I kept sending in takes, takes more takes and got high heels and make up to look older. A couple months go by, they still hadn't found the girl and they asked me to come to California to audition."

'Hannah Montana' became the highest-rated Disney Channel premiere ever when it first aired in 2006 and over the course of four seasons, Miley played the role of schoolgirl Miley Stewart who leads a double life as a world-famous pop star with the disguise of a long-blonde wig. Miley also dated fellow Disney Channel star Nick Jonas for a short period of time. The series - which also starred her father and featured occasional guest appearances by her godmother Dolly Parton - spawned a movie, four top-selling soundtrack albums, a tour that created a "demand" for tickets not seen since the Beatles or Elvis Presley decades earlier.

As her time on the Disney Channel show seemed to be coming to an end, Miley began to break out as an artist in her own right and released the smash hit singles 'Party in the USA' and 'Can't Be Tamed' and after completing her time on Disney began to appear in more mature roles in 'The Last Song' and soon shocked the world with her next transformation. She said: "I'm kind of ready to be more chill. I'm just trying to do more music that's more myself. I wanna take a while to discover who I am and what I wanna do. Because I wake up one day and I wanna be Gaga, then the next day I want to be Mick Jagger."

In 2013, Miley chopped off her famous locks and released the electropop hit 'We Can't Stop', which controversially focused on substance use and she shocked once more when she released the video for 'Wrecking Ball' in which she was seen swinging naked on a giant demolition ball. Miley also performed a sexually charged rendition of 'Blurred Lines' with Robin Thicke at the MTV VMAs. Following the drastic change in image, her 'Bangerz' album topped the charts in several countries and was nominated for a Grammy. Reflecting on the success four years later, she said: "'Bangerz' - everything I do isn't really a phase. It's just everything was a part of my life. I don't wear the same outfit twice."

In the years leading up to the 'Bangerz' era, Miley had been dating actor Liam Hemsworth and it is said that their break-up inspired her chart-topping record 'Wrecking Ball'. However, the pair rekindled their relationship in March 2016 and got engaged again the same year. The two tied the knot in December 2016 even though Miley - who identifies as queer - still remained "very sexually attracted to women". But there was to be no happily ever after and the 'Fly on the Wall' songstress announced their separation less than three years later and later commented on how the split and other tragedies surrounding it had left her "traumatised". She said: "I've gone through a lot of trauma and loss in the last couple years: I had a house fire in Malibu where I lost my house and went through a divorce recently, my grandma super close with, I lost."

Miley is a staunch activist for the LGBT community and founded the Happy Hippie Foundation in 2014, which which works to "fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth, and other vulnerable populations". She said: "YOU don't CHOOSE your sexuality. You are born as you are. It has always been my priority to protect the LGBTQ community I am a part of."

Despite being a million miles away from her Disney Channel roots, the 'Malibu' hitmaker - who tricked fans when she tweeted that 'She Is Coming' into thinking that a reboot was on the way when in fact it was the title of her 2019 EP - wrote a tribute letter to her fictional alter ego upon the show's 15th anniversary in 2021 and in 2020 teased that she would "definitely" like to revisit the character at some point. She said: "You know what honestly, I try to put that wig on all the time. She’s just in storage collecting dust and I’m ready to whip her out. The opportunity will present itself. I definitely would like to resurrect her at some point."

Miley has a reported net worth of $160 million and even though she was reported to have been paid just $15,000 per episode of her Disney show, she was a multimillionaire before her 16th birthday thanks to several lucrative merchandise deals for the billion-dollar franchise. But it was on her 29th birthday that she made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for only a second time, because of her fortune. She tweeted: "I turned 29 last week. It was now or never. Thank you for the honor!"

In the years since her dramatic transformation, Miley - who has been hailed as the Madonna of her generation - has continued to release music, with hit albums 'Younger Now' in 2017 and 'Plastic Hearts' in 2020, the latter of which was inspired by her split from singer Cody Simpson after a year of dating. Miley recently completed her 'Attention Tour' after playing stadiums across America. In 2021, she hosted 'Miley's New Year's Eve Party' on NBC and just a over a month after entering her 30th year, this superstar is set to ring in 2023 in the same fashion. She said: "I think everyone wants to watch something that is real and honest and genuine and authentic - which is relatable to the way that everyone celebrates at home."