Child star Bridgit Mendler made remarkable career U-turn after leaving Hollywood
Bridgit Mendler was once a Disney Channel darling, starring in Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, Jonas, and the cult-classic Lemonade Mouth.
Following her 2013 cameo in the American comedy series Jessie, the actress transitioned away from the family-friendly TV channel to work on the NBC sitcom Undateable, the musical drama Nashville, and later Netflix’s Merry Happy Whatever with High School Musical’s Ashley Tisdale.
The latter currently serves as the 33-year-old’s latest small-screen role, with 2018’s Father of the Year her most recent flick appearance.
In addition to being a prolific Disney actor, Mendler officially embarked on a music career in 2011, contributing to the soundtrack of Lemonade Mouth and later releasing her debut record a year later.
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After her single ‘Ready or Not’ received platinum certifications in four territories, she dropped her 2016 EP, Nemesis.
She later embarked on a North American tour with Hayley Kiyoko and Powers in Support.
The gigs, which concluded in April 2017, were followed by a single called ‘Diving’ with American group RKCB. This marked the end of Mendler’s music career.
Amid her exit from the limelight, the star began studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University.
Mendler was enrolled on courses at the American educational facilities between 2017 and 2024.
In 2023, the Teddy Duncan favourite co-founded Northwood Space, a satellite data start-up, with her husband, Griffin Cleverly, whom she married in 2019, and Shaurya Luthra.
She is CEO of the business, described as ‘an end-to-end ground infrastructure provider for space missions that push the boundaries of the possible’.
This incredible career U-turn was allegedly spurred on by Mendler falling ‘completely in love with space law’ during the time she spent at the Federal Communications Commission’s new Space Bureau, as per an interview with CNBC.
Through her start-up, the ex-musician hoped to mass produce ground stations to connect to satellites in space.
“The vision is a data highway between Earth and space,” she explained.
"Space is getting easier along so many different dimensions but still the actual exercise of sending data to and from space is difficult. You have difficulty finding an access point for contacting your satellite.”
Discussing why she swapped acting for entrepreneurship, Mendler told her Disney co-star Naomi Scott: “I think I started to feel a bit of that disconnect with what I was doing in my day-to-day, in entertainment and started to put out feelers into more of the research domain.
According to Hero Magazine, she continued: “Then visiting the MIT media lab, I just felt like it was such fertile territory to explore something about an impact that would go into a different space, and beyond.
“I palpably remember that point in the transition, because music is always my first love, I love it so deeply, but I remember being at South by Southwest and just feeling… Lonely. Finding your artistic community can be so hard.”
And it looks as if the career switch-up has proved worthwhile, with Mendler confessing to Bloomberg that Northwood had raised $30 million in funding from investors in 2025.
Ella Scott