Cindy Lou from The Grinch is now one of the world's biggest rock stars

With Christmas creeping ever closer, you may be working your way through the annual rotation of festive flicks that get dusted off each year.

While Elf is also a solid choice, for those who aren't as keen on Christmas, you may want to opt for 2000’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor and Christine Baranski.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas tells the story of a cynical grump known as The Grinch (played by Carrey) who plots to ruin Christmas for the happy residents of Whoville, before meeting an adorable little girl named Cindy Lou Who and discovering what the holiday season is all about.

In the flick, Cindy Lou was played by Taylor Momsen - and if that name rings a bell, that’s most likely because she went on to become a pretty huge rock star fronting the band, The Pretty Reckless. Talk about a career change.

Momsen was just seven-years-old, and later became well-known for featuring in teen drama series Gossip Girl until 2012.

Eventually, however, she retired from acting to focus on music, fronting rock group The Pretty Reckless.

The band now has four studio albums to their name, the latest being last year’s Death by Rock and Roll, which landed in a number of charts upon its release - including at the top of Billboard's Top Album Sales chart.

After debuting with 16,000 sales in the US, the record was also number one on the Current Rock Albums chart, the Record Label Independent Albums chart and Internet Albums chart.

Speaking to Today back in 2020, Momsen revealed that her time on set of The Grinch actually ended up influencing not only her career in acting, but also her music.

Recalling what it was like working with Jim Carrey, Momsen said: "I remember him being so kind, so concerned, but so methodical with what he was doing.

"Even at that young of an age, I remember watching him and going, 'I'm watching an artist right now at work.'"

She continued: "I think that people love The Grinch just simply because the core of the story is so sweet and it's so heartwarming and it has such a good message.

"Aside from how amazing Jim Carrey's performance is and the theatrics that went into the shoot, just the way the film looks and moves and is edited is amazing in its own right."

As for how the role impacted her move into the music industry, Momsen remembered feeling inspired after seeing celebrated composer, James Horner, at work in the studio.

Momsen said: "The thing that I remember the most that probably resonated with me to this day as an adult was the first time that I went into a recording studio and got to work with the amazing James Horner.

"And I'll never forget walking into this beautiful studio, with this immaculate console in front of me, and putting headphones on and singing into a microphone for the first time, singing 'Where Are You Christmas'."

"That was such an impactful moment in my life because it made me go, 'I wanna make music for the rest of my life. I love being in a recording studio'."

She added: "I'm in my bedroom singing 'Where Are You Christmas' with the flashlight. I mean, essentially, that was my first music video. So I always get a kick out of that. And I remember thinking that was a really fun scene to film."