Jennette McCurdy stars as Bertha, Fred Figglehorn’s snarky and bluntly honest “frenemy,” in Fred: The Movie, premiering Saturday, Sept. 18 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

“Comedy is my favorite,” informs the actress who plays Carly’s sassy best friend and web show co-host Sam on Nickelodeon’s mega-hit television series iCarly. For her clever portrayal of Sam, McCurdy received her first Teen Choice nomination for Choice TV: Sidekick in 2009.

Struck by the cinematic magic of Star Wars as a child, she vowed to venture into an unknown, starry sphere: showbiz. At age 7, the Orange County native convinced her family she could handle Hollywood - and the Force was with her.

The daughter of a homemaker and a kitchen designer, McCurdy achieved success early, securing the role of a young Faith Hill in the music video for “The Way You Love Me” and the role of Kathie Lee Gifford’s kid in a Mad TV comedy sketch. She even met her hero, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) while filming Hollywood Homicide.

Best known for her comedic portrayal of Sam, McCurdy’s resume also bursts with heart-wrenching dramatic roles for which she tapped into powerful emotions from her own childhood. For example, McCurdy has played the little sister of a murderer in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; a girl with severe bi-polar disorder on Strong Medicine; an abuse victim on Law & Order: SVU; a kidnapped kid who shoots her captor on Medium; a girl whose mother sells her on Judging Amy; and the deserted daughter of a mom with Stockholm’s Syndrome in Close to Home.

McCurdy crossed over into comedy to portray the eponymous “Bad Girl” in an episode of Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101, a nerd in Malcolm in the Middle and a bossy smart aleck in the 2007 Nick TV movie The Last Day of Summer.

She is also starring in the upcoming Nickelodeon original TV movie, Best Player, which features two cyber athletes (McCurdy and iCarly’s Jerry Trainor) who inadvertently learn that the real world can be just as exciting and rewarding as a virtual one.

A singer/songwriter, McCurdy’s first solo album The Story Of My Life will debut in October 2010 and will feature nine tracks co-written by the performer.

The multi-dimensional teenager has many interests including taking ballet, tap, jazz, singing and piano lessons. McCurdy also figure skates and is coached by Olympic Silver Medalist Diane Deleeuw. She is a brown belt in karate (Uechi Ryu) and is a Food Channel devotee who loves to cook and bake.

McCurdy’s mother is a cancer survivor and, for the last 12 years, she and her family have been very involved with the Annual UCLA/Revlon Run/Walk sponsored by the Entertainment Industry, “It is a cause very close to my heart. God and Science together performed a miracle in saving my mom's life at UCLA and other facilities, and much of the research came out of money funded by the Revlon Run/Walk,” she says.

© 2010 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Last updated: August 2010

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