Born in Hollywood, CA on March 10, 1992, Osment spent little time in the shadow of her famous older brother Haley Joel before breaking into the entertainment business herself. She landed her first professional commercial acting job in 1998 at the age of six, and from there picked up a slew of other commercial appearances. In 1999, Osment landed her first feature film role in "The Secret Life of Girls," a comedy starring Eugene Levy and Linda Hamilton as the quirky parents of an understandably embarrassed 15-year-old girl. While Osment's part was small, it opened the door for her next role in the TV movie "Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End” (1999). In the third installment of this popular series, Osment played the feisty youngest daughter of the Witting clan and her performance earned her a nomination from the 1999 Young Artists Awards.
Osment ventured into series television with guest spots on "3rd Rock from the Sun" (NBC, 1996-2001), "Touched by an Angel" (CBS, 1994-2003) and "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004), with her breakout role coming in the immensely popular "Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams" (2002). As the devious and resourceful Gerti Giggles, Osment got to strut her stuff in thrilling stunts and exciting action scenes, earning herself another nomination from the Young Artist Awards. She reprised her role the following year in the sequel "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" (2003). Osment lent her voice to animated features “Lilo and Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch” (2005) and “Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen” (2006). Having proven herself a capable comedienne, she was cast as the best friend of “Hannah Montana” (Disney, 2006- ) on the runaway hit Disney series about a teenager (Miley Cyrus) harboring a secret double life as a pop star.
“Montana” transformed Osment into a teen idol. Because of this newfound status, she was anxious to take her first stab at a starring role with “The Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It” (2007). The teen horror-fantasy film earned Osment another Young Artists Award nomination for playing a new Goth kid in town in the R.L. Stine adaptation, but also showcased her singing chops with a single from the soundtrack, “I Don’t Think About It.” The same year she recorded the duet "You've Got a Friend" with Miley’s country-singing dad, Billy Ray Cyrus. While still working steadily on “Hannah Montana,” Osment starred in the direct-to-DVD title “Soccer Mom” (2008) and in the Disney Channel original movie “Dadnapped,” as a teen who hatches a plan to get some much-needed attention from her workaholic dad. She returned to movie theaters in 2009 with “Hannah Montana: The Movie” (2009) – an unexpected box office hit.