Spears made her acting debut in the 2002 Paramount film Crossroads, which starred elder sister Britney Spears, in a cameo role as young Lucy Wagner.

Spears then signed on as a regular performer on the Nickelodeon sketch series All That. Her performance was positively received by critics and she stayed on for the last three seasons of the series from 2002 to 2004. She then took the role of the protagonist Zoey Brooks of the Nickelodeon situation comedy series Zoey 101. The series premiered in 2005 and ran four seasons, earning Spears awards from Young Hollywood Award, Young Artist Award and Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Spears also recorded the theme song for the show.

Other roles include a cameo as Mandy Ferner in the ABC comedy sitcom series Miss Guided and the voice of Goldilocks in the straight to DVD film Unstable Fables: Goldilocks & 3 Bears Show.

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