Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana is Miley Stewart's alter ego. Hannah exists as a secret identity, an extremely popular and influential worldwide popstar. Hannah's many fans are not aware that she is really just a normal teenage girl, and Miley tries to keep her two lives separate from each other.

Appearance
Hannah's blonde wig is the primary difference between her and the brunette Miley, although Hannah also wears more extravagant clothes, make-up, and sometimes large sunglasses. In the Hannah Montana story, the famous blonde wig was picked out for Miley by Roxy. (In real life, the wig was not chosen until the second episode. The original wig seen in the pilot was a slightly different style.) Miley Stewart also mentions that she intentionally patterned Hannah's look after her godmother Dolly Parton.

Miley previously experienced an image crisis in "Yet Another Side of Me" in which she grew concerned that Hannah's look might become outdated. After considering a "Techno Hannah," "Half-Dolla Hannah," (Hip hop) and the "Anti-Hannah," (Grunge) Miley decides that her fans like her for who she is.

Starting in the third season, Hannah's look changes slightly. Her wig is shorter and wavy and her fashion changes as well. This is discussed on the DVD Keeping It Real in the bonus feature "Miley's Makeover – Hannah Gets a New Look." Cyrus and her team describe the new look as an "'80s flavored style with the glitz and glam of modern fashion." It is also revealed in Super(stitious) Girl, as part of Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana, that she wears a single pink glove during concerts and it is also shown in music videos like It's All Right Here and Let's Get Crazy that she does. It symbolizes how Hannah Montana is growing up as well. In season 4, she gets a new wig that's long again but curlier.

Career
Hannah Montana's music career is very successful although there have been a few slips. In the pilot episode she is said to be continuing a "smash tour" which was being sold out. In "Yet Another Side of Me," Robby says that he has written 15 straight number ones for her. However, he may have been exaggerating since in "Miley Hurt the Feelings of the Radio Star" he says he has written 14 number ones for her. Hannah also wins several awards including a Silver Boot "Booty" award for best country pop crossover with the song "True Friend," and an International Music Award for Female Artist of the Year. She is also honored with her own diamond on the Hollywood Parade of Diamonds, a parody of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also sings for the Queen of England and the President of the United States (President Martinez in a crossover episode and mentioned performing for President Obama and Sasha and Malia Obama in season 4's "Hannah Montana to the Principal's Office"). Hannah's greatest rival is fellow pop star Mikayla (Selena Gomez) who is determined to steal Hannah's fans.

Beyond her music career, Hannah also does some acting. She guest stars on the television show Zombie High as Zaronda, Princess of the Undead. Jake Ryan's character saves Zaronda from the portal to the underworld. Hannah later stars in her own feature film, Rob Reiner's Indiana Joannie and the Curse of the Golden Cobra, alongside Chace Crawford. Hannah also endorses perfume and skin care products.

As a well known celebrity, Hannah makes regular appearances on talk shows and attends glamorous parties. Despite being fictional, Hannah knows many real life celebrities, including some who are friends of Miley Cyrus, such as Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers.

Discography
Main article: Hannah Montana discography*Hannah Montana (2006)
 * Hannah Montana 2 (2007)
 * Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009)
 * Hannah Montana 3 (2009)
 * Hannah Montana Forever (2010)
 * Live albums
 * Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (2008) – CD + DVD

Purpose
Miley has several reasons for creating Hannah. She is afraid that if the kids at school discover she is famous they won't treat her the same. While she enjoys the attention of her fame as Hannah, she equally enjoys the option of "stepping out" of her role. Miley also values her privacy and doesn't want fans or paparazzi photographers mobbing her when she goes out in public. In this way, Hannah Montana presents a unique inversion of typical celebrity experiences. While most celebrities become famous as themselves and later need disguises to not be noticed in public, Hannah Montana became famous while in disguise, and now has the freedom to be in public as herself.

As a secondary benefit, Miley also sometimes uses Hannah for specific purposes such as spying. She also uses Hannah in other ways. In "Money for Nothing, Guilt for Free," Hannah raises money for a school charity drive in which Miley is competing. In "Bye Bye, Ball," Hannah performs at a restaurant in order to get a baseball autographed for Jackson. And in "Ready, Set, Don't Drive," Hannah obtains a drivers license after Miley fails the test. Hannah also sometimes tries to use her dual personality as an excuse. For example, in "You Gotta Not Fight for Your Right to Party," Miley asks Robby to only ground Miley, not Hannah, because "Hannah didn't do anything wrong."

Beyond the show
Hannah Montana as a character has found fame beyond the television show, primarily as a recording artist and music performer. Three of the seven released soundtracks (Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus, and Hannah Montana: The Movie) topped the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. From October 2007 to January 2008, Miley Cyrus performed in a successful concert tour as Hannah Montana. The tour, called the Best of Both Worlds Tour, became a classic example of life imitating art as Hannah Montana's fictional popularity seen in the television show became a real-life fan base which bought out every concert. The popularity of Hannah Montana has also given Miley Cyrus the opportunity to become a pop star in her own right.

Hannah also appears in Hannah Montana: The Movie, the Hannah Montana book series, and two other Disney Channel shows in cameo appearances. The character appeared in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody episode "That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana" along with Raven Baxter, and The Suite Life on Deck episode "Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana" which also includes characters from Wizards of Waverly Place. (Though the characters from Wizards and Hannah Montana never interact).

Miley's secret
Keeping Miley's secret involves a two sided effort. As Hannah, she must keep her fans unaware that she is really a normal kid, and as Miley, she must keep her friends unaware that she is really Hannah Montana. In interviews, Miley Cyrus spoke of the implausibility of being able to keep a secret such as Miley and her family do in the show in a world of intense media scrutiny. The show however, remains workable primarily based on suspension of disbelief.

In the show, three other people (Robby, Lilly, and Oliver) also wear disguises when around Hannah to prevent anyone from drawing a connection to Miley (Jackson is himself, only as a childhood friend). Hannah also typically swaps limos as she leaves concert venues to keep the paparazzi from following her home. Miley must also rely on the silence of the people who know her secret. These include her family members, Robby, Jackson, Mammaw Ruthie, Aunt Dolly, Uncle Earl and Aunt Pearl, her cousin Luann, her friends Lilly Truscott and her parents, Oliver Oken and his mother, Jake Ryan, Farmine and Roxy, as well as Officer Diaria and his daughter Kelsey, Siena, TJ and the President of the United States. (This group grows exponentially at the end of Hannah Montana: The Movie.)

Despite these careful efforts, her father seems to enjoy writing Hannah songs which explicitly speak of her double life, such as "The Best of Both Worlds," "Just Like You," "The Other Side of Me," "Rock Star," "Old Blue Jeans," "Just a Girl," "Supergirl," and "Ordinary Girl." In frustration of this, Miley once complained "You might as well tattoo 'I'm really Miley Stewart' on my forehead!" Also, in the episode Get Down Study-udy-udy, Rico has almost discovered Miley's secret according to the "Bone Dance" which was created by Miley by rewritting the lyrics of Nobody's Perfect and her voice singing it

In Hannah Montana: The Movie, Hannah reveals herself as Miley during a concert in Tennessee, but her fans do not want her to stop being Hannah, and so they promise to keep her secret. This event is actually mentioned in For (Give) a Little Bit during an argument between Miley and Jackson, meaning that the movie would fit right in the middle of season 3 as if it were a part of the season.