With How I Met Your Father season one ending with a bang on March 15th and a second season already in the works, Hilary Duff's career is in a great spot. This isn't surprising since she has starred in many fan-favorite movies and TV shows over the years.
From her time on the Disney Channel and appearances in many family movies to her most recent work in adult comedies and dramedies, she's done a lot of fun projects. Hilary is such a smiley, kind-eyed person that it's difficult to ever really view her as unlikable, but some of her characters over the years have been better than others.
Kelsey Peters - Younger
Kelsey Peters isn't a bad person. In fact, in many ways she comes off just as bubbly and cheerful as Hilary herself. However, Kelsey makes a lot of pretty big mistakes throughout the seasons of Younger.
Obviously making mistakes in general does not make someone unlikable, but Kelsey makes more than her fair share and over time it does make her character somewhat questionable. She cheats, isolates people, and she makes several moves in her career that are pretty unprofessional. She is simply less likable than Hilary's other characters.
Lane Daniels - Beauty And The Briefcase
Another successful career woman played by Hilary is Lane Daniels from the ABC Family Beauty and the Briefcase. Her character is one that is looking for love in all the wrong places- and Hilary does play an excellent ingénue.
The character flaw in Lane Daniels is that she lies constantly throughout the movie. In her defense, all the lying and deception is essential for the film to have a plot, but it doesn't make her very likable. Ultimately, she makes up for it by finding love, which always has a way of winning an audience over.
Natalie Connors - Agent Cody Banks
When fans think of Hilary Duff, perhaps the first thought isn't "action star," but she certainly was one alongside Frankie Muniz in Agent Cody Banks. Unfortunately, there is not very much to her character, Natalie Collins.
This character falls into the action movie trope where she is the beautiful young woman who is along for the ride with the male action star. Sometimes she is being rescued, and sometimes she is holding her own. Natalie Collins is essentially the PG version of a Bond girl- the kind that existed before Phoebe Waller-Bridge was helping with the scripts.
Olivia Burke - Gossip Girl
Not long after her time on Lizzie McGuire, Hilary appeared on Gossip Girl in a very different kind of role for her. She played Olivia Burke, a movie star who has an unpopular relationship with Dan in season three. They end up having a threesome with Vanessa.
All three characters are really uncomfortable and awkward around each other once that happens, but leading up to it that are several scenes that show Olivia being really sweet and down to earth for her level of fame. She is a great roommate for Vanessa and a kind girlfriend to Dan. She gets a little jealous of Vanessa, but there's nothing really unlikable about her.
Lorraine Baker - Cheaper By The Dozen
It would be easy to look at the surface level of Lorraine Baker and say that her obsession with fashion and makeup make her vain or conceited, but it's just not true. She is ultimately a Baker, and they all have hearts of gold.
Throughout Cheaper By the Dozen, Lorraine demonstrates that she is a good sister by helping Charlie stand up to a bully and while avoiding a fight, helping her dad with the kids when he's overwhelmed, and voicing concern for the family's image. She also has comforting words for Mark when he's feeling left out.
Isabella - The Lizzie McGuire Movie
Just like Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap, Hilary Duff does not have a twin or someone who looks exactly like her, so one of the characters she's played over the years is the iconic Isabella from The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
These two are a classic example of what happens when a man tries to pit two powerful women against each other. Anytime that things seem off with Isabella, or she is made out to seem like the bad guy, it just isn't true. She's a superstar through and through and she's not afraid to share the spotlight.
Kelly Collins - Cadet Kelly
Cadet Kelly was one of the most popular Disney Channel movies of the early 2000s. Hilary plays Kelly Collins, a fun-loving girl who gets pulled away from everything she knows to go to military school, and she has to adapt.
While she may not always have the best attitude, it often stems from being put in a really difficult situation and circumstance. At the end of the day, Kelly is a young girl who is still learning and growing, and she makes friends easily and makes her family proud in the end. She's very likable throughout her journey.
Lizzie McGuire - Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire from Lizzie McGuire is a classic Disney Channel character that kids loved throughout the early 2000s. She's very relatable because she's always trying to do her best in every episode, but often ends up in embarrassing situations.
Lizzie is another young character who isn't perfect, but she's extremely likable because she loves all of her people very deeply and wears her heart on her sleeve. She'll fight with her parents every now and then, but she's ultimately a super sweet girl who just wants to survive middle school.
Sam - A Cinderella Story
Sam from A Cinderella Story is the kind of character that wouldn't hurt a fly. She is simply a victim of horrible circumstances like Cinderella herself and everything she's endured has made her resilient. She maintains her kindness.
She is goal-oriented and she's a hard worker, chasing after her dreams and trying to make them a reality for herself. She puts up with a lot from her stepmother and stepsisters, but she ultimately prevails and gets to go to her dream school with her dream guy. She is a sweet princess who gets the fairytale ending she deserves.
Sophie - How I Met Your Father
Now, over twenty years into her successful career, Hilary Duff is playing Sophie in How I Met Your Father, the spinoff of How I Met Your Mother that streams on Hulu. There is really nothing bad to be said about Sophie.
Hilary knows how to play likable characters and she really outdoes herself with Sophie. She is a hopeless romantic who is kind, funny, supportive, and always dreaming. She is a loyal friend to Valentina and a passionate artist who loves photography. She really must be likable because people she met in the pilot episode are now her best friends she hangs out with all the time.