When Dove Cameron steps into the Cosmo offices, I can’t talk to her. It’s not that she’s on an important phone call or that I’m struck speechless by her celebrity. No, it’s that she’s on strict vocal rest and vowed to be silent throughout the two-day photo-shoot. The 22-year-old triple threat is currently starring in Clueless the Musical off Broadway and performing eight shows a week, so it’s pertinent that she find rest where she can, doctor’s orders. As an editor, I was nervous. How do you create a positive environment on set for five hours a day when your talent won’t say a word? I needn’t have worried.

Like the stereotypical Disney-bred star—she played twins on the network’s hit series Liv & Maddie for four seasons starting when she was just 16 years old—Dove entered the space with unparalleled pep. Under-eye masks plastered on her cheeks and a bright smile on her face, she lit up the room, despite just recently recovering from one hell of a flu and serious back issues (which would later take her out of a couple shows).

With her Siri dictation app in tow, she became fast friends with everyone and led us in a Joan Jett jam session while shooting her look based on The Craft. By the end of our time with her it was clear, without her saying a word, that Dove Cameron has what they call in the industry, “it.”

Fame, while never the goal, kind of just happened for Dove. After growing up in Washington and spending time in India where her parents used to design jewelry, her mother moved her and her sister to L.A. when she was about 15. She claims the success of Liv & Maddie occurred overnight, which led to her ubiquitous presence.

Since starring in the Descendants franchise as the conflicted daughter of Maleficent (played by her spiritual twin Kristen Chenoweth), her digital fandom has skyrocketed. Dove’s Instagram boasts 23 million followers who are more than willing to buy her merch, tickets to her limited New York performance, and new music—when she’s ready to release it. (Look out for that at the top of this year, she tells me… at least, once she has the time to promote it.)

Over a week after our photoshoot, I meet Dove again at a Joe & the Juice close to her hotel in midtown to finally get into it. Like the most well-known Disney stars before her (Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, etc…) superstardom seems to be well within reach, but there’s something different about Dove. Something that reminds me Molly Ringwald, Anne Hathaway, and Neve Campbell—the teen queens of the high-school rom-com era.

As we talk over cold brews with almond milk and an energizer juice (both Dove’s) I realize what it is: she feels a bit more grounded, touchable, and surprisingly, a little wounded.

Dove came into the iconic role of Cher Horowitz, the original launchpad of teen queen Alicia Silverstone’s career, incredibly last-minute. She’d just finished filming project after project. From appearing in Netflix’s Dumplin’ to voicing Gwen Stacy in Marvel Rising to wrapping Descendants 3, Dove was tired, but unwilling to miss out on the role of a lifetime.

“We decided that it’s a lightning in a bottle moment,” she says. “Clueless the Musical is happening right now and probably never again. They’re not going to come to us in six months. It doesn’t wait for you, a theater doesn’t wait. So do it now, or you don’t do it.”

After seeing Dove portray the original valley girl heroine, it’s hard to imagine anyone else filling those designer shoes. She’s the same Beverly Hills popular girl you already know and love (complete with the iconic yellow plaid skirt set), and yet nothing like Alicia Silverstone’s Cher. Dove’s Cher, she explains, is complicated. She’s naive, but somehow wise. “Clueless,” yes, but sometimes completely self aware. continue reading at cosmopolitan.com

– Photoshoot > 2019 > Session 001