Anna Maria Perez de Tagle on the Magic of Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, and Growing Up With Sylvia La Torre

Two decades after her Disney Channel debut, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle reflects on her time filming Hannah Montana, the influence of her grandmother, the “Queen of Kundiman” Sylvia La Torre, and the Filipino traditions she is now passing on to her daughter.

For a generation raised on the golden age of noughties Disney Channel, when shows aired on fixed schedules before the rise of streaming platforms, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle was (and still is) a fixture of that era defined by shows like Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and That’s So Raven.

As Ashley Dewitt, one half of the deliciously sharp-tongued duo opposite Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana, with the tagline “oooh, tss.” that even has its own compilation on YouTube, or as the pink-clad Ella Pador in Camp Rock alongside Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, she became one of Disney’s most legendary antagonists.

But before film sets and red carpets Perez de Tagle’s story was shaped by her local Filipino community in California, and the unmistakable sound of kundiman. “The last time I was in the Philippines was 2016 or 2017,” she says. “I’m due for a trip back.” When she returns, the rituals are always the same: seeing old friends, eating as much as possible, and rediscovering Manila through its ever-changing landscape. “I love all the malls there because it’s very different from the malls here. You can just feel the culture over there. And I love just trying different restaurants.”

Born and raised in San Francisco, Perez de Tagle grew up knowing performance would always be part of her life. Her grandmother was Sylvia La Torre, the legendary Filipina singer and actress often dubbed as the ‘Queen of Kundiman’ or the ‘First Lady of Philippine Television.’ “I knew pretty much early on that I would be a performer and a singer because of my grandmother,” she says. “She was my very first vocal coach. I grew up watching her on stage, and I kind of knew early on that that’s something I wanted to do.”

Understanding her grandmother’s cultural significance came at the mere age of three. Watching La Torre perform in the Bay Area, where she frequently held concerts for the Filipino community, Perez de Tagle was pulled onstage to sing ‘Bahay Kubo.’ “I remember feeling really nervous because there were so many people, but that’s when I knew she was a big deal. That was my earliest memory of her, knowing that she wasn’t just my grandma.”

Though she was naturally shy as a child, theatre became both an outlet and a form of education, leading her to enroll in acting classes to help step out of her comfort zone. “I knew then, okay, this is something that I love doing. It feels like home,” she says. Her mother was initially hesitant. “She knew how hard it is, especially here. We had no connections, nothing with the industry,” Perez de Tagle explains. “It was more of, can I take the no’s? Do I have thick enough skin to continue if I don’t book something?”

Her father, by contrast, was fully supportive. Having grown up in the entertainment industry in the Philippines himself, he understood the rhythm of it. “He was all for it. He said, whatever she wants to do, we will do it.” Eventually, even her mother came around. “When I did start booking things, that’s when she was like, maybe she is right for this.”

From there, she moved into catalog modelling for Macy’s, Walmart, and Mervyn’s, along with cameos in commercials, and became a junior finalist on Star Search, which led to her securing representation. She was still living in the Bay Area when Disney launched a worldwide search for fresh faces with an excerpt from That’s So Raven. “I was a Disney Channel girl growing up,” she says. “I knew right away, I know where this is from and I could totally deliver this.”

She auditioned for multiple roles on Hannah Montana, including Miley Stewart herself and Lilly Truscott, the best friend role she had hoped to land, which ultimately went to Emily Osment. Instead, she won Ashley Dewitt, a ditzy submissive mean-girl minion to Amber Addison who both terrorized Miley at Seaview Junior-Senior High School. “I was really shocked,” she says, laughing. “I had no prior acting experience or training, so when they said they’d love for her to be the mean girl, I kind of took from my childhood experience of actually being bullied and did that with my character. And it worked.”

It was a role viewers loved to hate in a Disney villain sort-of-way. “Fans would be really scared of me at first, but I always assured everyone it was just acting,” she says. Still, she embraced it fully. “Amber and Ashley, we had the best wardrobe. People say we were iconic during that time. We had the most memorable tagline. I really had a blast playing her.”

When the pilot was picked up, her family made the collective decision to relocate to Tinseltown, with one week of filming equaled one episode, and each season ran for 13 episodes. She briefly attended the elite and competitive Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, as recorded in the 2012 documentary Fame High, before switching to homeschooling to balance work and school. Off set, though, it still felt like childhood. “We were just kids at the end of the day,” she says. “We’d be hanging out in the dressing rooms with Miley, playing Guitar Hero. We’d have lunches together and just chit-chat. I have the fondest memories of that time. I really had so much fun.”

Two decades later, it remains one of Disney’s defining series, generating 14 platinum and 18 gold albums worldwide and made the company over a billion dollars. “It means everything,” she says reflecting on its legacy. “Hannah Montana was my first TV show. To be part of such a historic and impactful show means so much to me.” Reuniting with Miley Cyrus after more than a decade was particularly emotional. “It was so heartwarming. I’m so happy people still love it as much as I do.”

If Ashley existed in 2026, Perez de Tagle already knows exactly where she would be. “I think Ashley would be a trad wife with a side hustle for fun,” she says. “That side hustle would be a kids’ clothing line or somewhere in fashion. Or she’s a mom influencer like me.”

Camp Rock followed soon after, where she played Ella Pador, another supporting character with familiar typecast energy. “The only difference between Ella and Ashley is that Ella can sing, and Ashley can’t,” she jokes. She does have one regret: not keeping the clothes. “Jason [Earles] told me he kept a lot, and I never thought I could just ask for it,” she says. What she did keep were the scripts and DVDs, reminders of a career that still feels surreal.

But even amid living the all-American dream, her Filipino identity remains central to her life, with kare-kare, balut, and dinuguan served on weekends. Christmas meant Simbang Gabi followed by opening presents at midnight, a tradition she continues with her own family. “One of the most meaningful traditions,” she says, “is singing my grandmother’s kundimans.”

Today, she teaches those same songs to her four-year-old daughter. “She loves to sing, she loves to perform,” Perez de Tagle says. “I’ve recently had her listening to my grandmother’s songs.” She hopes that by proudly embracing her Filipino identity, she can encourage younger women to do the same. “I really am a proud Pinay,” she says. “Even trying to speak more Tagalog nowadays and teaching my daughter certain words and phrases, that’s how I’ll continue all the Filipino traditions.”

The same sense of pride emerges when she sees Filipino representation in Hollywood today. “I think that’s great. I feel like we need more,” she says. “We’ve been very vocal about being proud to be Filipino. I know Olivia [Rodrigo] has as well. I’m just proud whenever I see a Filipino in anything, but for Disney it’s closer to my heart because that’s where I started.”

For Perez de Tagle, being a former Disney kid is not something to outgrow. “Some people think it’s cringe,” she says. “I don’t think it’s cringe at all. It’s a lot of people’s childhood.” Unlike many former child stars who are eager to leave their cable-TV past behind, Anna Maria speaks about that era with the utmost admiration and respect, particularly now “it’s come full circle that I have a family and I still work with Disney on content creation.”

Would she ever return? Absolutely. Fans have suggested everything from a mother-daughter series to a new family sitcom. “At my age, I’d probably play a mother, which makes sense,” she says. “And I would love to. I had a great experience with everybody at the network.” In many ways, she truly embodies the values and the messages Disney has championed throughout the decades, that what truly matters always leads back to family and home.

Long after the scripts are packed away and the theatrical-pop soundtracks have faded, it is kundiman, not just Disney, that remains the truest soundtrack of Anna Maria Perez de Tagle’s life.