Bridgit Mendler Is The Best Thing To Come Out Of Disney Channel

Turns out, there’s a correct answer to the question, “If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?” That answer is Bridgit Mendler. The 31-year-old might just be the coolest person of all time — and now the internet’s finally taking note.

In case you only know Mendler from her Disney it girl days, when she had starring roles as the singer Olivia in Lemonade Mouth and the OG vlogger Teddy in Good Luck Charlie, let me catch you up to speed. In November 2023, Mendler’s 2016 song “Do You Miss Me At All” went viral on TikTok. But Mendler wasn’t exactly biding her time, waiting for a musical comeback. Instead, she was busy earning her J.D. from Harvard Law and Ph.D. in Philosophy from MIT, both of which she’s set to graduate with in 2024.

As one fan joked, “Bridgit Mendler looking at her phone during her Harvard law class seeing $100 go into her account from a song off of her 2016 EP trending on TikTok.” Another commented, “People have been sleeping on her for TOO LONG. Let the Bridgit Mendler renaissance begin.”

Mendler isn’t just collecting degrees. Though her LinkedIn is intimidatingly robust (seriously, you would not want to be applying to the same jobs as her), her IMDb is equally impressive. The former child star scored her first role — voice acting in The Legend Of Buddha — in 2004, and since then she’s had her fair share of acting gigs and singing jobs.

Fair to say, the great Mendler revival is fully underway. On Feb. 19, Mendler announced that she was CEO of a new space startup, Northwood. Speaking to CNBC, Mendler explained the company’s goal: “The vision is a data highway between Earth and space.”

On a cheekier note, Mendler wrote in a LinkedIn update about her new role, “Expect the unexpected!” But when it comes to the multi-est of multi-hyphenates, is anything really unexpected? Whether she’s acting as a lawyer, philosopher, startup founder, or Teddy Duncan, Mendler’s apparently good at everything and anything.

That same day she shared her CEO status, Mendler posted on X about becoming a mother after adopting her foster son in 2022. “The other news I wanted to share is I’m a mama to a sweet 4yo boy. Started fostering in 2021 adopted near Christmas of 2022,” she wrote on X. “I’m so lucky — being a parent is the biggest gift and most defining experience there is that’s my news for now folks.”

TL;DR: Mendler’s been *busy* — and her journey is pretty much putting everyone else’s to shame. One fan joked on X, “Her email signature is like: -Bridgit Mendler, BA, MBA, JD, PhD, CEO, Actress, Singer, better than you, etc.”

Another wrote, “I’m going to be ambitious again. Bridgit Mendler inspired tweet.”

At this point, Mendler could very well be the first person to star in a Disney Channel original movie *and* go to space. Of course, there’s always a chance she makes another full career pivot to best-selling novelist, heart surgeon, or President of the United States.

In the eternally wise words of Elle Woods, “What, like it’s hard?” (And Elle Woods only went to Harvard Law.)