A recent online entry, dated May 24, was datelined Toronto, where Hilary was filming the romantic comedy "The Perfect Man," in which she plays matchmaker for mom Heather Locklear.

Her new movie release is "A Cinderella Story," a contemporary twist on the fairy tale, starring Hilary, with four of her new songs on the soundtrack. On July 20, Hilary kicked off a 33-city concert tour.

In August, she'll complete her as-yet untitled sophomore album for release Sept. 28 — her 17th birthday. Hilary's coming-out album, "Metamorphosis," went triple platinum, outselling Britney Spears' and Madonna's last albums combined. October will see the release of another film, "Raise Your Voice."

Maybe it's a good thing she doesn't keep a diary. Who'd believe such fantasies?

"I feel lucky, I really do," says Hilary, calling from Los Angeles recently. "Everything is so crazy for me, and so surreal — I feel like such a normal girl in this crazy whirlwind world. Sometimes I do feel like it's a fantasy and a fairy tale."

Four years ago, it felt more like a bad dream for a girl from Texas who'd been an aspiring ballerina at 6, started doing ads and commercials at 8, and moved to Los Angeles at 10 with her mother, Susan, and sister Haylie, then 12. Father Bob stayed in Houston, where he owned a number of convenience stores, while the sisters studied acting, auditioned like crazy, and got rejected early and often.

"My mom and dad are amazing," Hilary says. "My mom works her butt off every single day for me, and I'm sure she'd rather be with my dad in Texas and stuff.

"They're just so supportive in everything that we want to do," Hilary says. "My sister and I must have gone on 100 auditions without a callback, and the minute my mother saw us feel like we'd been rejected or this is over, she'd say, 'I don't want to see you guys being upset about this because you weren't right for it.' She would never let us feel like it was our fault."

Hilary eventually got bit parts on "Chicago Hope," and in 1998's "Casper Meets Wendy," the direct-to-video sequel to "Casper." The next two years saw little progress. And when Hilary landed a role in the pilot of an NBC sitcom, "Daddio," only to be dropped before its inglorious three-episode run, she was ready to quit.

There was one more call. Hilary told her mom she wasn't going up for the role.

"But they sent a plane ticket to come back and audition for it, and I said OK, though I didn't really care about the audition. I went in and I guess I did a good job."

Indeed. At 12, Hilary won the title role in "Lizzie McGuire," a series about the awkward middle school years; it mixed live action, stills, home movies and animation. Perky, polite, vulnerable and in no great hurry to grow up, Lizzie had an animated alter ego to express her innermost thoughts.

Parents liked the show; more importantly, kids identified with Lizzie. It was the Disney Channel's highest-rated show after its 2001 debut, with 2 million viewers per episode — mostly tweens, 8- to 14-year-olds, a highly desired demographic. There are some 25 million of them, with an estimated buying and influencing power (money spent directly and money they get their parents to spend) of $500 billion annually.

And Hilary, with her sweet smile and golden hair, suddenly became the tween queen, with a show that was getting 375,000 e-mails a week plus the Stuff by Hilary Duff clothing and merchandise line at Target.

In her two years on the show, Lizzie McGuire never sang, though Hilary did, making her debut with "I Can't Wait" on the series' platinum soundtrack album.