China Anne McLean is a known American actress and singer who became known through her work with her girl band called McClain.
She started working in the music industry at a very early age and has starred in several series is movies but her most prominent work became her role in a TV series aired on Disney Channel named A.N.T. Farm.
China also became known throughout her country as a contestant in the singing show titled Sing Your Face Off.
Her latest work includes the role of Jennifer Pierce in a TV drama series called Black Lightning.
China is often nicknamed Nina Boochie because of her role.
Early years
She was born on August 25, 1998, in the capital city of Georgia which is one of the states in the US.
Atlanta is the most populous city in Georgia and the seat of Fulton County which is the most prominent one in all the state.
Her birth name is China Anne McLean and she was raised in her hometown Atlanta.
It is not surprising that she started working in the music industry very early in her life because her father whose name is Michael has been working as a music producer for a long time. Her father is not only a music producer but he’s also a vocalist and sound engineer.
We have to mention her mother Shauntel who is a respectable songwriter who has been collaborating with various known artists in the United States. Her mother Shauntel is also a great vocalist and was very excited when she realized that her daughter China has a talent in singing.
She has been raised as a devout Christian and when she speaks about it today she thinks it helped her to make her great career and become the moral person she is today.
China grew up with her two sisters with whom she became very close. They are named Sierra and Lauryn. The three sisters sang together from a very early age since they were all surrounded by music.
They were always a huge support to one another and they always made their parents proud.
China also has a younger brother Gabriel over whom she is very protective of and whom the whole family spoiled.
When their father discovered that his daughters are talented in music he formed a singing group which was named simply “Three McClain Girls”. They received great reviews and were very popular in their local community.
All of their music was produced by his father and his production company which was named Gabe’s World Music. All of the music was also co-produced by the producer named Larry Nix.
Their mother also worked with the family, writing their songs and helping them produce.
We have to mention that China’s younger brother Gabriel also likes to sing and dance and was involved in a lot of family music affairs.
It is his name that is a part of the name of the father’s production company Gabe’s World Music.
Career development
Her parents had a family friend named Ian Burke who is a known music executive producer and he was at their home one time in 2005 and he heard China sing so he decided to give her a role in his new movie called The Gospel which was directed by Rob Hardy.
Hardy wanted to choose his own actors so he first took her to an audition because he wanted to see for himself how good singer Anne is and is his friend Ian right about her.
A few months later he called the family to tell them that Anne was going to play the role of Alexis in his new movie.
Her sisters Sierra and Lauryn also appeared in one of the movie scenes. The Gospel is a drama movie with Idris Elba and Boris Kudjoe in the lead roles. It was produced by Rainforest Films and it was filmed with a budget of $4,000,000 and eventually earned over $15,000,000.
Due to success of her first movie, she was auditioned by Tyler Perry who gave her the role in his TV series called “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”. The show was aired on TBS and became very popular.
China appeared, together with her sisters, in a romantic comedy movie called Daddy’s Little Girls which was also directed by Tyler Perry. it was her second movie to star alongside Idris Elba.
She has made several guest appearances in a lot of TV series like Hannah Montana and Hurricane Season.
She made an appearance in a series titled Jonas which aired on Disney Channel with famous Jonas Brothers in the lead.
In 2011 she gained a role in a fantasy teen series called Wizards of Waverly Place which aired for 5 years on Disney Channel. The main roles in the series were given to Selena Gomez and David Henrie.
in 2011 she went on the audition for a TV series called A.N.T. Farm. She was given the lead role which made her famous all over the country.
While being a part of this series China sang the song named “Exceptional” which is the theme of the series and she was also recording a cover song of a hit song named “Dynamite” originally sang by Taio Cruz.
The video for the song “Dynamite” earned its premiere in July the same year on Disney Channel. The video gained millions of views in a short period of time.
China also appeared in one episode of Prankstars which she described as a very interesting experience.
In 2011, she was involved in working on Disney Channel’s Special Halloween Shoe where she also sang a song called “Calling All The Monsters” which was produced by Nicholas Smalling. The song was mostly made in the electropop genre.
in the summer of 2011, China and her sisters signed a record deal with an American record label cold Hollywood Records. They were thrilled about the contract with such a respectable record label.
This year was also special for China because the soundtrack for A.N.T. Farm was released.
Her single “Calling All The Monsters” was released to iTunes where it came to No.100 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
She was invited to perform her hit single “Unstoppable” at Macy’s Thanksgiving parade the same year.
in 2013 she co-starred in a comedy movie which was directed by Dennis Dugan and with Adam Sandler as one of the producers.
The movie was titled Grownups 2 and the lead stars of the movie were Kevin James, Chris Rock and Salma Hayek. The film was a hit and earned 3 times more than its budget.
McClain sisters didn’t stay long with signed under Hollywood Records because the deal was dismissed the same year.
In the summer of 2014 she appeared on a popular singing contest called Sing Your Face Off where she was one of the favorites and eventually won the above mentioned show.
In 2015 she appeared in one episode of a cult series Bones, as a protagonist in an episode called “The Lost in the Found” and she he was very proud by her achievement.
Her next work was in an animated series called Veggie Tales in The House where she gave her voice to an animated character called Jenna Chive which was a parody character of China herself and was based on her.
China also appeared in a computer animated series cold Descendants: Wicked World which was very popular due it’s comedy and fantasy character.
She also gained a role in the movie Descendants 2 and her character was a villain named Uma whom she played also in the sequel titled Descendants 3.
China had the role of Darcy in American action thriller movie called Blood Brother.The movie was directed by John Pogue and the cast includes Trey Songz, Hassan Johnson and Fetty Wap end more.
She also appeared in an animated action drama movie called Bilal: A New Breed of Hero which was premiered in 2015 at the International Dubai Film Festival.
Anne has won the awards for the Best Inspiring Movie at the Film Festival in Cannes in in 2016 .
it was in 2017 that she was casted in a superhero TV series called black lightning which was premiered on The CW in January 2018.
The stars of the series are Cress williams, Christine Adams, James Remar and many more. The series was produced by Warner Bros and it still runs on the CW in its 3rd season.
The serious gained positive reviews and it made China worldwide known.
When she is asked about her biggest influences she always mentions her parents who were her great support and gave her the chance to show her abilities. She also speaks about Michael Jackson, Rihanna and Beyoncé as her role models.
She has received several awards for her work like two NAMIC Vision Awards in 2011 and 2013 in the categories of best performance- actress of comedy.
She also won the NAACP Image Award for outstanding performance in a youth program for her work on A.N.T Farm.
China appeared in several commercials and the most noticed ones were for Target and HEB.
Personal life
China currently lives in Los Angeles in California, United States and is signed to an agency named Brand Model and Talent.
China knows how to play several instruments: bass, guitar and piano. But her biggest love is singing and she is the best in it.
As for her love life she has dated Jake Short in 2012/2013. Jake is an American actor who played with her in a TV series called A.N.T. farm.
Then later there were rumors that she started dating Zac Steiner and Cameron Boyce but she tweeted that the rumors were false.
She was very close to Cameron and they were goid friends for years.
Her favorite color is purple and she likes to wear clothing of Urban Outfitters.
She has a lot of hobbies like photography, dancing and drawing greeting cards. China also loves and adores hula hoop and roller blades.
She’s a big fan of animals and has a dog which she named Cujo.
A lot of her fans don’t know why she’s named China. It was because her mother was watching the news about China and Chinese after giving birth and named her China as her tribute to the Asian people.
China went through an emotional shock after her best friend and co- actor Cameron Boyce died from an epileptic seizure in July, 2019. They have worked together on Descendents 3.
Cameron Boyce was a known Disney actor and was very popular, with a huge fanbase. China was sad for a very long time and she still didn’t see the movie because it would make her cry to see Cam.
Quick summary
Full name: China Anne McClain
Date of birth: August 25, 1998
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Age: 21
Profession: singer, actress, musician
Height: 161 cm
Weight: 53 kg
Net Worth: $500,000