1999–2003: Early career

Danna Paola's acting career began in 1999 when at age 4 she and her sister attended Televisa's casting call in Mexico City for Plaza Sésamo, the Mexican version of Sesame Street. Both were later cast on the show and appeared in several episodes.^[3]

2004–2012: Breakout success

In 2004, she was chosen as the lead in the successful children's series Amy, la niña de la mochila azul. Her second studio album, Océano, soon followed. A year later, she was the female lead of Pablo y Andrea, the television adaptation of the classic novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Over the next several years, she earned parts in multiple television series produced by Televisa.

In 2009, she was cast as "Patito" in Atrévete a Soñar, the Mexican remake of the popular Argentine children's telenovela Patito Feo.^[4] Danna Paola filmed two seasons of the show and production was concluded in late 2009. Atrévete a Soñar marked Paola's transition from children's to teen telenovelas. Paola and the cast of the telenovela recorded two soundtracks and toured across Mexico in order to promote the show.^[5] The telenovela and its soundtrack were commercially successful throughout Mexico and Latin America. The soundtrack was certified double platinum in Mexico.^[6]

In late 2010, she voiced Rapunzel for the Latin American Spanish-language dubbing of the Disney film Tangled^[7] and participated in the film's Spanish-language soundtrack.^[8]

2013–2015: Wicked and other projects

In May 2013, Danna Paola auditioned for the first Spanish-language production of the Broadway musical Wicked in Mexico City. She auditioned for both Glinda and Elphaba, performing "Popular" and "Defying Gravity". Later that same month, the final cast for the Mexican production was announced, with Danna Paola cast as Elphaba. The production opened in Mexico City at Teatro Telcel on 17 October 2013 and closed on 18 January 2015. Critics in Mexico, as well as the play's original composer, Stephen Schwartz, praised her performance.^[9][10] In addition to being well received by critics, the play was also a commercial success in Mexico City. During its first 10 weeks, Wicked sold over 100,000 tickets and had more than 100 performances; it broke a box office record, making it one of the most successful theatre productions in Mexico's history.^[11][12] At the age of 18, Danna Paola was the youngest person to play the role of Elphaba in a professional theatre production.^[13]

In January 2014, Danna Paola was cast in the movie Saving Sara Cruz, a modern-day remake of the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Production on the film never began and the project was later shelved.^[14]

In March 2014, Danna, debuted as fashion designer collaborating with the popular Mexican clothing brand Sexy Jeans.^[15] Her line, "Danna Paola, by Sexy Jeans", was commercially successful, with products selling out across Mexico.^[16][17]

In August 2014, Danna participated in the ABBA tribute album Dancing Queens, recording a cover of "Take A Chance On Me". "Take A Chance On Me" was released as single on 2 September 2014 and debuted at number 1 on iTunes México.^[18]

On 29 October 2014, she performed "No hay bien", the Spanish-language version of "No Good Deed", to a sold-out crowd at the Auditorio Nacional for the Lunas del Auditorio award show. That night, Wicked received an award in the "Broadway Show" category.^[19]

Danna Paola appeared in over 300 performances of Wicked from 2013 to early 2015. Following the conclusion of Wicked, she was invited by producer Alex Gou to join the cast of the musical Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar, where she played the lead role of Maria and went on tour throughout Mexico.^[20]

In August 2015, she recorded the duet "Mientras Me Enamoras" with Mexican singer Lalo Brito. A music video was also filmed, and it premiered on Brito's YouTube channel in September 2015.^[21] In mid-2015, Paola moved to Miami to film the telenovela drama ¿Quién es quién?. The project was her first telenovela role outside of Televisa. Filming for the program concluded in September 2015. ¿Quién es quién? began airing weeknights in the U.S. on Telemundo on 9 February 2016.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Danna Paola in 2015

2016–present

In early 2016, Paola filmed in the Mexican movie ¡Como va! Lo más sencillo es complicarlo todo (later renamed Lo más sencillo es complicarlo todo), on location in Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and Querétaro. The movie was released in Mexican cinemas on 26 January 2018.^[26][27] In mid-April 2016, she was confirmed as a cast member in the telenovela drama La Doña, produced by Telemundo. The telenovela filmed in Mexico and premiered in November 2016. The finale aired on Telemundo in the U.S. on 1 May 2017.^[28]

In 2017, Paola was cast in the Telemundo bio-series José José: El príncipe de la canción, based on the life of Mexican singer José José. Paola played famed Mexican singer-songwriter, Lucero, and appears in 4 episodes of the show. The miniseries premiered on Telemundo on 15 January 2018.^[29] In late January 2018, Paola was scheduled to begin filming a role in the bio series based on the life of Mexican actress Silva Pinal. She later dropped out before filming began and instead revealed that she was cast in the Netflix original Spanish teen thriller television series Élite. Production for the television show forced Paola to move to Madrid for six months starting in January 2018. She was cast in the program following a long audition process in 2017. The show was shot in 4K and it premiered globally on Netflix in October 2018; Paola went on to star in 3 seasons of the series.^[30] In 2019, Paola was cast as a judge on the singing-competition series La Academia for TV Azteca. In 2021, she was cast as a mentor in Spanish singing competition series Top Star. ¿Cuánto vale tu voz? for Telecinco.^[31]

Paola decided at the end of the third season of Élite that she would quit acting and focus on music instead.^[32]