Can someone consider himself a regular teen when he’s acted in a sensationally popular TV series and a handful of movies? What about if his voice has hit the airwaves and your iPod with force— not to mention, he’s been interviewed in many a teen magazine and his likeness has been plastered to the bedroom walls of fans worldwide? Apparently so, because Mitchel Musso insists that while he’s got fame constantly propelling his career to new heights, he’s still just your average 17 year old.

“We’re just teenagers,” Musso says of himself and his Disney Channel peers. “[We] live with our parents. We do everything everyone else does.”

While he may feel down to earth, Musso has starred in Hannah Montana The Movie and the award-winning Disney Channel series that led up to its creation, playing the role of Oliver “Smoken” Oken.

And this screen star has also logged lots of high-profile singing gigs. Musso has performed in close friend Miley Cyrus’s “Best Of Both Worlds” tour, at Radio Disney’s Jingle Jam shows and at Universal Studios’ entertainment complex Universal CityWalk, where he first debuted his musical talents in 2007. Since then, this ambitious teen personality has topped Radio Disney’s charts and made music videos, one of which featured a duet with Hannah costar Emily Osment (a.k.a. Lilly Truscott) performing the pop song “If I Didn’t Have You.”

Musso’s self-titled and much-anticipated album, which drops on June 2, marks another first for him. “The whole attitude is like an electronic rock,” he says of the record’s style, noting that while working on it, he put his “full effort” into the process. The album’s songs were co-written by Musso, and some were produced with his older brother Mason, lead singer of Metro Station. Musso says Mason wrote the band’s well-received “Shake It.”

Musso adds: “He’s an amazing writer. He’s been my best friend since forever.”

The Musso brothers also boast a third sibling, Marc, the trio’s youngest. It’s a talented family to say the least, as Marc has also ventured into the spotlight in TV and film. Mitchel and Marc Musso even shared the screen in one of Musso’s first movies, Secondhand Lions (2003), which starred Emily Osment’s brother, Haley Joel, and fellow Disney Channel actor Jennifer Stone (of Wizards of Waverly Place).

Do these Hollywood and Disney connections have your head spinning? Well, it’s not over yet! Musso met future costar Emily on the Secondhand Lions set, and older brother Mason’s band mate is Trace Cyrus, a sibling of Miley Cyrus.

Most of these connections involve the close-knit relationships among the Hannah Montana cast.

“We hang out all the time,” Musso says. “We’ve been best friends for the past five years.”

Musso reveals that the cast members get together when the show is off season, and they have a fun tradition of grabbing sushi after wrapping up just about every Wednesday.

What are Musso’s thoughts on alter-ego Oken? “I’m more chill, and he’s more up and hyper,” says Musso. “But it is me: I’m bringing myself out in the character. If I’m gonna be doing the show for a long time, why not be myself?”

While the difference between Musso and his on-screen persona may not be dramatic, he experienced a significant change in his craft between shooting the Hannah series and his recent movie.

“It was very different,” Musso explains of shooting the film. He attributes the change to the fact that the TV show features a live audience. Still, says Musso, the experience was “very, very fun.”

Musso’s screen resume, which he started building when he was 7 years old, also includes work in Monster House (Sony) and Disney Channel’s series Phineas and Ferb and movie Hatching Pete. He’s currently the spokesperson for the public service campaign Clean Hands are Cool Hands, which encourages kids to ensure they wash their hands to prevent the spread of germs. Compound that with numerous TV guest appearances, commercials and print ads from his early days in the biz, and you’ve got quite the list of accomplishments for a boy born and raised in Texas, far from his current Los Angeles home.

Musso says that when it comes to being in the spotlight, “It’s just the way I grew up. After a while, I loved it.” He adds that admiration from fans and getting a laugh help to keep him going. And true to his fun-loving nature, Musso says he enjoys “putting on a show in front of as many people as [he] can.”

Quick Facts
Middle Name: Tate
Birthday: He turns 18 on July 9
Interests: Going to the beach, hanging out at the mall, playing video games
Future Goals: Adding the title of producer/writer to his resume

Rachel Kalina is an assistant editor.