• Taylor Dooley is an American actress, best known for her role in "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl", with an estimated net worth of over $3 million.
• She trained in singing, dancing and acting at the Phoenix Theatre, and toured across the US with the Phoenix Players.
• She went on to appear in "Whitepaddy" and "Monster Night", as well as various commercials.
• After a period of time without acting, she has recently announced she is working on a film for Netflix.
• Taylor is married and has two children.
Known for movies
Short Info
Net Worth | around $3 million |
Fact | Named after Taylor Dayne. |

Contents
Who is Taylor Dooley?
Taylor Dooley was born on 26 February 1993, in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA, and is an actress, probably best known for her role in the film “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl” in which she portrayed the titular Lavagirl. She’s also appeared in other popular projects during her career, including a guest role in “House, MD”.
The Riches of Taylor Dooley
As of early-2020, Taylor Dooley’s net worth is estimated to be over $3 million, earned largely through a successful career in acting. While she remains active within the profession, she has noticeably taken fewer projects over the years, and could have another primary source of income.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Taylor was determined to find success as an actress at a young age, sharing her dream with her younger brother and her parents. As a child, her parents encouraged her to participate in various beauty pageants, and she won a few of them, leading to a bit of local popularity and to her signing a modeling contract at a young age, initially doing a few commercials.
Determined to take the next step, her family moved to Arizona where she studied at the Phoenix Theatre, known to be the oldest continuously running theatre in the area, offering various community programs.
She completed her studies there, and after training had the basics for performance. Her singing, dancing and acting skills improved, and she even toured across the country with the Phoenix Players. She appeared in more commercials and modeling projects over the years, however, her opportunities were limited in Arizona, so the family then moved to Los Angeles where she would gain the most out of her aspirations.
Sharkboy and Lavagirl
The decision to move to Los Angeles was actually fueled primarily by her father’s growing business career, but it was highly beneficial to Taylor as well.
She attended various auditions, but struggled against strong competition, but eventually began getting guest appearances in shows such as “House, MD”, which starred Hugh Laurie in the titular role. The series follows his professional endeavors, as he is deemed a medical genius who can determine even the most complex illnesses of his patients.
After a feature in the magazine “Discovery Girls”, she then landed her biggest role to date in “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl”. The film starred her alongside Taylor Lautner and Cayden Boyd, and tells the story of a boy who creates an imaginary world and brings it to life. In this world, he is helped by two protagonists, the titular Sharkboy and Lavagirl who have superhuman abilities.
His escapades coincide with the fact that in real life, the child is not doing well, struggling in school, family life, and other endeavors. The film was shot in 3D, using anaglyph technology which was introduced a few years prior with “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over”. However, the film was not successful at the box office, with many critics aiming at the film’s poor 3D quality and the lackluster script as the reasons for its failure.
Career After Sharkboy and Lavagirl
While “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” wasn’t as big a success as many thought it would be, it still opened the door for Taylor to take on other projects.
She had a role in the independent film “Whitepaddy” which was released in 2006, and then a lead role in the television movie “Monster Night” which gained a few positive reviews, but lacked the exposure to boost her career. Afterwards she worked on another independent feature in “The Apology”, and also continued with her commercial work, appearing in advertisements for Famous Footwear, the Honda Odyssey, Ashley, and Disney Superstar Kids.
Hiatus and Return
As she grew older, Dooley found fewer opportunities to be in front of the camera; this was because she was getting older and needed to transition to working more mature roles, as she no longer fitted the image she had when she was a teenager.
With her life being mostly sheltered due to her focus on acting, she decided to take time off, returning to school, and after matriculating took up a course in Psychology.
She found the course to be complementary to her love for acting, as she always found the behavior of other people interesting. She also took some time to develop her skills further, and completed a course at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, known for teaching Lee Strasberg’s form of acting, known as method acting; it’s known to have produced a lot of prominent alumni. She also worked with well-known acting coach Ivana Chubbuck, and others she worked with include Cameron Thor and Leigh Kilton Smith.
After this long hiatus, she then declared that she would be returning to acting and would be taking on more roles. However, she never really bounced back to her initial success in Hollywood, but in recent months, she’s announced through social media that she’s working on a film that is set to air on Netflix, but hasn’t yet provided any details.
Personal Life
Taylor started a relationship with Justin Cassotta in 2010, and they were together for four years before announcing their engagement.
She married at the age of 21 and the couple has two children together. Some believe that her early marriage may have hampered her career direction, as her busy family life may have lead her to lesser roles in the industry. Despite that, she admits that she is living a comfortable life. She remains close friends with Taylor Lautner who played Sharkboy. In recent months, she’s also been more active online due to lockdowns and quarantines set to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, especially on her social media accounts such as on Instagram and Tiktok.
General Info
Full Name | Taylor Dooley |
Net Worth | around $3 million |
Height | 1.6 m, 1.78 m |
Weight | 81.65 kg |
Profession | Actor, Professional Wrestler |
Nationality | American, American |
Family
Siblings | Drew Dooley |
Accomplishments
Movies | The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, Monster Night, Apology |
TV Shows | Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World |
Social profile links
Facts
# | Fact |
---|---|
1 | Gave birth to her 1st child at age 23, a son named Jack Alexander Cassotta on November 23, 2016. Child's father is her husband, Justin Cassotta. |
2 | (May 14, 2016) Married her longtime boyfriend, Justin Cassotta, following a 2-year-long engagement. Ryan Newman and Sasha Pieterse attended the wedding. |
3 | On location in Austin, Texas, filming The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005). [December 2004] |
4 | Father's name is John and mother's name is Debbie. |
5 | Named after Taylor Dayne. |
6 | Met her friend, AnnaSophia Robb, at a private Gemz concert. |
7 | Had to dye her hair pink for the role of Lavagirl. |
8 | Heroes (2006), The Office (2005) and Entourage (2004) are her favorite TV Shows. She also loves Grey's Anatomy (2005), The O.C. (2003) and American Idol (2002). |
9 | Likes to listen to all kinds of music except country. |
10 | Her favorite movies are, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), East of Eden (1955), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), The Notebook (2004), Walk the Line (2005), and High School Musical (2006), among others. |
11 | Her favorite actresses are Natalie Portman and Charlize Theron, and her favorite actors are Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. |
12 | She looks up to Angelina Jolie for all the amazing charity work she does. |
13 | Moved from Arizona with her family. |
14 | Enjoys horse-riding. |
15 | Has Belgian, German and English on her mom's side and Irish, German, English, and Sioux Indian on her Dad's side. |
16 | Started making a movie with the other children on the set of The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005)). |
17 | Is real-life friends with Cayden Boyd and Taylor Lautner. |
18 | Has a younger brother named Drew (born 1994). |
19 | Originally took drama classes before she started acting. |
20 | Friends with AnnaSophia Robb, Ryan Newman and Sasha Pieterse. |
21 | Lost a second role to AnnaSophia Robb - the part of "Liza" in Drake & Josh (2004). |
22 | Appeared in an article in the "Discovery Girls" magazine. |
23 | Tried out for the role of "Samantha Parkington" in An American Girl Holiday (2004) but lost to her friend, AnnaSophia Robb. |
Pictures
Movies
Actress
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
Grimmerson Manor | 2017 | announced | Rachael Bowers |
Hell Mountain | 2016 | Eden | |
The Alyson Stoner Project | 2009 | Video | VIP Guest |
House M.D. | 2008 | TV Series | Rachelle |
Monster Night | 2006 | Video | Dana Ackerman |
Apology | 2006 | Short | Judy at age 11 |
Whitepaddy | 2006 | Mary | |
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D | 2005 | Lavagirl |
Self
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|---|---|---|
U-Pick Live | 2005 | TV Series | Herself |
Awards
Nominated Awards
Year | Award | Ceremony | Nomination | Movie |
---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Young Artist Award | Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actress | The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005) |
Source: IMDb, Wikipedia