Sabrina Carpenter‘s fame hit the stratosphere in 2024 thanks to short n’ sweet hit “Espresso,” but the 26 year old certainly isn’t new to the entertainment industry. In fact, the Grammy-winner has been acting onscreen since she was a kid, and she got her big break on one of NBC’s most popular shows.

No, not Saturday Night Live, though she’s Host and Musical Guest on October 18 after several previous sketch appearances and cameos. In Carpenter’s very first on screen role in 2011, she acted opposite none other than Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) in Law & Order: SVU Season 12. Carpenter played Paula, an assault survivor who feared that her family would be hurt if she told the police what happened. Stabler gained her trust, and she helped lead the team to a couple of revolting predators.

RELATED: Sabrina Carpenter Made Her Acting Debut on SVU & She’s So Good

From there, Carpenter’s career grew steadily, and she gained fans as Maya Hart on Disney’s Girl Meets World. Learn more about Sabrina Carpenter’s movie and TV roles below, and don’t miss her double-duty SNL episode on October 18, only on NBC and Peacock.  

RELATED: The Meaning Behind Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” Song: “A Loving Eye Roll”

Sabrina Carpenter was cast in Disney series Girl Meets World in 2013

Carpenter lent her golden voice to cartoons after SVU, in a 2012 Phineas and Ferb episode and a recurring role on Sofia the First in 2013, which included recording original songs with Ariel Winter.

In 2013, Carpenter appeared in a flashback on Orange is the New Black, as a girl who bullied Laura Prepon’s character as a kid. She also played a younger version of Juno Temple in the Daniel Radcliffe movie Horns.

That same year, Carpenter was cast as Maya Hart in Girl Meets World, the sequel series to Boy Meets World. Maya was best friends with main character Riley (Rowan Blanchard), the daughter of Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel’s characters from the original.

Carpenter’s run on the three-season series ended with its 2017 cancelation. Her other Disney roles include an Austin & Aly guest turn, and a starring role alongside Sofia Carson in TV movie Adventures in Babysitting, the Disney Channel’s 2016 remake of the 1987 film.

Sabrina Carpenter’s movie roles include The Hate U Give and Tall Girl

In 2018, Carpenter starred with Amandla Stenberg, KJ Apa, Regina Hall, Issa Rae, and Anthony Mackie in the film The Hate U Give, followed by The Short History of the Long Road in 2019.

2019 also saw the release of Tall Girl, in which she played the lead’s short sister, and in 2020, she starred in romance Work It opposite Jordan Fisher. Work It gave Carpenter the opportunity to show off her acting and dance skills, and it’s well worth a watch.

After starring in 2020 cancer drama Clouds, the 2022 satire Emergency and Tall Girl 2, Carpenter stepped back from acting to focus more on her music career, though she’ll star alongside the Muppets in a 2026 50th anniversary special.

And let’s not forget about her first SNL acting gig as Daphne in Season 49’s “Scooby-Doo” sketch with Jake Gyllenhaal.

Sabrina Carpenter has been releasing music since 2014

Carpenter’s first single, “Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying,” came out in 2014. It was co-written by Meghan Trainor, and was followed by “The Middle of Starting Over.”

Her first studio album, Eyes Wide Open, was released in 2015, and her second, Evolution, followed in 2016, featuring the beloved banger “Thumbs.”

After 2018’s Singular: Act I and 2019’s Singular: Act II, Carpenter started gaining more attention with 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send. She hadn’t quite landed on the tongue-in-cheek comedy of short n’ sweet or Man’s Best Friend yet, but the song “Nonsense” became a breakout hit. Her performances started going viral as she told various off-color jokes in the outro, often tailoring them to wherever she was performing.

When Carpenter performed as Musical Guest on SNL in May, 2024, she sang a medley of the single “Feather” and “Nonsense,” and even gave the show its own custom outro.

“Espresso” was released in April 2024 and took the world by storm with catchy nonsense — pun intended — lyrics like “That’s that me espresso.” Since then, her songs have only gotten funnier, and now she’s bringing her cheeky sense of humor to Studio 8H.

Watch Carpenter host and perform on SNL on October 18, 2025.