Pieterse was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 17, 1996, to Sean and Zizi.[1][9][10] Moving to the United States in 2001, she was raised in Las Vegas, before moving to Los Angeles.[11] She became accustomed to a career in entertainment at an early age, as her parents were a professional acrobaticdance team who performed internationally.[11] Pieterse was homeschooled and graduated at 14.[12]
Career
Modeling
At four years old, Pieterse began modeling and appearing in commercials.[13] She appeared in an advertisement for Wenner Bread Products at five years old,[14] and later appeared on a national billboard for hair salon franchise SuperCuts and modeled for Macy's Passport fashion show.[15][16] Pieterse appeared in numerous magazines, including on the covers of BELLO's "Young Hollywood" issue (December 2014),[12]TeenProm (2015 issue),[17]Seventeen (August 2016), Social Life (August 2019).[18]
Film and television
At six years old, Pieterse got her start in television, co-starring in 2002 as Buffy on The WB's remake of the CBS sitcom Family Affair. She guest starred in the Stargate SG-1 episode “Grace” with Amanda Tapping as a little girl named Grace. In 2005, she appeared on an episode of House titled "Autopsy", portraying Andie, a young girl with terminal cancer. That same year, she made her film debut in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D as Marissa, the Ice Princess, and also appeared as Millie Rose for two episodes of the short-lived TNT series Wanted, alongside her former Family Affair co-star, Gary Cole.[citation needed]
Pieterse was 13 years old in late 2009, when she was cast in the Freeformteen drama television series Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017) as Alison DiLaurentis, the former "queen bee" of her high school clique.[19] She had a regular role in the series from the first four seasons, until later became a main role in the fifth season, with one of the five girls. Since its debut, the series has received mixed reviews from television critics, but remained a success for Freeform, garnering a large fandom.[20] Pieterse reprised her role as Alison, in the spin-off series titled Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists on Freeform in 2019.[21][22] On Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, she portrayed the grown-up version of Alison who is working as a teaching assistant at Beacon Heights University.[13]
Other roles Pieterse has had include a 2009 appearance in Without a Trace, and a recurring role as Amanda Strazzulla, an abandoned daughter, in Heroes. In 2011, she appeared as Amy Loubalu in the Disney Channel Original MovieGeek Charming, and also as a teenage girl in the film X-Men: First Class. More recently, Pieterse has appeared in the film G.B.F. and in an episode of Hawaii Five-0 as a terrorist pupil named Dawn Hatfield. Pieterse played Japonica Fenway, a young lady involved with cocaine, in the film Inherent Vice (2014), based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon.[23] In September 2017, Pieterse was announced as one of the celebrities to compete on the Dancing with the Stars – season 25. She was paired with professional dancer Gleb Savchenko.[24] They were the 4th couple eliminated, on October 16, 2017, finishing in 10th place.[25]
Pieterse describes her music as "country with southern rock".[citation needed] Her debut single "This Country is Bad Ass" was released on April 12, 2013. Pieterse described the patriotism behind the song: "I just love this country so much and I would never have been able to be where I am if I wasn't in America, so we decided to come up with this [track]."[27] Her second single, "R.P.M", was released on June 13, 2013.[28]
Pieterse's third single, "I Can't Fix You", was released on July 12, 2013.[29][30] On December 10, 2013, she released her fourth single "No", an upbeat track about "standing strong in your convictions" and saying no when an unfaithful, lying ex-boyfriend asks for a second chance.[31][32]
Other ventures
Pieterse's cookbook Sasha in Good Taste: Recipes for Bites, Feasts, Sips & Celebrations was published by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins on October 8, 2019.[13] In the book Pieterse shares cooking and baking recipes, tips for inexpensive party planning, do it yourself projects and ideas for desserts.[13][33]San Francisco Book Review wrote that the book is "full of good ideas".[34]
Pieterse has a lifestyle website called "Sasha in Good Taste".[15]
Pieterse has developed an online and social media presence, including 16 million+ followers on Instagram as of January 2023.[35] She endorses products such as beauty and wellness products on Instagram and has partnered with Lightlife Foods,[36] and Pokémon Go.[37]
On December 22, 2015, Pieterse became engaged to her long-term boyfriend Hudson Sheaffer.[39] They were married on May 27, 2018, at Castle Leslie in Glaslough, Ireland.[40] On May 27, 2020, Pieterse announced that she and Sheaffer were expecting their first child.[41] Their son was born in November 2020.[42] As of 2022, the family resides in Nashville, Tennessee.[43]
At the start of season 25 of Dancing with the Stars, Pieterse revealed that she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, which causes symptoms such as irregular periods and weight gain.[44][45]
