Bridgit Claire Mendler (born December 18, 1992) is an American entrepreneur and former actress and singer-songwriter. She first became known as a child actress and continued acting into adulthood, which overlapped with a musical career in the 2010s. After enrolling at MIT and Harvard from 2017 to 2024, she co-founded Northwood Space, a satellite data startup.

Mendler's early acting credits include the films Alice Upside Down (2007), The Clique (2008) and Labor Pains (2009). After signing with Disney Channel in 2009, she played Juliet van Heusen on Wizards of Waverly Place (2009–2012) and soon rose to fame for her lead role as Teddy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie (2010–2014); she also starred as Olivia White in the original film Lemonade Mouth (2011) for the network. After the conclusion of Good Luck Charlie, she appeared on the NBC sitcom Undateable (2015–2016), the ABC/CMT musical television series Nashville (2017), and the Netflix comedy series Merry Happy Whatever (2019).

Mendler began her music career contributing to the soundtrack of Lemonade Mouth in 2011, which produced her first singles "Somebody" and "Determinate". Her debut studio album, Hello My Name Is... (2012), reached number 30 on the US Billboard 200 and entered five international charts. Its lead single, "Ready or Not", received platinum certifications in four territories and appeared on ten charts worldwide; "Hurricane" and "Top of the World" were also released. She then independently released an extended play, Nemesis (2016), which earned critical praise and spawned the singles "Atlantis" and "Do You Miss Me at All". She has embarked on three tours: Live in Concert (2012), Summer Tour (2013–2014) and Nemesis Tour (2016–2017).

From 2010 to 2012, Mendler was an ambassador for nonprofit First Book, which encourages reading, and Give with Target, to raise funds to reform schools in the United States. She was a student and researcher with the MIT Media Lab from 2017 to 2023. She is also registered as a PhD candidate with MIT's Center for Constructive Communications and Social Machines group. In 2024, she became the CEO and co-founder of the satellite data startup Northwood Space, and earned a JD from Harvard Law School. As of 2025, Northwood raised over $38 million.

Bridgit Claire Mendler was born on December 18, 1992, in Washington, D.C. to Charles and Sandy (née Ford) Mendler. She has one younger brother named Nick (b. 1997). Mendler moved to Mill Valley, California with her family at the age of eight. It was there where she first expressed interest in acting and began working in plays. When she was eight years old, Mendler began taking part in local roles in both dramatic and musical theatre, and became the youngest performer in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. When she was 11 years old, she hired an agent to help her get acting jobs. Mendler is the niece of psychologist Christine Blasey Ford.

In the 2010s, Mendler studied towards a degree in anthropology at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California. Two members of her band also studied at USC. In an interview with Brian Mansfield of USA Today, Mendler said: "My plan right now is just to do one class at a time and see how that goes. I'm just going to study something that will be interesting and doable from the road and just take care of my general education courses for now. I want to know something outside of what I do." In 2013, she chose anthropology and studied Medieval Visual Culture, and medical anthropology. To the University Star, Mendler said USC was important: "I think seeing that college life and what that would've been like, it does make you wonder what sort of lifestyle that would be, but I'm really grateful for what I have, and I think it's cool that, because my career path is not as formulaic, I can kind of decide when I want to take time off to do certain things." Her mother was pursuing a doctorate in public policy at USC at the time. Mendler dropped out of USC in 2016. In May 2017, Mendler was announced as one of the 2017 MIT Media Lab's Director's Fellows.

In May 2018, she announced on Twitter that she started a graduate program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a focus on improving social media: "As an entertainer, for years I struggled with social media because I felt like there was a more loving and human way to connect with fans." In 2020, she completed an M.S. in media arts and sciences at MIT. Her master's thesis was titled OurStory: Dispute System Design Technology for Stakeholder Inclusion. Deb Roy was her thesis advisor. She later began working on her Ph.D with MIT's Center for Constructive Communications and Social Machines group. During 2022, she was enrolled at Harvard Law School and at MIT. In May 2024, she was awarded a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law.

In 2004, Mendler got her first voice acting role in the animated Indian film The Legend of Buddha, in which she portrayed young Buddha. Mendler got her second voice acting role in 2005 as the voice of the character Thorn in the video game Bone: Out from Boneville, which was based on the Bone comic series. When she was 13 years old, she got her first acting role as a guest star on the soap opera General Hospital, playing the dream child of character Lulu Spencer. That same year, Mendler voiced the character Thorn in the video game Bone: The Great Cow Race. In 2007, Mendler made her film debut in the film adaption of the Alice series, titled Alice Upside Down. For the film's soundtrack, Mendler provided backing vocals on the song "Free Spirit", performed by Alyson Stoner. Also in 2007 Mendler auditioned for Sonny with a Chance for the role of Sonny Munroe, but Demi Lovato was chosen.