Other activities, 2012–present
In 2012, Ziegler's first professional acting job was portraying the character Young Deb on an episode of the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva. In 2014, Ziegler appeared as a guest star in Episode 34 of HitStreak Summer, a made-for-mobile series. She continued her acting career in 2015 with guest spots on the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally and ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars. In January 2016, she guest starred in the episode "Ballet and the Beasts" on Nickelodeon's Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn. She returned to Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn in January 2017 in the episode "Keeping Up with the Quadashians".
Ziegler voiced the character Camille in the animated film, Ballerina (2016), released in the US in 2017 as Leap!, and played Christina in the feature film The Book of Henry (2017). Colin Trevorrow, the director of The Book of Henry, told Entertainment Weekly that Ziegler "is extraordinarily capable. ... She finds whatever emotion she needs to dial in very quickly. No one taught her how to do that she just knows." A reviewer for Santa Monica Daily Press wrote that, in The Book of Henry, "Ziegler ... does a wonderful job with a character forced to hide her pain". In 2019, she narrated a tribute film about her friend Simone Biles for BBC Sport. Ziegler co-starred as the title character in a musical film written and directed by Sia, titled Music, released in February 2021. Chris Willman, in Variety, called Ziegler's performance as a non-verbal autistic teenager "not always credible" but commented that she had "no limitations in ... dancing up a storm". Although she received the 2021 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for the role, she received several favorable reviews.
Ziegler co-stars in the high school drama film The Fallout, which premiered in March 2021 at South by Southwest, where it won the Grand Jury Prize in the Narrative Feature Film Competition. It was released on HBO Max in January 2022 and in theaters where HBO Max was not available. Ziegler's performance as the popular but lonely Mia was called "stoic yet sensitive and vulnerable", "a staggering performance" and "astounding ... fully realized and complex". She plays Velma in Steven Spielberg's version of West Side Story and stars as Lindy in the film Fitting In (initially titled Bloody Hell), written and directed by Molly McGlynn, which premiered at South by Southwest in March 2023. A review in Collider said that Ziegler's "strong performance" "elevated" the film, while The Daily Beast's thought her "natural performance leaves a lasting impression. ... Ziegler is a striking screen presence, and she brings a quiet charisma ... relatable and empathetic". Another in The Daily Texan praised her graceful and "vulnerable performance", while an article in The Globe and Mail noted "Ziegler's dry wit and vulnerability". Kurt Loder wrote that Ziegler "captures the quietly conflicted Lindy with low-key expertise. She has a way with a zippy line, too." An A.V. Club review says "Ziegler is a fantastic lead, bringing us into Lindy’s confused headspace."
Ziegler plays Ruthie in the comedy film, My Old Ass (2024), written and directed by Megan Park, who directed The Fallout. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where Variety presented Ziegler with one of its "Breakthrough Awards, which highlight the next generation of exceptional talents in front of the camera". Alex Stedman, in IGN, wrote: "Maddie Ziegler and Kerrice Brooks in particular are fantastic as Elliott’s best friends Ruthie and Ro". Later the same year she starred in a short film, Kodar: The Primordial God of Light and Ether, written by Will Ropp and Nick Skardarasy. In 2024 Ziegler filmed a starring role in the film Shiver, but post-production has been halted for financial reasons. She stars as Bones in the 2026 film Pretty Lethal, for which she was nominated for the 2026 Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie. Later in 2026, Ziegler is set to star in In a Holidaze, based on the novel by Christina Lauren.
Ziegler has modeled for, or represented, such brands as Clean & Clear, Capezio, including their Betsey Johnson line, Target, Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co. She has also been featured on numerous magazine covers and in fashion editorials, including Vogue, Schön!, Elle, Nylon, Vs., Seventeen, Harper's Bazaar, People, Dazed, Cosmopolitan, i-D, Billboard, Teen Vogue, Stella, Maniac, Vanity Fair Italia, Flaunt, Paper, Galore and Russh.
Ziegler and her sister released a fashion line, The Maddie & Mackenzie Collection in 2014. At the 2015 New York Fashion Week, Ziegler acted as a correspondent for Elle. She launched a casual fashion line, MaddieStyle, for girls and juniors, in 2016. In 2017, she appeared as a guest judge in an episode of Project Runway and on the cover of Sia's 2017 album Everyday is Christmas. In 2018 Ziegler collaborated with Sia on a lipstick, VIVA GLAM Sia, to benefit the M.A.C. AIDS Fund. Ziegler has a make-up collaboration with Morphe Cosmetics and a fashion collaboration with Fabletics. In 2020, she was the model for Kate Spade's signature fragrance advertisements. In 2023, Ziegler and her sister launched a back-to-school fashion collection with American Eagle Outfitters.
In February 2016, Ziegler appeared as the featured dancer in the ABC TV special The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60 during the song "Part of Your World", sung by Kelsea Ballerini and choreographed by Travis Wall. A Huffington Post reporter called the number "stunning and graceful". In April 2016, six of her pre-taped performances were projected onto the big screens during Sia's Coachella set, and Ziegler appeared live with Sia at YouTube's Brandcast event in New York City. In May 2016, Ziegler appeared on the season finale of The Voice with Sia, dancing to "Cheap Thrills". In June, she starred in another Todrick Hall video, "Taylor in Wonderland", based on Alice in Wonderland, dancing to a mash-up of Taylor Swift songs. That same month, Ziegler joined Fox's So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation as a judge and a guest performer; she also danced at Sia's concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. In September 2016, Ziegler performed with Sia at the launch of Apple's iPhone 7 and at the iHeartRadio Music Festival.
She joined Sia on the singer's Nostalgic for the Present Tour from September to November 2016. Ten years later, a film of the concert was released in theatres featuring Ziegler's dancing. Ziegler and her sister conducted a dance workshop tour of Australia in January 2017. In March 2017, Ziegler performed at the Dubai World Cup with Sia. In September, Ziegler danced to Sia's song "Rainbow", from the soundtrack to My Little Pony: The Movie, in a costume that simulated the look of Sia's character in the film. She again performed with Sia on a mini-tour of Australasia in November and December 2017, and later in December, she and Sia returned to the Ellen show to perform Sia's song "Snowman". Ziegler and her sister conducted another dance workshop tour of Australia and New Zealand in July 2018 and in the UK in 2019. In July 2019, Ziegler performed at the Fuji Rock Festival with Sia in Japan. She and her sister were guest judges in 2020 on the Quibi dance competition show Floored.
Ziegler wrote the foreword to Abby Lee Miller's 2014 memoir, Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class. Ziegler interviewed her friend Millie Bobby Brown for a cover article in the November 2016 issue of Interview magazine. In 2017, she released her own memoir, The Maddie Diaries, which became a New York Times Best Seller. Ziegler also wrote a trilogy of novels for middle-grade readers. The series centers on a 12-year-old dancer, Harper, whose family relocates to a new state, as she negotiates the pre-teen challenges of making new friends while earning her place on a competitive dance team. The first novel, The Audition, was released in 2017, The Callback was released in 2018, and The Competition followed in 2019.
Ziegler has an active social media presence, with more than 13 million Instagram followers, over 1.2 million Twitter followers and over 3 million followers on Facebook. Sia's videos of her dancing have accumulated more than six billion total views on YouTube. Ziegler's YouTube channel has more than 3.6 million subscribers.
