The Princess Diaries featured Anne Hathaway.
Anne Hathaway . She made her professional screen debut in the short-lived Fox television series Get Real ( 1999 -- 2000 ) , before landing the lead role of Mia Thermopolis in the Disney comedy film The Princess Diaries ( 2001 ) , for which she won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress -- Comedy . The Princess Diaries (film) . It stars Anne Hathaway ( in her film debut ) as Mia Thermopolis , a teenager who discovers that she is the heir to the throne of the fictional Kingdom of Genovia , ruled by her grandmother Queen Dowager Clarisse Renaldi ( Julie Andrews ) .