Cameron was born Chloe Celeste Hosterman on January 15, 1996, in Bainbridge Island, Washington^[4][5] to Philip Alan Hosterman and Bonnie Wallace, who later divorced. She has an older sister, Claire Hosterman.^[6] During her childhood, Cameron attended Sakai Intermediate School.^[6] At age eight, she began acting in community theater at Bainbridge Performing Arts.^[7] Six years later, her family moved to Los Angeles, California, where she sang in Burbank High School's National Championship Show Choir.^[8]

Cameron has stated that she is of French descent and speaks some French.^[9][10] She also has Russian, Slovak and Hungarian ancestry.^[11] She has said she was bullied throughout her entire school experience, from fifth grade through the end of high school. Regardless of the pressure at school and fitting in, Cameron stayed focused on her dreams of achieving success in entertainment: "I became very passionate about [becoming an actress and singer]. I fully immersed myself". Her father died in 2011 when she was 15.^[12] Following his death, Cameron changed her legal name to Dove in honor of her father who called her by that nickname.^[13][14]

2007–2015: Breakthrough with Disney Channel

In 2007, Cameron portrayed the role of Young Cosette in the Bainbridge Performing Arts (BPA) stage production of Les Misérables, and in 2008, she had the lead role of Mary in The Secret Garden, again with BPA.^[15] In 2012, Cameron was cast in a Disney Channel comedy series that was to be titled Bits and Pieces in which she would play the role of Alanna. Shortly after filming the pilot, Bits and Pieces was retooled into Liv and Maddie, which saw Cameron starring in the dual lead role of Liv and Maddie Rooney. The preview of the series debuted on July 19, 2013,^[16] and the series premiered on September 15, 2013.^[17] The pilot episode gained 5.8 million viewers, which was the most-watched in total viewers in 2.5 years since the series Shake It Up!^[18] Disney Channel renewed Liv and Maddie for a 13-episode second season slated to premiere in Fall 2014,^[19] which was later expanded to 24 episodes.^[20]

On August 27, 2013, Cameron released a cover of "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons as a promotional single.^[21] Her cover peaked on the Billboard Kid Digital Songs chart at 17 and spent three weeks on the chart.^[22] On October 15, 2013, "Better In Stereo" was released as a single under Walt Disney Records.^[23] "Better In Stereo" made its debut on the Billboard Kid Digital Songs chart at No. 21 before peaking at No. 1, becoming Cameron's first No. 1 hit.^[22] In February 2014, Cameron confirmed reports that recording had begun for her debut studio album.^[24] Her next single, "Count Me In", was released on June 3, 2014.^[25] The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Kids Digital Songs chart.^[22] In 2015, Cameron played Liz Larson in her first non-Disney film, Barely Lethal, which was theatrically released by A24 Films.^[26]

Cameron starred in the television film Descendants which premiered on July 31, 2015.^[27] The film was viewed by 6.6 million people and spawned Cameron's two first Billboard Hot 100 songs, "Rotten to the Core" at number 38^[28] and a solo song, "If Only", at number 94.^[29] Other songs from the film featuring Cameron such as "Set It Off" and "Evil Like Me" charted at number 6 and 12 respectively on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.^[30] The soundtrack for the movie peaked atop the Billboard 200 chart becoming the first soundtrack from a Disney Channel Original Movie since High School Musical 2 to do so.^[31] As part of the Descendants franchise, Cameron released a cover of the Christina Aguilera's song "Genie in a Bottle". The music video premiered on Disney Channel on March 18, 2016. The single received 22 million views in less than a month.^[32][33]

In 2015, Cameron and Ryan McCartan formed a band called The Girl and the Dreamcatcher.^[34] On October 2, 2015, they released their first single, "Written in the Stars".^[35] The band released their second single, "Glowing in the Dark", on January 29, 2016.^[36] The Girl and the Dreamcatcher released their third single, "Someone You Like", on April 8, 2016. They released their fourth single, "Make You Stay", on June 17, 2016.^[37] On July 29, 2016, the band released their first EP, Negatives, featuring their singles "Make You Stay" and "Glowing in the Dark" and four new songs.^[38] In October 2016, as a result of Cameron's and McCartan's breakup, the musical duo disbanded.^[39] On December 22, 2015, Liv and Maddie was renewed for a fourth season, becoming the ninth live-action Disney Channel series in history to achieve this.^[40] Cameron began filming the season, renamed to Liv and Maddie: Cali Style in early 2016.^[41] It was later announced that this would be the final season of the series.^[42] The series finale of Liv and Maddie later aired on March 24, 2017.^[43]