Allen was born Aleisha LaNaé Allen in New York City on April 28, 1991, and has been modeling for print and TV ads since the age of 4. As a 6-year-old she appeared on ''Blue's Clues'', and later she became a series regular on ''Out of the Box''.

A singer and ballerina (as well as an actress), Allen most recently starred in ''School of Rock'' with 'Jack Black'. She has also appeared in ''The Best Man'' and ''Finding Forrester''.