2001–2013: Career beginning and Big Time Rush
In 2001, Schmidt landed recurring roles on General Hospital, Titus, Raising Dad, Gilmore Girls and CSI: Miami. He guest-starred on a variety of TV shows, including ER, MADtv, Frasier and Phil of the Future. Most recently, Kendall guest starred on Without a Trace and Ghost Whisperer. On the big screen, he has appeared in Minority Report and According to Spencer.
In 2009, Schmidt made his career breakthrough while he was cast as the lead in the Nickelodeon television series Big Time Rush, Kendall Knight. Kendall portrays a character who is the strongest, fastest, smartest and successful member of Big Time Rush. He also was a member of the real-life boy band Big Time Rush, formed as the part of a show. Nickelodeon signed the group, and their debut album, titled BTR, was released on October 11, 2010. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and was later certified Gold by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies in the U.S. In November 2010, it was announced that a Christmas special of Big Time Rush would debut later that month, and that a Christmas EP would be released to coincide with the episode. On November 30, 2010, they released the Holiday EP Holiday Bundle, with two songs: "Beautiful Christmas" and the cover of "All I Want for Christmas is You", originally performed by Mariah Carey. On February 15, 2011, "Boyfriend" was released as the band's first official single to mainstream US radio and peaked at number seventy-two on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their most successful song to date.
Schmidt and the group announced they would be recording their second studio album, just after Nickelodeon renewed the series for a third season. Their second album, Elevate, was released on November 21, 2011, and debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, selling over 70,000 copies in its first week. Though for a lower peaking than their previous, the album sold more copies than the previous album. The first single, "Music Sounds Better with U", was released on November 1, 2011. He announced would be starring in their full-length 2012 film, Big Time Movie.
In 2013 Nickelodeon renewed the Big Time Rush series for a 13-episode fourth season, production started on January 7. The third album, 24/Seven, was released on June 11, 2013, and led many critics to draw comparisons between the band's third album and NSYNC's third album Celebrity. The band went on hiatus in March, 2014.
