Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Born in California, Song began her career at the age of six, working as a child model. She made her screen debut with a guest appearance on the sitcom Thunder Alley (1995), and went on to roles such as the children's television series Fudge (1995) and the Nickelodeon series 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd (1999). Song starred in the Disney Channel original film The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000), which won her a Young Artist Award. She subsequently signed a contract with Disney Channel and earned widespread recognition for playing the titular character in the action film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), and London Tipton in the comedy franchise The Suite Life (2005–2011), earning her acclaim and two Young Hollywood Awards. She additionally played the character of Tia on Phil of the Future (2004–2005), and had starring roles in the television films Get a Clue (2002) and the comedy film Stuck in the Suburbs (2004).
Song made her transition into mainstream roles with the critically acclaimed biographical drama film The Social Network (2010) and went on to roles in the ABC political thriller Scandal (2012–2013), the Fox sitcom New Girl and the sitcom Dads (2013). In October 2014, she signed a talent holding deal with Fox and 20th Century Fox Television and was subsequently cast in several television pilots for NBC and CBS, including the medical drama series Pure Genius (2016–2017) and the action drama series Station 19 (2018–2020). She provided the voice of Anne Boonchuy in the Disney Channel animated series Amphibia (2019–2022) and starred as Madison Maxwell in the Hulu comedy-drama series Dollface (2019–2022). She has also headlined the romantic comedy film Angry Angel (2017), the psychological thriller film Secret Obsession (2019), the comedy-drama film Changeland (2019), and the romantic comedy Love Accidentally (2022).
Early life :
Brenda Song was born on March 27, 1988, in Carmichael, California, a suburb of Sacramento, to a Thai and Hmong family. Her paternal grandparents were from the Xiong clan (熊; Xyooj in Hmong), but changed their last name to Song in order to land an acting role. Her parents were born in Thailand and met as adults in Sacramento. Her father works as a school teacher and her mother is a homemaker. She has two younger brothers named Timmy and Nathan Song.
When she was six years old, Song moved with her mother to Los Angeles, California, to support her acting career; the rest of the family followed two years later. As a young girl, Song wanted to do ballet, while her younger brother wanted to take taekwondo. She said, "My mom only wanted to take us to one place," so they settled on taekwondo. Although Song cried all the way through her first class, she now holds a black belt in taekwondo. Song was named an All-American Scholar in the ninth grade. She was homeschooled and earned a high school diploma at age 16, then took courses at a community college. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2009, majoring in psychology and minoring in business.
