Brenda Song (born March 27, 1988) is an American actress. Born in Carmichael, 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). She 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 Suite Life franchise (2005–2011), earning her acclaim and two Young Hollywood Awards. She additionally played the recurring role of Tia in Phil of the Future (2004–2005), and had starring roles in the television film Get a Clue (2002), the sports comedy film Like Mike (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 returned to Disney Channel to provide the voice of Anne Boonchuy in the animated series Amphibia (2019–2022), starred as Madison Maxwell in the Hulu comedy-drama series Dollface (2019–2022), and provides the voice of Princess Akemi in Blue Eye Samurai (2023–present). She also appeared in the romantic comedy Angry Angel (2017), the psychological thriller Secret Obsession (2019), the comedy-drama Changeland (2019), the romantic comedy Love Accidentally and the horror video-game The Quarry (both 2022).
Song earned renewed recognition for starring as a showgirl in the drama film The Last Showgirl (2024) and a chief of staff in the Netflix series Running Point (2025–present).
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Early life
Song was born on March 27, 1988, in Carmichael, California, a suburb of Sacramento. Her father is Hmong and from Bangkok. Her mother is from Thailand as well, and was adopted by a Hmong family. Her paternal grandparents were from the Xiong clan (熊; Xyooj in Hmong), but anglicized their surname to Song after arriving in the United States. 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 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.
Career
1990s: Beginnings
Song began in show business as a child fashion model in San Francisco after being spotted in a shopping mall by an agent from a modeling school. She began acting at the age of five or six in a Little Caesars commercial, and then a Barbie commercial. Her first film role was in the 1995 Requiem, an AFI student short film by actress Elizabeth Sung. "She came in confident [at the auditions]. She was very focused, and it was very obvious that she loved what she was doing," said Sung. The film is about a waitress/dancer named Fong who remembers her loving brother and their bittersweet childhood in Hong Kong. The seven-year-old Song played a young version of "Fong", who is portrayed as an adult by Tamlyn Tomita. The film won a CINE Golden Eagle award. She appeared in another short film directed by Elizabeth Sung called The White Fox. Song next appeared in two episodes of the television program Thunder Alley, and was a regular in the children's television series Fudge, in which she portrayed Jenny. Her theatrical film debut was in Santa with Muscles, a 1996 independent film starring professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.
After a small role in Leave It to Beaver (1997), she appeared in the Nickelodeon television series 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd, where she played Sariffa Chung in thirteen episodes. After 100 Deeds, she had a number of small parts in television shows such as 7th Heaven, Judging Amy, ER, Once and Again, The Brothers García, Popular, Bette, The Bernie Mac Show, The Nightmare Room, For the People, and George Lopez.
2000s: Breakthrough with Disney
Two of Song's early roles led to recognition in the Young Artist Awards. Her role in the 2000 Disney Channel Original Movie, The Ultimate Christmas Present, won her the award for "Best Performance in a TV Movie Comedy, Supporting Young Actress". The film centers on two teenage girls, Allison Thompson (Hallee Hirsh) and Samantha Kwan (Song), who find a weather machine and make it snow in Los Angeles. Her 2002 appearance on The Bernie Mac Show led to her nomination for "Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series, Guest Starring Young Actress". In the same year, she was in the 20th Century Fox family film Like Mike, which grossed over $60 million. The film stars rapper Bow Wow as an orphan who can suddenly play NBA-level basketball. Song portrays the character Reg Stevens, a thirteen-year-old orphan.
In 2002, Song signed a contract with Disney and appeared in the Disney Channel movie Get a Clue (alongside Lindsay Lohan). Song continued to make guest appearances in Disney sitcoms such as That's So Raven and One on One. She had a recurring role as Tia in the Disney Channel series Phil of the Future, appearing in seven episodes of the series in 2004 and 2005. In Summer 2004, Song starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Stuck in the Suburbs, portraying Natasha Kwon-Schwartz. The television premiere received 3.7 million viewers. The film is about two teenage girls living in suburbia who accidentally exchange cell phones with a famous teen singer. At age 15, she received an early acceptance letter from Harvard University that she turned down. Speaking of the time, she said, "My mom got breast cancer for the first time, I booked Suite Life, and I was accepted into the college I'd always wanted to go to." Her father encouraged her to take the role on Suite Life.
In 2005, Song began appearing in the role of spoiled heiress London Tipton in the Disney Channel Original Series, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. The role was initially named "Paris" in an allusion to Paris Hilton. She got the role without an audition Song says, "London is my fantasy person, I wish I could be her. I wish I had her closet." The series is about the residents and workers at the fictional Tipton Hotel in Boston and mainly centers around the trouble-making twins, Zack and Cody Martin (Dylan and Cole Sprouse). The series premiered on the Disney Channel on March 18, 2005, receiving four million viewers, making it the most successful premiere for the Disney Channel in 2005. The series earned a 2007 Young Artist Award for "Best Family Television Series (comedy)", Emmy nominations for "Outstanding Children's Program" (twice) and "Outstanding Choreography", and three Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award nominations for "Favorite TV show" in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2006 Song earned an Asian Excellence Award nomination for "Outstanding Newcomer" for her part in the series.
2010s: Mainstream transition
In 2010, Song was the celebrity endorser of the Walt Disney Company's Disney Cruise Line. In 2011, she was also the spokesperson of the clothing brand OP. That same year, Song joined the main cast of Columbia Pictures' The Social Network alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. Song portrayed Christy Lee, a Harvard University student who dates Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Critically acclaimed, it is her first film to be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. She called The Social Network a role that "changed her life", and revealed in an interview with Variety that she had "fought" for the part, since Disney took issue with the film's sexual content. She further claimed that she lost an audition in 2008's Gran Torino on the same grounds.
In October 2011, Song starred in the sci-fi/dance film Boogie Town in Los Angeles. The film is a retelling of the tragedy Romeo and Juliet and is set in a futuristic New York City where dance battles are permanently banned. Song plays the role of Natalie, the female lead. In 2012, Song starred in the short film First Kiss along with her Social Network costar Joseph Mazzello. First Kiss was screened at numerous film festivals throughout the US and won the Best Short Film award at the Omaha Film Festival and TriMedia Film Festival.
In 2012 and 2013, Song had a recurring role as Alissa in the TV series Scandal in the first and second seasons. In 2013, Song had a recurring role as Daisy in New Girl. In August 2013, Song was cast in a leading role in the Fox television series Dads, in which Song portrayed Veronica. The series' pilot episode was criticized by Asian-American watchdog groups because Song's character wore a stereotypical "sexy Asian schoolgirl" costume, which was deemed "racist" by watchdog groups. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Song defended the series and denied the racism allegations. Fox refused to re-shoot the scenes. The series premiered September 17, 2013, but in May 2014, Fox canceled the series after only one season. In October 2014, Song signed a talent holding deal with Fox and 20th Century Fox Television to star in a television project. In April 2015, Song was cast in a regular role in the NBC comedy pilot Take It From Us. In November 2015, Song was cast in the CBS series Life in Pieces as Bonnie.
In February 2016, Song was cast in the CBS pilot Bunker Hill. Later renamed Pure Genius, the series was picked up by CBS and aired during the 2016-2017 television season, but was canceled after one season. In March 2017, Song was cast as a series regular in the CBS pilot Real Life. She was also cast in Seth Green's directorial debut Changeland, on which she worked with her future romantic partner, Macaulay Culkin. In August 2017, it was announced that Song would be starring in Freeform's first original holiday film, Angry Angel, which premiered November 18, 2017. In March 2018, it was revealed Song would join the cast of Station 19 for a multi-episode arc.
2020s: Renewed recognition
In 2022, Song began appearing on The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, voicing news anchor Vanessa Vue. That same year, she starred as the lead character Alexa in the Amazon Freevee original movie Love Accidentally. Radhika Menon of Decider wrote, "The film under-uses Brenda Song." Also in 2022, she was part of an ensemble cast featured in the horror game The Quarry. In 2023, she began voicing Princess Akemi in the animated series Blue Eye Samurai. The following year, Song appeared in Operation Taco Gary's, a comedy film written and directed by Michael Kvamme in his directorial debut.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter's Seija Rankin, Song revealed that she found herself in a career slump in early 2023 and considered retiring. She was then cast as a showgirl in Gia Coppola's drama film The Last Showgirl, in which she thought her role would surprise audiences since her character works in adult entertainment. The Last Showgirl was released in 2024 and won Song a shared award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 2025, she starred in the Mindy Kaling office comedy series Running Point. Of her performance, Time magazine wrote, "Song is a force of high-energy competence as Isla's (Kate Hudson) right-hand woman, though some independent storylines would help her escape an under-developed sidekick role should the show get a second season." For both The Last Showgirl and Running Point, Song was praised by Vanity Fair and media outlets for her career reinvention. Song herself credits these roles for allowing audiences to meet "the adult me."
In June 2025, Variety awarded her the Variety Virtuoso Award at the Bentonville Film Festival for Running Point. In July 2025, she announced the nominations for the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Television Academy's Wolf Theatre in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, co-hosting with actor Harvey Guillén and Television Academy chair Cris Abrego. She had a voice cameo in the 2025 film Zootopia 2 as lynx Kitty Lynxley.
Public image
In 2005, an article "Maths Spotlight on... Brenda Song" in Scholastic Math included facts about Song and mathematical guidance from her. In 2006, CosmoGirl named Song the "Queen of Disney", citing her major contributions on Disney Channel. Song ranked ninth in Netscape's 2007 "Top 10 Pretty Petites in Entertainment", was voted one of AOL's "Top 20 Tween (and Teen) TV Stars", and was ranked No. 3 on Maxim's Asian Hot 100 of 2008 list. Song was also ranked No. 45 in AIM's "Top 100 Celebs Under 25" list. TV Guide listed her in its 2008 list of "13 Hottest Young Stars to Watch". In 2009, Song was featured in Celebuzz's "Rising Stars" list; she was also described as one of "young Hollywood's most promising rising stars." In 2009, the blog Angry Asian Man named her one of the most influential Asian Americans under the age of 30.
In April 2008, a picture of Song was used in an ad for an escort agency in the LA Weekly. A representative from Disney told TMZ.com, "This is an unauthorized use of Brenda Song's image and her personal attorney has issued a cease and desist to the advertiser." Song filed a libel suit seeking $100,000 in damages. Song stated, "As a role model to millions of young people, I feel I have to take a stand against this company in regard to its exploitation of my image." The settlement was announced in March 2009.
Personal life
From 2010 to 2017, Song was in an on-and-off relationship with musician Trace Cyrus, to whom she was engaged from 2011 to 2012. In 2018, Song shared that she was in a relationship with actor Macaulay Culkin, whom she met in June 2017 when they worked together on Changeland; they were seen dating the following month. Their first son was born in 2021. After more than four years of dating, Culkin and Song were engaged in January 2022. Song and Culkin's second son was born in 2022. The couple lives in Los Angeles.
Song is a fan of the Los Angeles Rams.
Activism
In 2006, Song was hostess for the "A World of Change" annual charity fashion show to benefit Optimist Youth Homes & Family Services. She also supported the 10th Annual L.A. Cancer Challenge. In 2006 and 2007, she participated in the YMCA Healthy Kids Day in Chicago. She began hosting a Disney special daily segment called Pass the Plate in 2007, in which she helped children and their families learn more about nutrition and healthy food. The series is produced in ten countries in association with Disney Channel. Song returned for the second season of the miniseries.
Song appeared alongside Paula Abdul and several other celebrities in a "Our Time to Vote" commercial, which aimed to encourage American citizens to vote during the 2008 presidential election. In 2008, Song was part of the "Power of Youth carnival," a benefit for the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. In 2009, Song participated in the "Diet Pepsi Easter Holiday House" event. She decorated an egg at the event that was sold in an online auction benefiting Feeding America.
Song was a spokesperson for Disney's environmental campaign, Disney's Friends for Change. She was featured in several commercials on the Disney Channel for the campaign. The charity aimed to explain how children can help preserve the Earth and invited them to go to the Friends for Change website to register and pledge, offering them the chance to help choose how Disney will invest $1 million in environmental programs.