"I Just Felt So Lucky": Brenda Song Reflects On The "Safe Environment" Disney Created On "The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody" Set
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If you grew up watching Disney Channel in the 2000s, then chances are you have a favorite Brenda Song character. Whether it's London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody or Wendy Wu from Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, she is the epitome of a lot of people's childhoods.
Since her time on Disney Channel came to an end with The Suite Life on Deck in 2011, Brenda has gone on to guest-star in countless TV shows like New Girl and Station 19. She also landed a notable role in The Social Network in 2010. More recently, she can be seen in Dollface, The Last Showgirl, and her brand-new Netflix comedy series, Running Point, starring Kate Hudson and created by Mindy Kaling.
And while some child stars like to distance themselves from the things they did as children, Brenda has embraced growing up on Disney Channel, and she credits her positive experience as a child actor to the "safe environment" Disney fostered on The Suite Life set and how "ahead of the curve" Disney was at casting her in leading roles as an Asian American.
"I just felt so lucky that I got to literally play my dream character at 15 years old, and I got to grow with her, and I got to be in a place where I got to grow up in a safe environment on a show that I really loved. I had a lot of fun and grew up with people that are like my second family," Brenda said in a new interview with BuzzFeed as she reflected on her Disney days.
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She continued, saying, "I had such a beautiful time on Suite Life. I mean, it was hard, and, like, as with everything, there are ups and downs, but that show is so special. I mean, I obviously wouldn't be here without that show or without London Tipton, so I look back with nothing but happy nostalgia and smiles."
Of course, Brenda's comments about the nurturing and safe environment of The Suite Life are very refreshing at a time when countless other child stars have come forward talking about the alleged toxic and abusive environments they endured starring on hit TV series.
Earlier this year, Brenda said that she and her partner, Macaulay Culkin, have also bonded over both being child actors, even though they had "very different" experiences, considering Mack was "the most famous child actor in the world."
In an interview on the Sibling Revelry podcast with Kate and Oliver Hudson, Brenda elaborated, saying, "It wasn't one of the first things we connected on, but I think there was this unspoken understanding that we've had certain trauma that we both share that we didn't even quite realize stems from us being child actors. Certain anxieties or stressors or even triggers that you don't realize. You don't realize as a kid, how much that affects you as an adult."
On top of not only starring in one of the longest-running Disney Channel TV series, it was also monumental that kids got to grow up seeing Brenda as an Asian American lead in a hit show and countless DCOMs. While she paved the way for representation in a lot of ways — Lana Condor even says Brenda's work as London made her want to become an actor — Brenda says she never really thought about how important it was in the moment.
"Honestly, I say this all the time, I think being so young, you don't think about it. I mean, you wake up, you get to go do that thing that you dreamed of doing your entire life, and you get to make a show at 16; like, who gets to do that? And so, for me personally, I never thought about that," she began.
Brenda continued, telling BuzzFeed, "I don't think people really appreciate how ahead of the curve Disney was at sort of colorblind casting and allowing very young actors to tell their stories and allow them to be authentically themselves. I think people forget that and don't give them enough credit for allowing kids of all shapes, colors, sizes, backgrounds, and all these things to lead their own stories. It's really beautiful, and I feel really lucky to be able to be a part of that."
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She said now that her six-year-old niece is watching The Suite Life, she finally realizes how monumental it is that she'll have this representation. Brenda said, "[It's] more important than ever to allow this next generation to know that, like, anything is possible. Especially in today's world, everyone's always trying to tell you that you can't do this. We hear so many 'no's' all the time. So, any place where you can inspire a little bit of hope and change is monumental."
In particular, Brenda said while she's always recognized by fans as London Tipton, in recent years, more and more people have come up to her and thanked her for Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, her first leading role in a DCOM from 2006.
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Reflecting on her experience working on the film, Brenda said, "I have some, like, black holes in my memory, just because you're a kid, and you're like, Oh, that was a tough time. I was going through a lot, but I also got to do this really fun thing. I got to go to New Zealand for six weeks and shoot this really fun movie and do martial arts and hang on wires and stuff."
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She concluded, saying, "I feel very fortunate. I've had really lovely experiences that have all really helped shape who I am today. So I just look back on everything with such a smile and such a sense of, like, beautiful nostalgia because I feel like not everyone gets their childhood, like, captured on film in that sort of way."
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Talk about a fashion emergency. It's not easy dressing teenage girls under the best of circumstances — add in a plane crash in the wilderness, brutal winters, a devastating fire, and some mild cannibalism, and you've got to do some pretty creative costume work. More from GoldDerby Liam Payne confirmed as judge for Netflix singing competition, 'Superman' hits hard, and today's other top stories Carrie Preston on fencing with Matthew Broderick and the heart, humor, and growth of 'Elsbeth': 'She's more than just quirky' Brian Wilson, Beach Boys co-founder, dead at 82 Such is the challenge faced by Yellowjackets costume designer Marie Schley, an Emmy winner for her work on Transparent. Even in its third season, Schley says her job has actually gotten easier, as she's able to collaborate with the actors who've come to fully embody their characters — that is, the ones who've survived. Here, she talks with Liv Hewson, who plays teen Van (and who uses they/them pronouns), about their favorite costumes, the one look that defined their character, and what they took from the set. SEE'I was terrified — she has an Oscar for "Million Dollar Baby"': Melanie Lynskey on her epic 'Yellowjackets' fight with Hilary Swank Gold Derby: How do you work together in creating your character's look? Marie Schley: In terms of this season, it was a different process, because for the pilot, you put together a concept for your director and your showrunners, and then you do your fitting. But the characters evolve — certainly, Liv's character has. And so for this season, we are piggybacking on what's been established before, but also bringing in new ideas, more input, from the actors, because they're really living these characters. Liv Hewson: One of my favorite things about the process of figuring out the clothes on this show is how collaborative it is working with Marie. The restriction of Yellowjackets costume-wise is fun in that there literally is a finite amount of clothes that all of these characters are working with. The actor nerd in me really gets a kick out of tracking who would be wearing what, and what would they be using the clothes for. Something that is always really important to me is that Van is a butch lesbian, so what does her clothing say about her and communicate about her within the restriction of where they are? And how does her style evolve out in the wilderness? So it's about coming up with little nods, like her cutting the sleeves off of things, and masculinizing the clothes that they're all sharing. That was something that was really important to me. So it has been this beautiful process of discovery of these characters over the course of the experience they're having, while having to work within the framework of what they packed in the suitcases they have with them. Schley: I remember in our first fitting this season, there's this concept that they're sharing clothes amongst them. And Liv was, like, it really should be either Javi or Travis's clothes that she wears. So you'll see that Co-Ed Naked soccer T-shirt go between those two because they have a more similar aesthetic. In the first episode, we did a lot of different costumes for the summer solstice ritual and Van has this amazing storytelling monologue, which you did so beautifully. So there was this Ren Faire kind of poncho with shredded things on it that we fit in our first fitting. And Liv was definitely like, no flowers, let's minimalize this. It's really important to have that give and take to make sure it feels really authentic to that character. I think that it turned out really well. It turned out to be one of my favorite costumes, actually, Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with Showtime Hewson: I love it. I remember saying this very much in the world of what the others would be wearing. 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