Brooklyn Sudano Biography

Brooklyn Sudano (born January 5, 1981) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for playing the role of Vanessa Scott on the ABC sitcom My Wife And Kids. Sudano is the daughter of super star "Disco Queen" Grammy Award winning singer Donna Summer and songwriter Bruce Sudano. She is also the older sister of Amanda Sudano of the music duo Johnnyswim.

Early life

Sudano was born in Los Angeles, California, to African American singer Donna Summer and Italian American songwriter Bruce Sudano. She was named after her father's hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Her younger (by 19 months) sister is singer-songwriter Amanda Sudano of Johnnyswim. She also has an older half-sister, Mimi Sommer, from her mother's first marriage to Helmut Sommer.

Sudano spent the early part of her childhood on a 56-acre ranch in Thousand Oaks, California until her family moved to Connecticut when she was 10 years old. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. Here, Sudano gravitated toward the arts and flourished. She sang in the Gospel Choir at church. Sudano and her sister's spent summers touring and singing backing vocals for their famous mother. In her leisure, she studied dance and wrote songs.

She attended high school at Christ Presbyterian Academy where she appeared in all the theater productions. Sometimes Sudano accompanied her parents while they toured around the world, continuing her studies with tutors. A distinguished student, she was valedictorian at her graduation.

Upon graduation Sudano was accepted at to Brown, Duke and Georgetown University. However she chose to remain close to home and attended Vanderbilt University. Sudano eventually left Vanderbilt to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.

She was featured in her mother's song "Brooklyn" on the record I'm a Rainbow.

Career

Modeling

While Sudano was studying acting in New York, Sudano was spotted by a modelling agent and signed to the Ford Modeling Agency. Sudano appeared in numerous advertising campaigns in print and television, including Clairol, Clean & Clear and K-Mart.

Acting

Brooklyn replaced Meagan Good as Vanessa Scott on My Wife and Kids. She is Junior's girlfriend and later wife, who first appears in the season finale of season 3 (played by Meagan Good). She continues as a regular cast member throughout the rest of the series five-year run.

She also starred in the film adaptation of V. C. Andrews' novel Rain.

She played Mikaela in the MTV TV Movie Turn the Beat Around (film)

She appeared in $h#*! My Dad Says in 2011. More recently, she played the role of Christy Epping in the Hulu series 11.22.63 and appeared on HBO's Ballers.

Personal life

Sudano married her longtime boyfriend, Mike McGlaflin, on October 8, 2006. She resides in the Los Angeles area.