Brooklyn Sudano Biography

Even though Brooklyn Sudano grew up in the limelight by virtue of being the daughter of celebrities, Donna Summer and Bruce Sudano, she was more interested in academics than the glamorous lifestyle. Nevertheless, music had always been a big part of her upbringing, and she and her sister Amanda travelled with their parents regularly during their tours. They also often did "grunt work" like steaming the band’s clothes as their parents wanted them to experience what it was like to be in a production. As a child, Brooklyn featured in her mother's song 'Brooklyn' from her album, 'I'm a Rainbow', which was originally recorded in 1981 but was released in 1996. While her younger sister eventually followed their parents into music, Brooklyn chose to act instead. However, her career began as a model after she was spotted by an agent while studying in New York and was signed by the Ford Modeling Agency. In the following years, she appeared on banners and video ads for several top brands like Clairol, Clean & Clear and K-Mart. However, her big break came when she replaced actress Meagan Good for the role of Vanessa Scott in the ABC sitcom, 'My Wife and Kids,' in 2003.

Brooklyn Sudano quickly drew attention for her performance as Vanessa Scott on 'My Wife and Kids', in which role she continued to appear till the series ended in 2005. She next acted in the film adaptation of V. C. Andrews' novel 'Rain' in 2006, and the same year, she also had a recurring role in the TV series, 'Cuts'. In the following years, she had guest roles in a number of television shows, including 'CSI: NY', 'Fear Itself', '90210', 'Without a Trace', 'The Unit', '$#*! My Dad Says', 'Friends with Benefits', 'Body of Proof' and 'Reed Between the Lines'. Her later credits include movies like '5 Star Day', 'Sinners and Saints', and 'Crew 2 Crew'; and TV shows, such as 'Revolution', 'Turn the Beat Around', 'Westside' and 'With This Ring'. She recently earned critical acclaim for her acting in the Hulu series, '11.22.63', HBO's 'Ballers' and for portraying Asha Flynn on NBC's 'Taken'.

Brooklyn Sudano was born on January 5, 1981 in Los Angeles, California, to African-American singer Donna Summer and Italian-American songwriter Bruce Sudano. Her Brooklyn-born father had decided to name her after his hometown even before she was born. She has a younger sister, Amanda Sudano, who is a singer-songwriter, and is a part of the music duo, Johnnyswim, since 2005. She also has a step-sister named, Natalia Pia Melanie 'Mimi' Sommer, from her mother's first marriage to Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer. Despite living near Los Angles, she and her sisters had a country life growing up on a 56-acre ranch in Thousand Oaks full of chickens, cows and dogs. At the age of 10, Brooklyn moved to Connecticut with her family, and later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was 14. She and her sisters also spent a lot of time touring with their parents, which developed an artistic inclination in them. Coming from a multi-racial and multi-cultural family, Brooklyn was unaware of her background as a child, but later realized that people saw her as a black woman, which she was okay with. Her mother died from lung cancer in May 2012.

At Nashville, Brooklyn sang in a gospel choir and attended high school at Christ Presbyterian Academy where she actively participated in school theatre productions. She was very studious and graduated as the valedictorian of her class. While she was accepted into Brown, Duke and Georgetown University, she decided to stay close to her home and attended Vanderbilt University. She eventually left college to pursue an acting course at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.

She married Mike McGlaflin on October 8, 2006, after dating him for a long time. The couple recently welcomed a baby daughter.