An actress from the age of six, Brenda Song first achieved pronounced fame in her teens, by virtue of frequent work in Disney Channel productions. Born in 1988 to a Thai-American mother and a Hmong father, Song landed one of her earliest screen assignments in 1996, with a small part in the Hulk Hogan comedy Santa With Muscles, then appeared in the following year's big-screen comedy Leave It to Beaver. Scattered assignments in television series followed, including Judging Amy, 7th Heaven, and The Bernie Mac Show, and Song son graduated to Disney Chanel work at age 12, with parts in that station's cable telemovies The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000) and Get a Clue (2002). She broke through to her widest audience, however (and maintained a much higher profile) when she starred opposite the Sprouse twins, Dylan and Cole on the Disney Channel sitcom The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (2005). On that series, Song plays London Tipton, the spoiled-rotten daughter of the owner of the hotel where the titular youngsters reside. Song then had an opportunity to show off her interest in tae-kwan-do as the title character in the martial arts extravaganza Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006) and tackled a supporting role opposite Raven-Symone and Martin Lawrence in the road comedy College Road Trip (2008).