As the Disney hit marks 20 years, Song looks back on how playing London Tipton shaped her career.
Two decades after its debut, Brenda Song still cherishes her time on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. As the show’s 20th anniversary approaches on March 18, the Running Point actress, 36, spoke exclusively with PEOPLE about playing the beloved hotel heiress London Tipton and how her early Disney years shaped her career.
I wouldn’t be sitting here without that role — that show and that role opened so many opportunities and so many doors for me post-Disney, I’m so incredibly grateful.
she saysAdvertisement
Song recalls that growing up in the spotlight brought her close to her castmates, including Ashley Tisdale and Cole and Dylan Sprouse, as they spent eight years filming the show and its spinoff, Suite Life on Deck.
I truly made a second family, We grew up together. I think the thing that I took the most was my relationships. That’s my family. I love them.
she says of her co-stars
As a child star, Song says one of the most meaningful parts of the series was how comfortable she felt on set.
Being on that show was really special because I was able to go set every single day knowing that I was in a safe space, getting to do something that I could only ever dream of doing, Stepping into the most amazing shoes every single day and playing my dream character and having fun, but still being able to be a kid while doing it.
she says
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While she had plenty of fun, she also credits the show with preparing her for acting as an adult, saying she learned the “work ethic of a 30-year-old woman” as a teenager.
I feel like it’s just set me up for so many things in my life that I feel like if I hadn’t gone through that I would not be able to handle it the way that I did because of that, It was such a beautiful experience. I look back on it, and yes, as with everything, there was ups and downs, but that is probably the most obviously life-changing experience for me.
she adds
Looking back on the impact her character London had on young women, especially young Asian women who saw themselves represented on screen, Song says she continues to see its influence even today.
At the time, I was so young, and I think that’s the beauty of the innocence and naivete. You don’t even think about it, You’re just having fun. You get to go and go be on set and make a show. I was living my dream. I was not thinking outside of anything. But I don’t think people really appreciate how incredibly ahead of the curve Disney was when it came to colorblind casting and allowing kids of all ages, sizes, backgrounds, ethnicities, to tell their own stories, and to be represented in media in a time where I feel like it really wasn’t in to do so or it was harder to find those opportunities.
she says
“Looking back on it, I just feel really grateful to be a part of that,” she says, noting that she’s now witnessing the impact firsthand as her 6-year-old niece experiences the show for the first time.
[She] just started watching Suite Life, which was really crazy and weird. She doesn’t quite get it yet, but the fact that a show exists where she can feel in some way, shape or form that she’s being represented, it’s really special, I just feel really grateful that I was able to be a part of that because I just showed up and tried to be my best work.
Song says
My biggest thing was I just wanted to always make my family and myself proud, I just wanted to make sure that my brothers weren’t embarrassed of me. I mean, they always were, they’re my brothers, but that was always just sort of my mindset.
she continues
I just wanted to go to sleep every single night and know that I felt like I made good decisions. My mom always said she never cared when people came up and said, ‘Oh, my Brenda was so good in …’ — she only cared if I was a good person. And I feel like it really stuck with me. That’s what I sort of take away from everything is at night as long as I feel good about the decisions I made in my life, and I feel like I have no regrets, I’m okay.
She adds,