Brenda Vivian was born in Los Angeles, California and is of Vietnamese, African, Irish and Native American descent. Brenda's family moved to San Jose, California when she was a small child and she lived there until high school graduation. Brenda attended UCLA and majored in psychology and journalism.Originally pursuing a career in journalism, she interned at CNN; during which, she was encouraged to pursue a career in acting. After graduating college, she began training at Howard Fine Studio and Stella Adler Los Angeles. Brenda began acting in the theatre, landing roles at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum under the direction of Ellen Geer and Heidi Helen Davis. She performed in the open air theatre in classics such as "Lysistrata," "Medea" and "The Madwoman of Chaillot." Her love for live performance subsequently led to more acting roles in three original plays by director-playwright Don B. Welch.From there, Brenda began booking television roles on various television shows including Disney's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," CBS' Emmy award-winning daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful" and the number-one rated television show in the world, "NCIS." Lending her voice as Tia Mowry's cell phone on Nickelodeon's "Instant Mom," the multi-faceted actress has also appeared in national television commercial campaigns including TGIFridays, Honda and Vitamin Water. Brenda can also be seen in the Sony Screen Gems feature films "About Last Night" and "Think Like A Man Too." Most recently, Brenda filmed a lead role in the sitcom pilot "Ward of the State" opposite Janet Hubert ("Fresh Prince of Bel Air") and Vanessa Williams ("Soul Food").When not working, Brenda is passionate about volunteering for local Los Angeles charities including The Los Angeles City Food Bank and Project Angel Food. She also supports The Good News Foundation, founded by television journalists, which is dedicated to giving back to the local community. One day, Brenda hopes to create a charity for at-risk youth in the greater Los Angeles area.