Caroline Mohr Sunshine (born September 5, 1995) is an American former actress who previously worked as a White House staffer. As an actress, she is best known for her co-starring role as flashy, rude European

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but doe ...

Tinka Hessenheffer on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

series ''

Shake It Up Shake It Up may refer to: * ''Shake It Up'' (Boney James & Rick Braun album), 2000 * ''Shake It Up'' (The Cars album), 1981 ** "Shake It Up" (The Cars song), the title song * "Shake It Up" (Divine song), 1983 * "Shake It Up" (Koda Kumi song), ...

''. Sunshine has also appeared in the feature film ''Marmaduke'' (2010), the documentary ''Behind The Scenes'' (2012), and the

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

film ''The Outfield'' (2015).

Early life

Caroline Sunshine was born on September 5, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Thom and Karen Sunshine. She was raised in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, and has two younger brothers, Johnny and Christopher. Sunshine began studying ballet at the age of 3 and landed her first lead role playing

Goldilocks "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a 19th-century English fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of an obscene old woman who enters the forest home ...

in a kindergarten play. She later moved on to acting with the Orange County Children's Theater and dancing competitively with the South Coast Performing Arts studio in

Tustin, California Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, and does not include the unincorporated community ...

Career

Acting

In 2004 Sunshine started in theater and her stage credits include ''

Annie Warbucks ''Annie Warbucks'' is a musical with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. A sequel to the 1977 Tony Award-winning hit ''Annie'', based on Harold Gray's ''Little Orphan Annie'' comic strip, it begins imme ...

'' at the Orange County Children's Theatre, ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

'' at the Academy of Dance and South Coast Performing Arts, and '' Stage Door'' at the

Lutheran High School of Orange County Lutheran High School of Orange County (commonly known as Orange Lutheran High School or OLu) is a private Lutheran high school in Orange, California, in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, founded in 1973. The school offers on-campus, online, and b ...

. In 2006, Sunshine began going to professional auditions at the age of 11, and landed her first role in a commercial for Amazing Allysen the talking doll, as well as commercial work for Yoplait Go-Gurt, and

Cap'n Crunch Cap'n Crunch is a maize, corn and oat breakfast cereal manufactured by Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo since 2001. After introducing the original cereal in 1963, marketed simply as ''Cap'n Crunch'', Quaker Oats has since introduced n ...

. In 2010, Sunshine filmed her first pilot for the CBS sitcom, ''Team Spitz'', co-starring as the teenage daughter of a high school coach played by

Rob Riggle Robert A. Riggle Jr. (born April 21, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and former United States Marine Officer. He is known for his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show'' from 2006 to 2008; as a cast member on ''Satu ...

. In the summer of that same year, she gained popular notoriety for her role as Barbara Winslow in her first feature film, '' Marmaduke'', based on the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

of the same name. In the fall of 2010, Sunshine landed what would become her most famous role as a co-star on the

original series, ''

'' as European

, Tinka Hessenheffer alongside

Kenton Duty Jeffrey Kenton Duty (born May 12, 1995) is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He is best known for his recurring role as "Young Jacob" on the final season of the ABC primetime drama, ''Lost'', and for his co-starring role as the flamboyant ...

as her flamboyant twin brother, Gunther Hessenheffer. The glitzy brother/sister duo of Gunther and Tinka is said to be inspired by

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

and Sharpay Evans of Disney's ''

High School Musical ''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, th ...

'' franchise. She was a recurring cast member during the first season, but was promoted to a regular character for the second and third seasons. The series ended in November 2013. Sunshine appeared on the

Christmas album ''

Holidays Unwrapped Disney's ''Holidays Unwrapped'' is a 2013 holiday album released on October 15, 2013. Overview The album features musical artists that were, at the time of release, associated with the Disney Channel, including Debby Ryan, Ross Lynch, Bella Thorne ...

''; her cover version of " All I Want for Christmas Is You" was featured as the tenth song on the album. In June 2014 she filmed a Freeform

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

called ''Recovery Road'' based on

Blake Nelson Blake Nelson is an American author of adult and children's literature. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Wesleyan University and New York University. He lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. Biography Nelso ...

's novel of the same name, in which she plays a title role alongside

Samantha Logan Samantha Jade Logan (born October 27, 1996) is an American actress. She is best known for her lead role as Olivia Baker in The CW series '' All American'', Nina Jones in the second season of the Netflix series ''13 Reasons Why'', and Tia Stephe ...

. Neither Sunshine nor Logan would appear in the actual series, however. Logan was replaced by Jessica Sula and Sunshine's character was removed from the script. During 2015 Sunshine appeared in a TV Movie called ''Go Four Broke'' as Tiffani Brand. And earlier she appeared in the big screen production of '' The Outfield''.

Activism

In February 2011, Sunshine became the spokesmodel for the teen fragrance, "Puppy Love 4 Girlz". "Puppy Love" Fragrances is committed to helping homeless dogs and puppies, with a portion of all proceeds of the perfume going to local animal shelters. In May 2011, Sunshine was named one of ''Dream Magazine's'' "Top 16 Under 16". In addition to her work with "Puppy Love", Sunshine is involved in several other charitable causes including the "Joyful Sewing Organization," which makes blankets for cancer patients, "Working Wardrobes," which provides assistance to underprivileged women and victims of domestic abuse, the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center, which offers in-home parenting classes to families to break the generational cycle of abuse, the "Adopt A Hero" program, which provides for the needs of soldiers and their families; the "Loaves and Fishes Ministry" which helps to feed the homeless, and the "Thirst Project," which is dedicated to providing clean drinking water to communities in developing nations.

Politics

Sunshine got involved in politics as a White House intern during the

Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

in January 2018, receiving a full-time job as a press assistant by mid-March 2018. Prior to this role, Sunshine had interned for the office of Kevin McCarthy, then the

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

; the College Republican National Committee; and the

California Republican Party The California Republican Party (CAGOP) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the U.S. state of California. The party is based in Sacramento and is led by chair Jessica Millan Patterson. As of October 2020, Republicans repre ...

. In February 2023, Sunshine became the press secretary and communications director for Eric Doden, a

gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

candidate for

Indiana governor The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the State of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government ...

Personal life

Sunshine began dating Matt Stumme in 2013; the pair went to high school and college together. Sunshine is a graduate of

Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and internat ...

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

, and Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, California.

Filmography

{, class="wikitable sortable" , + Film roles , - ! Year ! Title ! Role !Notes , - , 2010 , '' Marmaduke'' , Barbara Winslow , , - , 2012 , '' Behind the Scenes'' , Herself , Documentary , - , 2015 , '' The Outfield'' , Emily Jordan , {, class="wikitable sortable" , + Television roles , - ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" , Notes , - , 2008 , ''What's the Word?'' , Herself , Episode: "Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board" , - , 2010–2013 , ''

'' , Tinka Hessenheffer , Recurring role ( season 1); main role (seasons 2– 3); 45 episodes , - , 2012 , ''

A.N.T. Farm ''A.N.T. Farm'' is an American teen sitcom which originally aired on Disney Channel from May 6, 2011 to March 21, 2014. It first aired on May 6, 2011, as a special one-episode preview and continued as a regular series starting on June 17, 201 ...

'' , Ella , Episode: "

Some enchANTed evening "Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical '' South Pacific''. It has been described as "the single biggest popular hit to come out of any Rodgers and Hammerstein show." Mast, Gerald''Can't Help Singin' ...

" , - , 2014 , '' Fish Hooks'' , Alexis , Voice; episode " Algae Day/Bea Saves a Tree" , - , 2017 , ''Mommy I Didn't Do It'' , Sylvie Garrett , Television film

Stage

{, class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role , - , 2004 , ''

'' , Orphan , - , 2005 , ''

'' , Doll , - , 2006 , '' Stage Door'' , Annie

Discography

Promotional singles

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" ! scope="col", Year ! scope="col" style="width:22em;", Song ! scope="col", Album , - , 2012 ! scope="row" , "

Roam Real-time optimally adapting mesh (ROAM) is a continuous level of detail algorithm that optimizes terrain meshes. On modern computers, sometimes it is more effective to send a small amount of unneeded polygons to the GPU, rather than burden the ...

"
(with

Davis Cleveland Davis Richard Cleveland (born February 5, 2002) is an American child actor. He is known for his role as Flynn Jones on the Disney Channel original series ''Shake It Up''. Cleveland starred as Manny in the 2016 Nickelodeon Original Movie ''Rufu ...

and

Adam Irigoyen Adam Irigoyen (born August 5, 1997) is an American actor, singer, rapper and dancer. He is best known for his role as Deuce Martinez in the Disney Channel series ''Shake It Up''. Early life Adam Irigoyen was born August 5, 1997, in Miami, Florid ...

) , '' Treasure Buddies''

Other appearances

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1" ! scope="col", Year ! scope="col" style="width:18em;" , Title ! scope="col", Album , - , rowspan="2", 2012 ! scope="row", "The Star I R" , '' Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance'' , - ! scope="row", "All I Want For Christmas Is You" , ''

Disney Channel Holiday Playlist ''Disney Channel Holiday Playlist'' (titled '' Family® Holiday Playlist'' in Canadahttps://music.amazon.ca/albums/B07BB1TLNX) is a 2012 holiday music album released on October 2, 2012 in the United States, and November 2, 2012 in Canada. The alb ...

'' , - , rowspan="1", 2013 ! scope="row", "Afterparty" (with Roshon Fegan) , '' Shake It Up: I <3 Dance''

Awards and nominations

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Year ! Award ! Category ! Work ! Result ! Ref. , - , 2011 , rowspan=2,

Young Artist Awards The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

, rowspan=2, Outstanding Young Ensemble in a TV Series
(shared with Bella Thorne, Zendaya,

, Roshon Fegan,

and

) , rowspan=2, ''

'' , , style="text-align:center;" , , - , 2012 , , style="text-align:center;" ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunshine, Caroline 1995 births 21st-century American actresses Actors from Orange County, California Actresses from Atlanta Actresses from California American child actresses American film actresses American television actresses California Republicans Claremont McKenna College alumni Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans Living people Trump administration personnel