Caroline Sunshine

Caroline Sunshine (born September 5, 1995) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Brooke Herrington in JuneNetwork's Original series Dana's Life and Little Sister her prominent recurring role as the flashy European exchange student Tinka Hessenheffer on the Disney Channel original series Shake It Up!

Early life
Caroline Sunshine was born September 5, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia to parents Thom and Karen Sunshine. She has two younger brothers, John (born in 1997) and Christopher (born in 2000). Sunshine was raised in Orange County, California, and began studying ballet at the age of 3. In kindergarten she landed her first lead role playing Goldilocks in a classroom play, then acted with the Orange County Children's Theater, and danced competitively with the South Coast Performing Arts studio in Tustin, California. Sunshine's stage credits include Annie Warbucks at the Orange County Children's Theatre, The Nutcracker at the Academy of Dance and South Coast Performing Arts, and Stage Door at the Lutheran High School of Orange County.

Career
In 2006, Sunshine began going on professional auditions when she was 11 years old, 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. In 2010, Sunshine filmed her first pilot for the CBS sitcom, Team Spitz, starring Rob Riggle of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart as a high school coach and her father on the show. Later that same year, she gained popular notoriety for her role as Barbara Winslow in her first feature film Marmaduke based on the comic strip of the same name. Sunshine currently has a prominent recurring role on the Disney Channel original series Shake It Up! as European exchange student Tinka Hessenheffer alongside Kenton Duty as her flamboyant fraternal twin brother Günther. The glitzy brother/sister duo of Günther and Tinka is said to be inspired by Ryan and Sharpay Evans of Disney's High School Musical franchise.

Personal life
Sunshine currently lives in Orange County, California with her father Thom, her mother Karen, and her two younger brothers Johnny and Chris. Sunshine enjoys dancing, traveling, baking, and outdoor activities including surfing, snorkeling and rafting. When she isn't working, Sunshine is involved in several charitable causes including the Joyful Sewing Organization that makes blankets for cancer patients, Working Wardrobes, which gives underprivileged women and victims of domestic abuse confidence and teaches them courses in how to properly interview for a job, the Adoptahero.org program that provide for the needs of soldiers and their families, and the Loaves and Fishes Ministry that helps feed the homeless.