Brenda Song stars in the new Netflix series “Running Point” alongside Kate Hudson, Chet Hanks and … her fiancรฉ, Macaulay Culkin.
Song, the 36-year-old former star of Disney’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” jokes she can’t take her fiancรฉ anywhere โ and especially not her workplace โ because he might just end up with a cameo in her project.
“It’s such a funny story, because he was just visiting me on set,” Song tells TODAY.com.
โI forgot who made a joke and was like, โOh, we should just throw (Culkin) in the background and just have it be an Easter egg for us and see if people see it.โ And then there was this heckler role for a scene they were about to film, and they were like, โWould you want to do this?โ And it just sort of snowballed,โ she says.
Culkin appears in the ninth episode of the 10-episode series, which follows a family business running the Los Angeles Waves, a fictional basketball team that seems to have its glory days in the past.
Isla Gordon (Kate Hudson) has to take over as president after her brother is involved in a scandal, leading to “The Office”-esque escapades (which makes sense, as former “Office” star Mindy Kaling executive produced the series).
In the scene, Culkin heckles Sandy Gordon (Drew Tarver) as he serenades his lover in the middle of the basketball court โ all while the crowd was waiting to see Billie Eilish perform instead.
Song says she found out about Culkin’s cameo after it had already happened.
“I actually wasn’t there when they filmed because I was in hair and makeup getting ready for my scene, and so people didn’t ask me about it. And I didn’t remember, to be honest! I just can’t take him to work. He’ll find a way to…” she trails off with a grin. “Like, I can’t take you anywhere with me, honey.”
Song, who has been engaged to Culkin since 2022 and linked to him for almost 10 years, has shared more about her personal life in 2025, starting what fans have called her “Brendaissance,” as the star comes into her own as an actor, mother and more.
“Honestly, I feel like โ for the first of my life, I really feel like I’m in this next phase. I feel like an adult for the first time,” she says. “For me, I feel like this big ball of Play Doh, where I’m so excited for the unknown. I’m so excited for what’s to come, because I feel so different from the person I’ve been for the past 36 years that I actually don’t know โ and I’m OK with that.”
Song says that the environment while working on “Running Point” was unlike anything she had experienced before.
“It was one of the first times that I really felt like I had such a safe workplace where I felt like I could stand up for myself,” she says. “I felt like I had a voice in the room.
“I think Brenda a year ago would have been nervous to do something so different, but they made me feel so comfortable,” she continues. “It was really, really fun for me to let go.”
Song โ a big basketball fan herself โ says she knew from the moment she heard the premise of the show she would want to be involved with “Running Point.”
“I got a call right after the strike saying that there’s this untitled Mindy Kaling basketball project,” Song recalls. “And I was like, These are a lot of my favorite things.”
Song says “The Office” is one of her favorite shows, and Kaling served as an actor and co-executive producer on the hit series.
“I admired Mindy for so long, and yeah, ‘Kate Hudson is in talks too’ โ and I was like, ‘What? Excuse me? Ma’am?'” she says.
Song’s team told her that Kaling and other producers behind what would become “Running Point” wanted to have a Zoom meeting with her, then sent over the script for the pilot episode.
“I was actually nervous, being such a big basketball fan,” she says. “Then I read this script and I was like, ‘Oh, this is not about basketball. This is just a vehicle for these incredible characters, this dysfunctional family and a work family.”
Song says she hopped on the Zoom call, and in minutes she knew she wanted to be involved.
“Within five minutes, I was like, I will do anything to be on the show. I will be a PA. I will do anything,” she says with a grin. “I was so, so grateful that they allowed me on this journey, because it was such a no-brainer for me. I mean, they’re so brilliant, they’re so kind, and they built this show of like-minded people who all had the same goals in mind. We all have such different backgrounds, but it’s been a magical, magical process.”
While Song brought her fiancรฉ to visit her on set while filming, she says she didn’t bring their two sons.
“My kids are still very, very young, and so it’s a little trickier, because I don’t think they would understand mama at work. They still go like, ‘Mama, don’t go to work!’ They can’t quite comprehend, so not yet.”
But Song says she did enjoy having Hudson’s daughter Rani around on set.
“Having Rani there was so much fun, because I have two little boys, and Rani is the little girl that I like … Oh, she’s the best. She’s so, so funny and so wise beyond her years. I’m like, you’re 6 going on 36, ma’am.”
Song says she’s hoping to continue to build more memories with her “Running Point” cast members if a second season is announced.
“Fingers and toes crossed,” she says of a Season 2. “I was out with the cast last night. We have such a wonderful time together that we just want to keep hanging out, to be honest, and like, I guess, make a show, right? We love being with one another.”
Season 2 or not, the โBrendaissanceโ is just starting, she says.
“I’m looking forward to that because I want to continuously be pushed out of my comfort zone. I want to continuously work with people that I admire and respect and vice versa,” Song says. “I look at my career like a staircase. So I just want to keep slowly moving on up in the staircase and hopefully do what I love to do.”
