Career
In the pilot episode of ‘Queens Supreme’ (2003), Barbusca portrayed a kidnapped girl. She then appeared in NBC’s crime drama ‘Third Watch’. She made her big screen debut in the 2004 science fiction psychological horror thriller ‘The Forgotten’. Starring Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Linus Roache, and Anthony Edwards, the film was a commercial success.
She was part of the cast of the romantic comedy ‘Hitch’ (2005), which also starred Will Smith, Eva Mendes, and Kevin James. She also appeared in the recurring role of Briana Melville in ‘Hope & Faith’, the ABC sitcom starring Faith Ford and Kelly Ripa. She was cast in an uncredited role in the 2005 episode ‘House of Cards’ of ‘Law & Order’ and was a cast member of an untitled Louis C.K. HBO Project (2007).
In 2007, she then landed a role in ‘The Starter Wife’, a USA Network miniseries based on the novel of the same name by American author Gigi Levangie Grazer. The series starred Debra Messing, Judy Davis, and Miranda Otto. Barbusca was cast as Jaden Kagan, the seven-year-old daughter of Molly Kagan (Messing) and her soon-to-be-former husband Kenny Kagan (David Alan Basche). She portrayed the character as a quintessential seven-year-old, with her priorities revolving around the toy of the moment and getting her parents back together.
She reprised her role in the short-lived TV series based on the miniseries and the novel. Her character was given a much more prominent storyline in the show. It premiered on October 10, 2008 and ended on December 12, 2008, airing ten episodes in total.
She lent her voice to a character named Bee in Nick Jr’s animated children series ‘Wonder Pets’ from 2007 to 2009.
Her next role was as a guest star in USA Network’s ‘Royal Pains’. She took three years off from acting after that, focusing on her studies. Barbusca returned to the entertainment world in 2012 with an appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ She also appeared in a short film titled ‘Microeconomics’ that year.
By 2013, she was on her way of making the successful transition from being a child actress to more grownup roles and was part of six projects, telefilm ‘Twang’, ABC’s mockumentary family sitcom ‘Modern Family’, Nickelodeon's anthology series ‘Deadtime Stories’, Fox’s medical comedy-drama ‘The Mindy Project’, ABC’s sitcom ‘Trophy Wife’, and comedy-drama ‘Definitely Mel’.
Barbusca played a recurring character in ABC’s political thriller ‘Scandal’ in 2014 and guest-starred in Fox’s crime procedural drama ‘Bones’ in 2015. She portrayed a series of small roles in the next two years. She was cast as Bonnie in Showtime’s comedy-drama ‘Shameless’, a US remake of the UK TV series of the same name. Besides these, she also appeared in Freedom’s family drama ‘’The Fosters’, the web series ‘Kings of Con’, and Disney Channel’s ‘Best Friends Whenever’.
In 2017, Barbusca was cast as a cheerleader in two episodes of CBS‘s comedy series ‘Young Sheldon’. She followed that up by guest-starring in Fox’s procedural drama ‘9-1-1’ and appearing as Sasha in the drama film ‘Party Mom’ in 2018. Her future projects include the short film ‘Face Off’ and the comedy series ‘Saturday at the Starlight’.
Personal Life
Brielle Barbusca was born on November 2, 1998, in New Jersey, United States to Louie and Debra Lynn Barbusca. She is of Sicilian descent. She has a brother named Thomas, who is also an actor and plays Chip Pemberton in Fox’s sitcom ‘The Mick’. When she was three years old, a talent manager saw her picture hanging on the wall of her uncle’s restaurant in New York City. He later contacted her mother and she has been acting ever since. At first, she appeared in various advertisement campaigns before making her television debut in ‘Queens Supreme’. She has worked in commercial and print campaigns for Coke, Mattel, Apple, and Netflix.
She has been dating American actor Ethan Cutkosky since 2015. The couple met on the set of ‘Shameless’.
