Childhood & Early Life
She was born on September 5, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia, US, to Thom and Karen Sunshine as their eldest child among three children. She grew up with her two younger brothers, Johnny, and Christopher, in Orange County, California.
She was interested in performing arts from a very tender age and studied ballet at the age of just three. She essayed the role of Goldilocks in a kindergarten play, which marked the first lead role of her life. She watched all the old Hollywood classics with her grandmother and would frequently accompany her father to watch Saturday morning movies.
Moving forward, she joined the Orange County Children's Theater. She also became part of ‘South Coast Performing Arts,’ a dance school in Tustin, California, and began participating in competitive dancing.
She attended the Orange Lutheran High School and later enrolled at the Claremont McKenna College, where she studied international relations and economics. She also studied at Westmont College.
Continue Reading Below
Career
She commenced her acting career with stage in 2004, when she was around nine. She got the role of Annie Warbucks in the musical Annie Warbucks’ that was staged at the ‘Orange County Children's Theatre’ that year.
She appeared in the role of a doll in the two-act ballet ‘The Nutcracker,’ which was staged at the ‘Academy of Dance and South Coast Performing Arts’ in 2005.
In 2006, she played Annie in the Lutheran High School of Orange County production play ‘Stage Door.’ The same year, she started going to professional auditions and got her first commercial break, in which she portrayed a large interactive doll, Amazing Allysen. She also did commercials for Quaker Oats Company’s product line of corn and oat breakfast cereals called ‘Cap'n Crunch’ and for the American brand of low-fat yogurt for children, ‘Yoplait Go-Gurt.’
She appeared as herself in the television series ‘What's the Word?’ in 2008, in its episode titled ‘Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board.’
She shot her first pilot for the CBS sitcom, ‘Team Spitz,’ in 2010, where she portrayed the role of a teenage daughter of a high school coach Jeff Spitz, essayed by American actor, comedian, and retired officer of United States Marine Corps Reserve, Rob Riggle.
The year 2010 turned out to a successful one for Caroline as far her acting endeavours are concerned. That year she played the role of Barbara Winslow in the American family-comedy film ‘Marmaduke,’ an adaptation of a Brad Anderson created comic strip of the same title.
She garnered fame playing Barbara in ‘Marmaduke,’ which released on June 4, 2010, and became a huge commercial success. The film starred Lee Pace, Owen Wilson, George Lopez, and Emma Stone among others.
She also got one of the most remarkable and famous roles of her career in 2010 - a competitive and flashy European exchange student - Tinka Hessenheffer in the American sitcom ‘Shake It Up.’ Tinka is shown as the twin sister of the flamboyant Gunther Hessenheffer, played by Kenton Duty. The characters of these somewhat strange twins are known to be inspired from the brother-sister duo of Ryan and Sharpay Evans from the High School Musical film series of Disney.
Initially, Tinka was featured as a recurring character in season one of ‘Shake It Up’ that premiered on Disney Channel on November 7, 2010. Since the second season of the series that started from September 18, 2011, the character of Tinka evolved as a main one and continued to feature in the third season that started on October 14, 2012, and ended on November 10, 2013.
Continue Reading Below
‘Shake It Up’ fetched her two ‘Young Artist Awards’ nominations in 2011 and 2012 respectively, along with Bella Thorne, Kenton Duty, Adam Irigoyen, Zendaya, Roshon Fegan, and Davis Cleveland in the category of ‘Outstanding Young Ensemble in a TV Series.’ She was named in the list of Dream Magazine's ‘Top 16 Under 16’ in May 2011.
In 2012, she played herself in the documentary ‘Behind the Scenes.’ In February of the same year, she guest starred in a single episode of the American teen sitcom ‘A.N.T. Farm’ titled ‘Some enchANTed evening’ essaying the character of Ella.
The October 2013 released Disney Channel Christmas album ‘Holidays Unwrapped’ featured Caroline as she performed the cover version of the famous Christmas song ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey.
In the January 24, 2014, episode of ‘Algae Day’ and ‘Bea Saves a Tree’ of the American animated television series ‘Fish Hooks,’ Caroline lent her voice to the character of Alexis.
The 2014 Non-Equity National tour of the musical ‘Bring It On the Musical’ featured her in the lead role of Campbell. Thereafter, she appeared in a television pilot of Freeform called ‘Recovery Road’ in June that year. It was adapted from a novel by Blake Nelson bearing the same title. However, Caroline’s character was removed from the script of the actual series.
She played Tiffani Brand in the 2015 TV Movie ‘Go Four Broke.’ American sports comedy drama film ‘The Outfield,’ which starred Nash Grier, Cameron Dallas, and Joey Bragg in main roles, also featured Caroline in the character of Emily Jordan. The first nine minutes of the flick was screened at VidCon on July 24, that year and was later released by Fullscreen Films through video on demand on November 10, 2015.
In 2017, she played Sylvie Garrett in the television film ‘Mommy I Didn't Do It.’
In January 2018, she joined the White House as an intern. By mid-March 2018, she became a White House press assistant for the US President Donald Trump.
Personal Life
She resides in Orange County, California, with her parents and two younger brothers. When not working, Caroline loves to spend her time travelling, dancing, photography, surfing, baking, cooking, going to the beach, rafting, and snorkelling.
She is said to have been in romantic relationship with Adam Irigoyen, Roshon Fegan, and Matt Stumme at different points of time.
She is involved with several charitable organisations and programs. These include the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center, the Joyful Sewing Organization, the ‘Adopt A Hero’ program, ‘Working Wardrobes,’ ‘Thirst Project,’ and the ‘Loaves and Fishes Ministry.’
The ‘Puppy Love’ fragrances, dedicated to aid homeless dogs and puppies, have inducted Caroline as spokes model of the teen fragrance ‘Puppy Love 4 Girlz’ in February 2011.
