Mickey Sumner

It shouldn't have been any surprise that Mickey Sumner went into show business, but what was surprising is that she didn't enter rock n' roll. Her father was legendary musician Gordon Sumner, aka Sting, leader of The Police and a successful solo artist. Her mother, Trudie Styler, was also a successful actress and producer. So after studying art in college, Mickey Sumner decided acting was also her passion, and she launched a successful career on stage and screen.

Born Brigitte Michael Sumner on January 19, 1984, Mickey Sumner was born and raised in London, and when she came of age, she wanted to go into fine arts. She moved to New York to attend Parsons The New School For Design, where she graduated with a B.F.A. in 2007. Yet acting was an itch she couldn't help but scratch. Sumner wasn't totally satisfied being a visual artist, and once she attended an acting class, she knew her destiny. The first time she ever stepped on a stage in her life, she loved it, and thought, "This is what it means to be fully alive and satisfied."
Before making her way into feature films, Sumner performed in a number of short films and stage plays. She first auditioned for Jennifer Aniston, who was making a short film for Glamour magazine. Sumner didn't get the part, but Aniston inspired her to keep trying. Soon Sumner made her way into the short films "We're Going to the Zoo" (2006), "The Escapists" (2008), and "Trophy Wife" (2010) before making her stage debut in the Anton Chekhov play "The Seagull," which was put on by the Culture Project workshop.

Sumner's big career break came with a featured role on the Showtime series "The Borgias" (2011-13), followed soon after by the movie "Frances Ha" (2012), where she won critical and audience acclaim on the big screen. Sumner also won a Breakthrough Award at the Sarasota Film Festival for her "Frances Ha" performance as the title character's best friend, who unwittingly causes Frances' emotional spiral when she chooses to move out of their shared apartment. One of Sumner's favorite movies was Woody Allen's "Manhattan" (1979), and she fulfilled a dream working for director Noah Baumbach in similarly this New York-centric comedy-drama. During filming, life imitated art when Sumner became very close friends with her co-star, Greta Gerwig, who also wrote the film.

Paying further tribute to New York and to her rock and roll family, Sumner played the coveted role of legendary rock musician and poet Patti Smith in "CBGB" (2013), a period piece about the legendary Bowery nightclub that spawned many great bands, including Blondie, Talking Heads, and The Ramones.