Brenda Sykes (born June 25, 1949)[1] is a former American actress who made a number of films and appeared in television series in the 1970s.

[3] Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and raised in Los Angeles,[1] Sykes is the daughter of a postal worker.

[citation needed] She attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School,[4] graduating in 1967, following which she spent two years at UCLA, with a major in political science and minor in French.

On the recommendation of producer Aaron Spelling, she attended the Professional Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles for six months.

She played the character Mandy, one of Jimmie Walker's girlfriends on the 1970s sitcom Good Times, made a starring role appearance on the first season of The Streets of San Francisco, and as Summer Johnson on the CBS series Executive Suite.