Lee came to the attention of Neighbours producers after she entered a competition run by Dolly Magazine to win a three-month contract with the show.
Sunny was an exchange student from South Korea who is taken in by Karl (Alan Fletcher) and Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne).
Her storylines focused on her starting a relationship with Zeke Kinski (Matthew Werkmeister), having her first kiss stolen by Donna Freedman (Margot Robbie) and being the subject of a crush by Robin Hester (Benjamin Jay).
[2] In response to the criticism, executive producer Susan Bower made the decision to add more ethnically diverse extras, small walk on roles and speaking parts.
[2] Hany Lee was chosen to play the role of Sunny after she was spotted at Dolly Magazine's "Neighbours' Next Big Stars" contest.
[6] Sunny clashed with her culture's patriarchal society after being influenced by life in western countries and was considered to be something of a rebel by her peers.
[4] Holy Soap also described Sunny as having "typical teenage insecurities", which included being self-conscious about her braces and her lack of experience with boys.
[8] On her departure, Lee said that Sunny took a "sacrifice" in leaving as she did not want her parents turning up and ruining everyone's lives, especially after Susan had recently suffered health issues.
[6] Sunny found it difficult to express herself to the other female teens on her first day in Ramsay Street and instead she chose to talk to 'Lost Boy' from the radio station, Pirate Net about her past and her hurtful relationship with her sister.
[7] Sunny and her housemate, Zeke Kinski, clashed on a number of occasions, which led What's on TV to ask "is their playful animosity fuelled by romantic chemistry?
"[9] Viewers saw Sunny finding herself unable to deal with her feelings for Zeke and their friends trying to encourage the two to begin a relationship.
[13] Of their relationship she said "They come from different cultures and she's got a year as an exchange student, so we play out the Romeo and Juliet thing.
[13] Robin Hester played by Benjamin Jay, was a teenager who formed a crush on Sunny and tried to ruin her relationship with Zeke.
Digital Spy said Robin "goes to drastic lengths to keep Zeke and Sunny apart" and Holy Soap and Jay labelled him as "creepy".
Now Donna's gone and stolen the moment – and Sunny's not happy, to say the least..."[18] Previously a kiss between Lana Crawford (Bridget Neval) and Sky Mangel (Stephanie McIntosh) in 2004 received complaints from conservative groups.
[19] The show's producers called the kiss between Sunny and Donna "impulsive" and Robbie agreed, saying "It's really not a big deal at all.
[19] The storyline received attention from the Australian Family Association, with spokesman John Morrissey saying that he was concerned about TV "normalising" same-sex relationships.
[21] Susan and Karl Kennedy decide to take in exchange student, Sunny, following their step daughter's departure.
[1] On her first night with the Kennedys, Sunny calls into the Pirate Net radio station and speaks to 'Lost Boy' about her past and her relationship with her sister.
When Sunny finds that her grades have slipped, she decides to end the relationship and admits to Zeke that she did not tell her parents about him.
At a music festival, Sunny is embarrassed when Ringo and Declan Napier (James Sorensen) interrupt a kiss between her and Zeke.
Libby accuses Zeke of writing Kyle Canning's (Christopher Milligan) essay for him, but Sunny reveals that she wrote it.
Upon her arrival, the a Western Mail reporter quipped that viewers were going to tire of Sunny "quite quickly" and that she was "downright irritating.
"[23] Ruth Deller of entertainment website Lowculture called the character "annoying" and thought that she had "no other layers to her personality".
"[24] In November, Deller called the storyline between Sunny, Zeke and Robin "ludicrous" and she was placed at number one of the "soap characters we love to hate" list.