I Finally Realized How I Know 'Sweet Magnolias' Star Brooke Elliott & It Hit Me Like a Truck

What a throwback

Published Jun 20, 2026

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2:00pm

Courtesy of Netflix

If you somehow missed it, a new season of Sweet Magnolias officially landed on Netflix last week. Season five dropped on June 11 and wasted no time climbing the streamer's Top 10 list, which, honestly, felt pretty inevitable. What I was not expecting, though, was to realize that after watching one of the show's stars for five seasons, I'm only just now clocking where I know one of them from.

For a quick refresher, Sweet Magnolias follows lifelong friends Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue as they navigate relationships, careers, and family life in a small South Carolina town. The series stars JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Heather Headley, and Brooke Elliott. JoAnna will forever be Cheyenne from Reba to me, and I recognized Heather from another Netflix project. Brooke, though, had me stumped.

Then it hit me like a truck.

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Courtesy of Netflix

Brooke Elliott, who plays the fiery chef and restaurant owner Dana Sue Sullivan, previously led the hit Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva as Jane Bingum. If you watched TV in the late 2000s and early 2010s, there's a good chance you remember it.

The legal comedy-drama ran for six seasons from 2009 to 2014 and had one of the most delightfully unhinged premises on television. After an aspiring model named Deb Dobkins dies in a car accident, her soul ends up in the body of brilliant plus-size attorney Jane Bingum, creating one very memorable character with two very different personalities.

Looking back, there are actually a few similarities between Brooke's two roles. Dana Sue and Jane are both confident, fiercely loyal women who are not afraid to stand their ground, whether they're running a restaurant or winning a courtroom battle.

After making the connection, I had to take a trip down Brooke Elliott's IMDb page to see what other notable projects she was in and there were a few fun surprises, including a guest spot on Law & Order: Trial by Jury and even a tiny role credited as "woman in park" in What Women Want.

All seasons of Sweet Magnolias are streaming now on Netflix.

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Danielle Long

Contributing Editor, News and Entertainment

Writes breaking news and entertainment content
Covers award show red carpets and movie premieres
Has earned two Edward R. Murrow Awards

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