Sweeney's television debut was at age five in a
Kodak advertisement. A few years later, she was in the episode "
I Can't Help Saying Goodbye" of the horror series
Tales from the Darkside, playing a young girl who could sense when others were going to die shortly before their deaths. In 1988, she appeared on the short-lived
ABC sitcom
Family Man, and the following year, was cast as Christy McCray on
Brand New Life, a miniseries from future
X-Files creator
Chris Carter that aired within NBC's
Magical World of Disney in October 1989. The miniseries, which co-starred
Barbara Eden as Sweeney's mother and
Don Murray as her new stepfather, was considered for pick-up as a stand-alone series beyond its
Disney tryout, but the regular series never materialized. On January 6, 1993, then 16-year-old Sweeney first appeared in the role of Samantha "Sami" Brady in the NBC soap opera
Days of Our Lives—a show of which she was a fan. Sweeney was a US dress size 12 (UK dress size 16). She was not overweight by medical standards, but still larger than her television peers. Thus, it became an issue. She documented all the tabloid talk and personal anguish in her 2004 memoir,
All The Days of My Life (So Far). In 2002, she appeared on a celebrity episode of the
NBC reality game show Fear Factor. In 2007, she joined the
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon as a co-host for the live television broadcast. She returned to her co-hosting duties for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 telethons. In 2007, Sweeney took over hosting duties on
The Biggest Loser, replacing
Caroline Rhea since the fourth season. She was surprised but happy to be offered the role, where she is able to cheer on contestants and share their victories.
Scared Scriptless: A Novel (released in June 2014) and
Opportunity Knocks (released in April 2016). In July 2013, Sweeney appeared in
Second Chances, a
Hallmark Original Movie, alongside
Days co-star
Greg Vaughan. The movie was filmed before Sweeney and Vaughn became siblings on
Days of Our Lives. On January 20, 2014, Sweeney announced on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show that after 21 years of being on the air on
Days of Our Lives, she was leaving the show, to focus on spending more time with her family, and to work on her other show,
The Biggest Loser. She stated in the interview that she would be on the show throughout 2014, and that she would like her character on the show to have a happy ending with a
Breaking Bad twist. On July 9, 2014, it was announced that Sweeney would be joining
General Hospital behind the scenes as a director, starting later that month. On April 26, 2015, Sweeney announced that she will be returning to
Days of Our Lives to be part of the show's 50th anniversary celebrations. On August 25, 2015, it was announced that Sweeney would not be returning to
The Biggest Loser. Beginning on October 13, 2017, Sweeney reprised her long-term role as Sami Brady on
Days of Our Lives, over 24 years after her first appearance as a teenaged Sami Brady. She played podcast host Alex McPherson in the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film series
Chronicle Mysteries, which started in 2019, with a fifth movie in 2021. From 2015 to present, Sweeney appeared in the
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film series
Murder, She Baked, based on
Joanne Fluke's books. == Filmography ==