written by Maria, don’t copy without permission. Thanks!
last updated: August 28, 2006

Sophia Myles was born on March 18, 1980. She spent the first 11 years in Notting Hill, where she attended the Fox Primary School. Then her father, who is a vicar, was relocated to Isleworth, a west London suburb. It was there where her acting began. Well, she never had any intentions of becoming an actress, but when she started her A levels at the Green School before going to Richmond College she also took Drama. Drama Teacher Kevin Broadway recalls: “I’ve taught drama for about 20 years and there were about five people in that time who really stood out. She’s one of the best, very talented and I’m really proud of her.”

When she was 16, she was spotted by Oscar winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes in a school production of ‘Teachers’ by John Godber. Kevin Broadway remembers the play, a dark comedy on wasted youth: “She played the role of a frustrated 5th former, and she played it incredibly well. She can play people completely different from herself.” This led to her being casted in the BBC film ‘The Prince & The Pauper’. That was the beginning of Sophia’s real acting career - and the start of her love affair with acting.

The moment the film was screened, the offers started flowing in. Sophia then appeared in the TV series ‘Big Women’ in the role of the young Saffron. A year later, when she had finished her A-Levels (she was a straight A student at school and achieved 6 starred As and 4 As at the GCSEs and an A, a B and a C at the A-Levels) she played Fanny’s sister Susan in the cinema adaption of ‘Mansfield Park’. But despite this promising development of her acting career she wanted to study Philosophy at Cambridge university. She was going to take a gap year before starting her studies. During that year she played Agnes Fleming - Oliver’s young tragic mother - in the Oliver Twist TV series. She then decided not to go to university after all but to pursue acting full-time instead.

Since then Sophia Myles has appeared in many films - in TV as well as in cinema. These are some films: ‘From Hell’, ‘Abduction Club’, ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, ‘Out of Bounds’. At the beginning, Sophia only had small parts in cinema films (e.g. the decised wife of Jonny Depp in From Hell), but nevertheless she brought those characters to life. Thanks to her acting, her charisma and her beauty each and every one of her characters stand out.

After this promising start however, a dry period unfortunately followed. During about 1.5 years Sophia didn’t get any job. Film business is not a secure employment after all. One promising project, which would have starred her in a leading role, fell through after months of hard ice skating practice. But she picked herself up and went to Hollywood, determined to make it work. And she got the job of vampire Erika in ‘Underworld. Still a supporting role, but she made a big enough impression to make her name known to cinema-goers. Plus, it was a break from period dramas and characters trapped in corsets.

More recently, Sophia’s career developed even further when she bet well-known actresses to the role of Lady Penelope in the feature-adaption of ‘Thunderbirds’. The hype was huge and Sophia Myles together with the rest of the cast&crew enjoyed some fantastic days out at premieres and promotion events. However, it wasn’t received as well as expected and Sophia didn’t become the It-Girl the magazines said this would make her. Which was just as well for an actress that enjoyed living a normal life and having privacy.

Early 2005 saw the UK airing of ‘Colditz’, the ITV Drama about Prisoners of War in WW2. Work for this high quality television mini series had been completed during summer 2004. Sophia Myles is playing Lizzie, the woman who gets between the two lead characters Jack Rose and Tom Willis. A very welcome invitation was offered to Sophia as well: She is now a voting member of the European Film Academy!

Right after ‘Thunderbirds’ premiered in July 2004, Sophia Myles began shooting ‘Art School Confidential’ in Los Angeles - the follow up to Terry Zwigoff’s ‘Ghost World’. It is a dark comedy and she’s playing an American. Even before she started work on this project she was, according to interviews, very much looking forward to it. And now, looking back, that time has been one of her best experiences in her career so far. For us it is interesting to see Sophia Myles playing a kind of edgy character, someone totally different to any roles she has played so far. The movie has premiered in Sundance and was released in the US. UK residents had a chance to catch it at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2006.

Some months after finishing work on ‘Art School Confidential’ Sophia Myles started work on another ITV drama: ‘Marple: Sleeping Murder’. The series is based upon the famous Agatha Christie novel and Sophia Myles plays Gwenda Halliday who is uncovering a murder from the past together with Miss Marple. It was shut during summer 2005 in picturesque South England.

Ever since the announcement of Sophia Myles portraying the tragic heroine Isolde in ‘Tristan & Isolde’ we were looking forward to this. Unfortunately, the movie was taking a long time to be released - shot at the end of 2003 in Ireland and Czech Republic it was only released in the US on February 3, 2006. Received with mixed reviews - people didn’t seem to understand this unconventional epic about love, loyalty, war and passion in front of a breathtaking scenery - Sophia’s passionate Isolde captured the hearts of many new fans. Irish princess Isolde falls in love with warrior Tristan - but she doesn’t tell him her real name. When he fights for the Irish king’s daughter on behalf of his future king he doesn’t know what love triangle is thus to unfold.

With all these films under her belt Sophia Myles has made a name for herself and has had more role offers: She appeared in a supporting role in the US television mini series ‘Covert One: The Hades Factor’, got cast without audition as Madame de Pompadour in a recent episode of ‘Doctor Who’, will play a lead role opposite Jamie Bell in Scottish independent filmmaker David Mackenzie’s upcoming drama ‘Hallam Foe’ and just finished work on a new television version of the classic ‘Dracula’ story.

Sophia Myles is one of the most talented and natural young British actresses. Over the years she has slowly but steadily built up a reputation of being a serious actress. By only accepting parts that she could believe in she was able to deliver outstanding performances in each one of them. Even though Sophia Myles has not yet received an ‘official’ award, critics are always quick to praise her acting - even when Sophia only had a small part in it or when they didn’t like the movie very much (e.g. Underworld or Thunderbirds): she’s always favourably mentioned. This, combined with her intelligence, down-to-earth attitude and good character makes it a pleasure to follow her career. We’re bound to hear more from this fabulous actress!!