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s far as her earliest acting experiences are concerned, Sofia tells us all about her first-ever role, which happens to be the iconic Tiger Lily in Peter Pan. ‘‘I was in school in Finland, in second grade. My mom always knew I loved to perform, but that was so important to me because that was the first time I got to do it for a lot of other people.’’ Although she was first fascinated about visual arts, her interest shifted towards theater when she moved to New York. ‘‘When we moved here, I didn’t really have a lot of friends. I was 9 and all of my friends that I had up until then were in Finland. So my mom was like: ‘We’re gonna sign you up for some classes.’ From there, I went to this musical theater camp and I ended up loving it.’’ As she recently dived into TV and film, Sofia took the industry by storm back in February, portraying the lovable Dina in Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This. Based on the comic book of the same name by Charles Forsman, the series follows high schooler Sydney [Sophia Lillis], navigating the complexities of her family, her sexuality, and mysterious superpowers just beginning to arise within her. ‘‘When I first read the character breakdown for Dina, I was like: ‘I totally know this girl,’’’ the actress remembers. ‘‘My best friend is exactly like Dina in a lot of ways. It was almost like stepping into shoes that weren’t mine, but [were] very familiar to me.’’ Dina is friendly, supportive, and fun. She is one of Sydney’s best friends alongside Stanley [Wyatt Oleff], and in a relationship with football-playing star jock Brad [Richard Ellis]. ‘‘What I really like about her is that she can recognize when she’s been wrong, and she can apologize. She is with this complete idiot boyfriend but she is such a whole-hearted person, and really loves to see the best in everyone,’’ Sofia states. ‘‘Because the series is an adaptation and the book ends differently than the first season of our show, it was cool to take that same idea of Dina, but turn it into a way more complex version. We were able to give each character way more layers.’’ Set in high school, I Am Not Okay With This aims to portray teenage experiences in the most authentic way. ‘‘When I read the script, it was
nice to see words that I felt true to a person my age, and I knew other people could relate to,’’ Sofia says. ‘‘One of our goals was not to glamorize high school, because even though we’re playing characters, people like this exist all around the world and we want them to be recognized.’’ By doing so, messy and uncomfortable high school relationships are shown as well, like Dina and Sydney’s friendship slowing growing into romance. ‘‘This is a story that’s told all the time but needs to be told through this lens, which is so much more real. I would love to see their relationship flourish. They both deserve it.’’ However, teen romance and superpowers can be a risky mix, as we’ve seen in the unexpected and explosive series finale depicting Brad’s head suddenly combusting in the middle of homecoming. ‘‘That scene took about one week to shoot,’’ Sofia shares as she recalls the unusual experience of being covered in blood from head to toe. ‘‘I was hot and it was sticky, but honestly it added to the intensity and made it so real for us. I was very excited because most of the effects we were using in the show were all manual.’’ Although a second season of I Am Not Okay With This won’t happen — as Netflix sadly recently announced the cancellation of the show — Sofia’s fans will be seeing more of her remarkable acting skills in the upcoming film Mark, Mary & Some Other People, a comedy about a couple embarking
ISSUE NO.16
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