Sophia Myles

Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles at the 2007 Berlinale Film Festival
Born (1980-03-18) March 18, 1980 (age 44)
Hammersmith, London, England, United Kingdom
OccupationActress
Years active1996–present
PartnerJames Bell
Children1

Sophia Myles (born 18 March 1980; given name pronounced /səˈf.ə/[1]) is an English actress. She is best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004), Isolde in Tristan & Isolde (2006), Darcy in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Erika in Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Freya in Outlander (2008).

Initially hoping to study philosophy at University of Cambridge, for which she secured a place, Myles instead turned to acting after television writer Julian Fellowes saw her perform in a school play, casting her in his series The Prince and the Pauper (1996). After this, Myles continued to receive work in films such as Mansfield Park (1999), From Hell (2001) and The Abduction Club (2002), but her breakthrough role came in the form of Erika in Underworld (2003) before she won the role of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004).

Myles moved to Hollywood where she played the main role of Isolde in the romantic film Tristan & Isolde (2006) before appearing in films including Underworld: Evolution (2006), Art School Confidential (2006), Dracula (2006), Hallam Foe (2007), Outlander (2008), The Damned (2013), Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and Blackwood (2015).

Myles later has also received critical acclaim for her television work, particularly as Madame de Pompadour in the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" (2006), Beth Turner in Moonlight (2007–2008), Beth Bailey in Spooks (2010) and Rebecca Bishop in A Discovery of Witches (2018–2021).

Myles won a BAFTA for Best Actress for her role as Kate in Hallam Foe (2007) and was also nominated for a BIFA at the British Independent Film Awards for the same film. She has also won several other awards at various other film festivals across the world.

  1. ^ Sophia says her own name at the start of the video commentary for "The Girl in the Fireplace" in the DVD collection Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series.