More Sophia Myles pics

Sophia Myles

SEX APPEAL

SUCCESS

VITALS

"I can either go and sit in a classroom and study Jane Austen or Harold Pinter plays, or I can make Mansfield Park and work with Harold Pinter, and be paid to do it, and be in the cinema." -Sophia Myles, on why she decided not to go to Cambridge.

Sophia Myles was first known to British viewers for her roles in period pieces like Mansfield Park and TV miniseries adaptations of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. But she's also racking up an impressive resume in Hollywood, thanks to appearances in Thunderbirds and the Underworld series, as well as her starring turns in Tristan + Isolde and Art School Confidential.

SEX APPEAL

While she may have her leading men drooling over her in films such as Tristan + Isolde and Art School Confidential, in real life Sophia Myles isn't a rampant sexpot. While not self-conscious, she is quite shy. "I used to be the girl who hoicked her knickers up under the towel in the changing room," she confesses. That said, Sophia wouldn't be much of an actress if she couldn't turn up the heat when necessary: "I could be daring under someone else's skin."

One such sexy turn for Sophia was her recent role as courtesan Madame du Pompadour on Doctor Who. But fans beware: Sophia and the latest Doctor Who, David Tennant, are already an item, although Sophia won't say much more than that. "He and I are very private," she says. "He's low-key about it all." Apparently, we mere mortals just can't compete with a "time lord."

SUCCESS

Sophia Myles has accomplished much in her decade-long career. As a teen, she put off higher education for acting, but she's never had reason to regret it; Sophia's proven herself in everything from period pieces like Mansfield Park to action-horror flicks like Underworld and Underworld: Evolution. Over the years, Sophia has also had the chance to work with top talents in England and America, such as Harold Pinter and Terry Zwigoff.

Sophia Myles isn't yet well known to the movie-going public at large. She received little media attention before her role in the kiddie flop Thunderbirds, but she started generating some buzz with Tristan + Isolde and Art School Confidential.

Sophia Myles Biography

Sophia Myles was born on March 18, 1980, in London, England. Her father, Peter, is a vicar, while her mother, Jane, works in the publishing industry. Sophia grew up in the Notting Hill area of London and attended Fox Primary School. When she was 11 years old, Sophia's father was relocated to a new vicarage in Isleworth, a suburb in West London.

Although Sophia hadn't yet considered acting as a career, she signed up for drama class in school when she was 16, partly because she had a crush on the teacher. Soon afterward, Sophia appeared in a school production of Teachers by John Godber. When her performance was seen by Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), he was so impressed he gave Sophia a part in his 1996 BBC adaptation of Mark Twain's The Prince and The Pauper. When Sophia first walked on the set, she was hooked and decided to become an actress.

sophia myles in underworld

Sophia continued to be a straight-A student, even as she kept acting. She appeared in the TV miniseries Big Women in 1998, and in the big-screen adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park the following year. Although Sophia had planned to study philosophy at the University of Cambridge, she took a year off before college, and eventually devoted herself to acting full-time instead. She took a small role in the miniseries Oliver Twist (1999), where she met and befriended Keira Knightley, who was also an unknown at the time.

Over the next few years, Sophia worked steadily, but went largely unnoticed by filmgoers. She appeared in Guest House Paradiso (1999), From Hell (2001), TV's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001) and The Abduction Club (2002), and guest starred on TV shows like Heartbeat (2001) and Foyle's War (2002). In 2003, she had a supporting role in the vampire-werewolf action film Underworld.

sophia myles as isolde

Sophia's first taste of widespread fame came when she was cast as Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds (2004); although the movie version of the 1960s kids show was heavily hyped, it flopped, leaving Sophia's career unaffected one way or the other. She appeared in Out of Bounds (2004), then returned to British TV movies with Colditz and Marple: Sleeping Murder in 2005.

In 2006, Sophia reprised her Underworld role in the sequel Underworld: Evolution, and finally had her breakthrough role as Isolde in the medieval love story Tristan + Isolde. As well, she had a notable guest appearance as Madame du Pompadour on the TV series Doctor Who that same year.

Her follow-up film to Tristan + Isolde, Art School Confidential, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. She was also cast in the TV miniseries Covert One: The Hades Factor (2006) and the film Hallam Foe (2006).