SPOTLIGHT

On La La Land actress Sonoya Mizuno

WHO Charlize Theron and Penélope Cruz have done it, and now actress Sonoya Mizuno is the latest former ballet dancer to turn up in Hollywood. Sci-fi lovers might recognise the 28-year-old as the robot assistant who boogied alongside Oscar Isaac in 2015 thriller Ex Machina – the YouTube clip has been watched more than 1.5 million times. This month she stars in La La Land, a big-screen old-fashioned musical already hotly tipped for an Oscar haul. BIG BREAK Born in Tokyo, Sonoya moved to Somerset aged two with her mother and five siblings after her parents divorced (her mother is English, her father is Japanese). Aged 11, she joined the Royal Ballet School but, inspired by her uncle (the late stage actor Edward Duke), she longed to act. Sonoya gave up dance in her early 20s and started going to film auditions. One of the first was to be an extra in Ex Machina – she was cast as Kyoko, a larger part. Sonoya then threw herself into acting classes. Edgy music videos (Frank Ocean) and big modelling contracts (Chanel and Louis Vuitton) soon followed. WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA? La La Land follows the love affair between aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) and jazz pianist Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). Sonoya plays Caitlin, Mia’s English flatmate. ‘I really went in-depth in creating her with Emma. Caitlin is an outsider and, as an English girl now based in Los Angeles, I understood that.’ Sonoya loved performing on set, despite an unfortunate incident where she bashed into a cameraman during a dance number. ‘There was blood everywhere!’ WHAT’S NEXT? Beauty and the Beast (starring Emma Watson) and Annihilation (with Natalie Portman) are out this year. Sonoya has also been shooting The Domestics, a post-apocalyptic thriller starring Kate Bosworth. La La Land will be released on Friday