Sophia ALI
A rebel finds her cause — but not a love of the limelight
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Sophia Ali’s skin is a book. On her right shoulder is a Sailor Jerry heart tattoo, with the name Jack inked in the middle. “He is the love of my life,” she says of her four-yearold rescue dog. “He’s taught me a lot. When he was six months old, I lost him and it was a huge wake-up call that I need to care less about myself.” Despite starting in the industry at age eight, Ali confesses she “struggles with the narcissistic aspects of acting”. She says talking about herself all the time feels entirely unnatural, but when talking about her projects, she lights up. Despite a historymaking role as a hijabi surgeon on Grey’s Anatomy, Ali says her most recent project, The Wilds, an Amazon Studios production, is “the first time I’m really proud of something”. Set in New Zealand, the YA series juxtaposes the pressure of high school life with the challenge of surviving on a deserted island. The script struck a chord with the eight actors who serve as the show’s heroines. Ali, a second-generation Pakistani-American, plays Fatim Jamadi, who uses sex to rebel against her conservative upbringing. “She’s a strong woman who is so much like me,” says Ali. “It’s everything that I’ve ever wanted for myself as an actor.” Ali commemorated the series in the best way she knows how: with a tattoo. “After we finished filming the pilot, I got a tattoo of a mermaid on my shin,” she says of her homage to the days and nights spent filming on Auckland’s Bethells Beach. “It felt important to mark this because it’s been life-changing.”
BIG FRIENDSHIP by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman (Hachette, $32.99)
TO MY COUNTRY by Ben Lawson with illustrations by Bruce Whatley (Allen and Unwin, $29.99, proceeds will be donated to The Koala Hospital); out January 10.