Biography for
Sofia Vassilieva More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

22 October 1992, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Birth Name

Sofia Vladimirovna Vassilieva

Nickname

Sonya

Height

5' 4½" (1.64 m)

Trivia

She was a presenter of Family Feature Film on 19th Genesis Award 2005, which was broadcast on "Animal planet" on May 14 & 15, 2005.

She was nominated for a Syfyportal Genre Award as best young actor/actress for her role in Medium, lost the award to Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe.

Discovered at the IMTA in New York in 2000, where she won 7 awards including the title of Child Actress and first runner-up Child Model Of The Year.

Is a vegetarian since 2004.

When she was 3, she started speaking French and reading in Russian and English, being fluent in these three languages, she now enjoys studying Spanish and American Sign Language.

Started taking ballet at 3, gymnastics at 5, playing piano at 7, riding horses at 10, and recently became fascinated by yoga.

At the age of 13 her favorite movie was In Love and War (1996) and later - Andrey Rublyov (1966), Solyaris (1972), and Stalker (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky and La môme (2007) by Olivier Dahan with Marion Cotillard. More recently it is 12 (2007) by Nikita Mikhalkov.

Beat out Dakota Fanning to the Eloise role in the Eloise movies.

At the age of 13 her favorite singer was Shakira, and later Sia Furler.

Her mother has a Ph.D in Behavioral and Evolutionary Genetics and father has a Ph.D in High Energy Physics and Astrophysics.

Disney offered a holding deal in 2003, but her parents declined it.

Sofia's Maltese Mefodi appears as the dog in the hands of a Plaza girl during the " Eloise at Christmastime".

By 14, she has already visited Italy, Austria, France, Canada, England, Japan, Spain, and Russia including Siberia.

Before moving to Los Angeles at 11, she lived in Minnesota, Oregon, Arizona and Utah.

She skipped one grade in Elementary School in 1999, before her success and winning the Child Actress award on IMTA 2000, i.e. before her real interest in acting began.

Was born at 2:22 and 22 sec. pm, CDT.

Accepted the part of Kate in My Sister's Keeper (2009) after Dakota Fanning stepped down, upon refusing to shave her head for the part - according to rumors.

Was offered the part of Claire in The Clique (2008) (V), but bowed out due to scheduling conflicts.

Personal Quotes

About the filming of the "Eloise" movies: It was like a long vacation, a 54 -day vacation.

It (acting) is something I want to do as long as I live.

As long as you can laugh you are not old.

My mother is my hero

There is work, and there is pleasure, Acting is pleasure.

... I want to be challenged, I want to work, and I want to feel that I am not being held back, that there is something in front of me, something more inspiring than... just eating breakfast, you know?

Oh! I would like to learn so many things: I'd like to take tennis classes, I'd like continuing vocal lessons, and I'd definitely like taking more ice skating and more tap. I'd like to really learn painting, and I'd like to learn Tibetan - Lhasa Dialect - and really learn Farsi, so that I can speak to my friend and her family; I would like to learn so many things. But I just barely have enough time to do what I am doing now.

On her role Kate in My Sister's Keeper (2009): There are scripts when you fall so much in love with your character. And if you are lucky and offered this part you should not tempt your fate and go to the greatest extent to be/to play this character. If you have an opportunity to do that and you do not, it's shameful. Shaving my head was the least I could do for Kate to experience the degree of her isolation and outcast from a 'normal' healthy life. Playing Kate was like balancing between two realities.

Where Are They Now

(August 2008) Shooting "Medium" in Raleigh Studios, Los Angeles

(July 2009) Shooting "Medium" in Raleigh Studios, Los Angeles

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