Sophia Myles

Sophia Jane Myles (/səˈfaɪ.ə/;[1] born 18 March 1980) is an English actress, best known in film for portraying Erika in Underworld (2003), Isolde in Tristan & Isolde and Darcy in Transformers: Age of Extinction. She has received critical acclaim for her television work, particularly as Madame de Pompadour in the Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" and Beth Turner in Moonlight.

Sophia Myles
Myles at the 2007 Berlinale Film Festival
Born	Sophia Jane Myles (1980-03-18) 18 March 1980 London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–present
Partner(s)	David Tennant (2005–07)
Children	1

Early life

Myles was born in London. Her mother, Jane (née Allan), works in educational publishing, and her father, Peter R. Myles, was a retired Church of England vicar in Isleworth, West London.[2] Her paternal grandmother was Russian,[3] and Myles refers to herself as "half-Welsh, half-Russian".[4] She grew up in Notting Hill and attended Fox Primary School. At the age of 11, she moved with her family to Isleworth and attended the Green School. Following success at her A Levels, she had been planning to study philosophy at Cambridge, but chose to pursue an acting career after being spotted by Julian Fellowes in a school play.[3]

Career

Myles at Berlinale, 2007

Since 1996, Myles has appeared in a number of films and television productions. In 2001, she got a small role as Victoria Abberline in the thriller film From Hell. She had a supporting role in the 2003 film Underworld, and reprised the character in a brief flashback scene in its sequel, Underworld: Evolution (2006). In 2003, she starred in the thriller Out of Bounds and played Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds. In 2006, she co-starred as Isolde in the romantic drama Tristan & Isolde.

Myles appeared as Madame de Pompadour in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace". The episode was nominated for a Nebula Award and won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.[5] She co-starred in 2006's comedy film Art School Confidential. Also in 2006, she appeared as Lucy Westenra in a BBC adaptation of Dracula. In 2007, she played Freya in Outlander.[6]

Myles was cast in the CBS supernatural television drama Moonlight. She was nominated for the Best Actress Award in 2007 for her role in Hallam Foe from the British Independent Film Award committee,[7] for which she also received a BAFTA Scotland Award. Moonlight won for Best New Drama in the 2007 People's Choice Awards. In 2010, she joined Spooks, a BBC series about a counter-terrorism unit in MI5, for its ninth series, playing Beth Bailey.[8] She appeared in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014).[9]

Personal life

Myles began dating David Tennant after filming an episode of Doctor Who.[10] In October 2007, it was reported they were no longer together.[11]

In September 2014, Myles gave birth to a son.[12][13]

Her father, Peter Myles, died on 23 March 2020 after contracting COVID-19.[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Prince and the Pauper	Lady Jane Grey
1998	Big Women	Saffron
1999	Mansfield Park	Susan Price
1999	Guest House Paradiso	Saucy Wood Nymph
2001	From Hell	Victoria Abberline
2002	The Abduction Club	Anne Kennedy
2003	Underworld	Erika
2003	Out of Bounds	Louise Thompson
2004	Thunderbirds	Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
2006	Tristan & Isolde	Isolde
2006	Underworld: Evolution	Erika	Flashback scene
2006	Art School Confidential	Audrey
2006	Dracula	Lucy Westenra
2007	Hallam Foe	Kate Breck
2008	Outlander	Freya
2012	A Sunny Morning	Grace	Short film
2013	Gallows Hill	Lauren	Direct-to-video
2014	Blackwood	Rachel Marshall
2014	Transformers: Age of Extinction	Darcy Tyril[15]
2018	Two Words	Victoria	Short film
2020	Decrypted	Beth Barnes	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Oliver Twist	Agnes Fleming	Miniseries
2001	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Kate Nickleby	Television film
2001	Heartbeat	Heather Conway	Episode: "No Hiding Place"
2002	Foyle's War	Susan Gascoigne	Episode: "A Lesson in Murder"
2003	Coming Up	Nina	1 episode
2005	Colditz	Lizzie Carter	Television film
2006	Agatha Christie's Marple	Gwenda Halliday	Episode: "Sleeping Murder"
2006	Covert One: The Hades Factor	Sophie Amsden	Television film
2006;2020	Doctor Who	Madame de Pompadour	Episode: "The Girl in the Fireplace"; Webcast Episode: "Pompadour"[16]
2006	Extras	Herself
2007	Moonlight	Beth Turner	16 episodes
2010	Spooks	Beth Bailey	8 episodes
2014	Our Zoo	Lady Katherine
2014	Crossing Lines	Anna Clarke	2 episodes
2014	Panorama	Narrator	Episode: "Last Chance Academy"
2018	A Discovery of Witches	Rebecca Bishop	4 episodes
2018	Gerry Anderson's Firestorm	Operative 19/Laura Hope (Voice)	various episodes

Music videos

Year	Artist	Song
2002	Bush	"Inflatable"
2003	Ronan Keating	"Love Won't Work (If We Don't Try)"
2006	Gavin DeGraw	"We Belong Together"

References

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.
2. Sheffield, Emily (8 August 2003). "Myles ahead; Sophia Myles beat Sophie Dahl and Rosamund Pike to the coveted role of Lady Penelope in next year's 'Thunderbirds'. Now she's about to star in Hollywood's vampire tale 'Underworld'. Not bad for a vicar's daughter from Isleworth, says Emily Sheffield". Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 May 2012 – via Questia Online Library.
3. Husband, Stuart (5 August 2007). "Curtain call for Miss Myles". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 5 August 2007.
4. Hoggard, Liz (20 September 2010). "From wronged maiden to kickass spy: Spooks star Sophia Myles". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
5. "2006 Final Nebula Award Ballot". sfwa.org. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2007.; "2007 Hugo Awards". thehugoawards.org. World Science Fiction Society. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
6. "Moviefone | Movies | Movie Times | Movie Trailers | Movie News". Movies.aol.com. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
7. "Nominations 2007: BIFA". Bifa.org.uk. British Independent Film Awards. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
8. "Press Office – Network TV Programme Information BBC Week 38 Spooks Feature". BBC. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
9. Sneider, Jeff. "Sophia Myles to Join Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay's 'Transformers 4' (Exclusive)". Thewrap.com. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
10. "David Tennant & Sophia Myles". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
11. "David Tennant splits from girlfriend Sophia Myles". Hello!. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
12. "Sophia gives birth to baby boy!". Simply Sophia Myles. 27 September 2014. Archived from the original on 8 June 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
13. "Sophia Myles on Twitter: "He melts my heart and lights up my life."". Twitter. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
14. https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-transformers-actress-sophia-myles-reveals-father-died-after-contracting-covid-19-11961780
15. "Transformers: Age of Extinction Interview with Stanley Tucci". Collider.com. 17 June 2014.
16. Moffatt, Steven (2020). Pompadour.

External links

• Sophia Myles on IMDb