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Sophie Simnett is very blonde, very English and very courteous. She answers my questions with clarity and conviction and only pauses when she wants to insert some form of earnest emphasis as to how lucky, grateful, and excited she is about her career and the opportunities the world is throwing at this twenty-one-year-old English rose. Having landed roles steadily since she left independent, all-girls Putney High School in south-west London, she attributes her time at the school—whose Latin motto, _Fortiter et recte_, means "Bravely and rightly"—to keeping her teenage years relatively normal. "I went to a non-acting school my whole life, and whilst I was doing any early acting projects, I still attended school," she says. Clearly Simnett’s already aware of the pitfalls and trappings of Hollywood, “I think that was so important for me, because it kept the two worlds of acting and education very separate,” shares Simnett. “It meant I was surrounded by people who weren't in the industry, which definitely gave me a grounding."
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Simnett may have only been able to legally drink in the US for a number of months, but she’s already a Disney alumnus, having starred in _The Lodge_, a 2017 British musical drama and mystery television series that aired on the Disney Channel in both the US and UK (the series was based on the Israeli series _North Star_). "Having 'done' Disney, essentially a whole series before _Daybreak_, was beyond useful,” states Simnett. “Not just socially etc. in terms of working with a large cast and crew, but also just little things like how to deal with getting last minute script notes etc."
_Daybreak_ is an upcoming American post-apocalyptic comedy-drama series based on the eponymous comic series by Brian Ralph, where highschool outcast Josh searches for his missing girlfriend Sam, played by Simnett, and joined by a group of misfits. In the comic, the story is told through a second person perspective, so the reader only 'sees' what the character is viewing, and therefore becomes a part of the story. With Simnett’s career about to step up a gear when _Daybreak_ premieres later this year on Netflix, the feeling of being on the edge of 'fame' becomes increasingly palpable. "It's really bizarre, kind of overwhelming, but also incredible,” she expresses, candidly. “The experiences I've had with _Daybreak_ and the jobs I've done before, they’re like a steady build-up of experience.
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Sophie made her professional acting debut in the short thriller _Footsteps of Angels,_ when she was seventeen, subsequently appearing in brooding British 18th-century drama series _Poldark,_ and eventually on the big screen in twee Christmas movie caper, _Surviving Christmas with the Relatives,_ starring alongside Joely Richardson and James Fox. "On each different project it's like my brain is constantly processing all this information,” Simnett explains. “It almost feels saturated at points to be honest. It's everything I could have wanted.”
Simnett is sweet, articulate and measured, giving the impression of having a mature head on young shoulders. Her petite blonde looks and sunny, yet earnest disposition, remind me of a fledgling Julie Andrews or Rosamund Pike. “I'm quite comfortable in myself and I love my job. But, I don't know any actor who doesn't have moments of self-doubt,” she discloses. “Even the most successful actors lose jobs they dream about, where they stay up all night reading the script and annotating it. That's the hard part of the job, dealing with the lows, and the part that people on the outside of the business underestimate.”
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Clearly keen to emphasise her grip on reality, she stresses “Listen, it's nothing like a hard job compared to being a nurse or a teacher, but mentally you are being thrown around a lot, being told you have things, and then you don't, and that you should be something, and then you're not, so you have to have quite a strong mind to be an actor.”
If Simnett’s work for Disney was like high school, where she admittedly “learnt on the job,” then her Netflix debut in _Daybreak_ is her graduation, starring alongside Tony award-winning and Golden Globe-nominee Matthew Broderick. "_Daybreak_ follows a group of teenagers at high school who essentially have to survive. Primarily, it's a coming of age story, but there's this epic romance and these crazy action sequences.” Simnett clearly as a special bond with the project. “What drew me to the script the most was the fact that it really pushes the boundaries of storytelling, like if _Mad Max, Ferris Bueller, Stranger Things,_ and _The Breakfast Club_ had a baby."
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“I have grown up in London my whole life,” Simnett continues. “_Daybreak_ was my first job filming in America.” Principal photography took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the first season, a vastly foreign landscape compared to the verdant English countryside. “I can't ever see myself living anywhere else." Although she may assert her normality, "I have worries like any other 21 year old girl," I’m quite certain that Sophie Simnett will find herself spending more time in America, in Hollywood, and around the globe.
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Photographed by [Liam Bundy](https://www.instagram.com/liam_bundy/?hl=en)
Styled by [Nazanin Shahnavaz](https://www.instagram.com/nazaninshahnavaz/?hl=en)
Hair: [Jason Crozier](http://www.jasoncrozier.co.uk/) using Balmain at [Stella Creative Artists](http://www.stellacreativeartists.com)
Makeup: [Jessica Mejia](https://www.instagram.com/jessica__mejia/?hl=en) using Burt Bees at [Stella Creative Artists](http://www.stellacreativeartists.com)
Styling Assistants: Austin Milne and Andrew Burling
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