A24’s steamy thriller Babygirl has finally hit the big screen, and fans might spot a familiar face among its star-studded cast.
The film, which was released on January 10, tells the tale of an intense affair between a powerful CEO (played by Nicole Kidman) and her much younger intern (portrayed by Harris Dickinson).
While the leading pair take up most of the screen time, their co-stars Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde are given plenty of opportunities to impress.
Wilde, who previously collaborated with A24 on the critically acclaimed horror flick Talk To Me, takes on a completely different role in this film. The Australian-Ivorian actress plays Romy’s (Kidman) sharp-eyed assistant, Esme, who bravely confronts her boss about the inappropriate relationship.
As cinema-goers get stuck into the sizzling story, we take a quick look at actress Sophie Wilde’s life, including her rise to stardom and the hit Netflix show that was quickly cancelled, reports the Mirror.
Sophie previously starred in the horror film Talk To Me
(Image: Netflix)
Early life
Born on February 22, 1998 in Sydney, Sophie knew she wanted to be an actress from as young as five years old.
Now 26, the film star remembers watching Audrey Hepburn’s 1953 romantic comedy, Roman Holiday, on her parents’ VHS and deciding she wanted to follow in Hepburn’s footsteps.
“I watched Roman Holiday and said, ‘That’s what I want to do,'” she revealed to AnOther Magazine in 2024.
Her mother, an Ivorian grief counsellor, and father, an Australian visual artist, have been instrumental in helping the actress achieve her dreams, and she credits them as her biggest support system.
Sophie honed her craft at The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and emerged with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting in 2019.
She plays a sharp-eyed assistant in Babygirl
(Image: Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty Images)
Escaping disaster
Tragedy struck before she finished her degree, as Sophie and her father Simon were reported “missing” amidst the catastrophic 2014 Nepal snowstorm disaster, which swept across the Annapurna region, claiming over 40 lives. Aged just 17 at the time, the family was left without news for over a week until the pair finally made contact, reporting they were out of harm’s way.
Her grandfather Patrick shared with ABC in October 2014: “[Simon] and Sophie are both OK and they’ll be back in Kathmandu and flying home to Australia on Saturday.”
Rise to fame
Sophie has described her ascent in showbiz as “surreal.” Despite a scant tally of eight roles listed on IMDB, she’s managed to cement herself as a known entity in the acting world.
The 26-year-old earned recognition for her part in the BBC One crime series You Don’t Know Me, sharing the screen with Queenie star Samuel Adewunmi. Her subsequent role was in the critically lauded horror drama Talk To Me, portraying Mia a teen dealing with intense grief and an obsession with the supernatural.
Sophie and her father went ‘missing’ during a trip to Nepal
(Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images f)
Then came another turn as a tormented teen in Netflix’s Everything Now. Echoing the tone of her previous projects, the series garnered rave reviews, boasting an 83% critic rating and a staggering 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sophie, who played Mia, a 16-year-old with an ambitious bucket list after a stint in rehab for an eating disorder, won plaudits for the drama’s raw portrayal of mental health issues. Despite its one-season run and high praise, the show was axed.
Yet Sophie’s career soared as she snagged a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination in 2024, sharing the spotlight with Jacob Elordi and Ayo Edebiri. After the debut of Talk To Me, the Babygirl actress told NME it had been “the most surreal year of my life.”
Babygirl is out in cinemas now