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Sophie Nélisse

Sophie Nélisse
Nélisse in 2025
Born
Marie-Sophie Nélisse

(2000-03-27) March 27, 2000 (age 25)
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
OccupationActress
Years active2011–present
RelativesIsabelle Nélisse (sister)

Marie-Sophie Nélisse (born March 27, 2000) is a Canadian actress. She made her film debut in the French-language drama Monsieur Lazhar (2011), for which she won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Liesel Meminger in the 2013 war drama The Book Thief, young Joan Fischer in the biographical film Pawn Sacrifice (2014), Casey Caraway in the coming-of-age drama Mean Dreams (2016), Aster in The Rest of Us (2019), and Irena Gut in Irena's Vow (2023). Since 2021, she has starred as Shauna Shipman in the Showtime psychological thriller series Yellowjackets.

Early life

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Marie-Sophie Nélisse was born in Windsor, Ontario, on March 27, 2000.[1][2][3] She is French Canadian.[4] Her family moved to Montreal when she was four.[1][5] Her mother left her job as a schoolteacher in 2013 to act as a talent manager for both Sophie and her younger sister Isabelle, who is also an actress.[6][7] Nélisse is fluent in French and English.[1]

Career

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She spent her early years training in gymnastics and signed to a talent agency to make money to pay for the training, but after getting the part in The Book Thief (and subsequent accolades) she shifted her focus to acting.[8][9]

Besides her Genie Award for Monsieur Lazhar, she won a Jutra Award for her performance and a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Leading Young Actress in an International Feature Film.[10] She held a recurring role the Québec sitcom Les Parents [fr] and she also starred in the title role of the 2015 film The Great Gilly Hopkins. In May 2016, Nélisse was present on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival for the first time to present Canadian thriller movie Mean Dreams.[11][12][13]

Nélisse at the premiere of The Rest of Us at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival

In 2016, Nélisse was one of four actors selected by the Toronto International Film Festival, alongside Grace Glowicki, Jared Abrahamson, and Mylène Mackay for its "Rising Stars" programme, described as an "intensive professional development programme [that] immerses participants in a series of public events and industry meetings during the Festival."[3][14] In June 2018, it was announced that she would be the face of Caroline Néron's Fall 2018 jewelry line.[15]

After graduating high school in June 2017,[16] Nélisse confirmed she wouldn't be enrolling in post-secondary education for the time being due to commitments shooting Close in London and Morocco.[17] In a L'actualité series about "Being 18 years old in 2018", Nélisse spoke about entering adulthood in the era of the Weinstein effect, and deplored that when she announced she was looking for "more mature roles", she was quickly offered multiple roles where her characters would be raped and that scenarios she receives almost always include sexual elements.[18] One of these instances was when she turned down the sexually charged lead role in Fugueuse, in which Ludivine Reding was eventually cast as Fanny, the titular teenage runaway who ends up a sex trafficking victim.[19]

On April 18th, 2025, the author of the book Girl in Pieces, Kathleen Glasgow, confirmed that Courtney Eaton and Sophie Nélisse bought the film rights to the book.[20][21]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2011 Monsieur Lazhar Alice L'Écuyer
2012 Ésimésac Marie Gélinas
2013 The Book Thief Liesel Meminger
2014 Pawn Sacrifice Young Joan
2015 Endorphine Simone de Koninck
The Great Gilly Hopkins Gilly Hopkins
2016 Mean Dreams Casey Caraway
1:54 Jen
Wait Till Helen Comes Molly
2017 The History of Love Alma Singer
Exode Short film[22][23]
Worst Case, We Get Married (Et au pire, on se mariera) Aïcha
2019 Close Zoe
47 Meters Down: Uncaged Mia
The Rest of Us Aster
2020 The Kid Detective Caroline
Flashwood Rose
2023 Irena's Vow Irena Gut
2025 Two Women (Deux femmes en or) Jessica
Whistle Ellie Post-production

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2010 Mirador [fr] Jeune fille de Ralf 1 episode
Toute la Vérité [fr] Fille de Violaine 1 episode
2011–2016 Les Parent [fr] Zoé Recurring
2012 Vertige Rosalie Roussel Main cast
2017 Demain des hommes [fr] Roxanne Recurring[24][25][26]
2019–2020 L'Échappée [fr] Romy Lalonde Recurring (season 4)
2020 Amours d'occasion [fr] Young Florence 1 episode
2021–present Yellowjackets Shauna Shipman Main role
2022 Transplant Hannah Miller 1 episode
2023 Aller Simple Fanny Lori 6 episodes
2025 L'Indétectable Stéphanie 6 episodes
2025-2026 Heated Rivalry[27] Rose Landry

Awards and nominations

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Awards and nominations received by Sophie Nélisse
Organisation Year Category Work Result Ref.
Critics' Choice Awards 2014 Best Young Actor/Actress The Book Thief Nominated [28]
Genie Awards 2012 Best Supporting Actress Monsieur Lazhar Won
Hollywood Film Awards 2013 Spotlight Award The Book Thief Won
Jutra Awards 2012 Best Supporting Actress Monsieur Lazhar Won
Satellite Awards 2014 Breakthrough Performance Award The Book Thief Won [29]
Saturn Awards 2014 Best Performance by a Younger Actor The Book Thief Nominated [30]
Young Artist Awards 2013 Best Performance in an International Feature Film – Young Actress Monsieur Lazhar Nominated [31]
2014 Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film (tie) The Book Thief Won [32]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Sophie Nélisse". Windsor Public Library. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2022. Sophie (Marie-Sophie) Nélisse was born in Windsor on March 27, 2000 into a family of French-Canadian descent.
  2. ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1209/1210. June 1–9, 2012. p. 35.
  3. ^ a b Victoria Ahearn (September 3, 2016). "Windsor-born Sophie Nelisse a Rising Star at TIFF and beyond". Windsor Star. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  4. ^ Plasket, Kelli (November 27, 2013). "Meet Sophie Nélisse". Time for Kids. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  5. ^ Szklarski, Cassandra (March 6, 2012). "Sophie Nelisse of 'Monsieur Lazhar' takes Genie nomination in stride". Canadian Press. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  6. ^ Boivin, Catherine-Chantal (November 22, 2011). "Sophie Nélisse: Activités familiales pour les vacances des fêtes: jouer en famille" [Sophie Nélisse: Family activities for the holidays: playing among family]. Voir. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  7. ^ Pilon-Larose, Hugo (April 6, 2015). "Sophie Nélisse et sa mère Pauline Belhumeur, la double vie d'une maman gérante" [Sophie Nélisse and her mother Pauline Belhumeur, the double life of a manager mother]. La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  8. ^ Lewis, Casey (March 11, 2014). "How Sophie Nélisse Went From Olympic-Bound Gymnast to 'Book Thief' Star in Two Seconds Flat". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on September 10, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  9. ^ Wilkinson, Amy (November 7, 2013). "Why Sophie Nelisse Gave Up Her Olympic Dream For 'Book Thief'". MTV News. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  10. ^ "34th Annual Young Artist Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on June 12, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  11. ^ "Sophie Nélisse à Cannes dimanche avec Mean Dreams - Festival de Cannes". La Presse. May 15, 2016. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  12. ^ ""Mean Dreams" dans lequel joue Sophie Nélisse, présenté à Cannes". May 15, 2016. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  13. ^ "Quebecers to watch at Cannes 2016". Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  14. ^ "TIFF RISING STARS REVEALED FOR 2016 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL" (PDF) (Press release). Toronto International Film Festival. August 3, 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  15. ^ HollywoodPQ (July 17, 2018). "Sophie Nélisse sera le visage des bijoux Caroline Néron cet automne". HollywoodPQ. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  16. ^ "Découvrez la robe de bal de finissants de Sophie Nélisse". En Vedette. June 23, 2017. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017.
  17. ^ Duchesne, André (August 22, 2017). "Sophie Nélisse tourne avec Noomi Rapace". La Presse. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019 – via Cyberpresse.
  18. ^ Mercier, Noémie (December 8, 2017). "Passer à l'âge adulte en temps troublés" [Entering adulthood in troubled times]. L'actualité. Being 18 years old in 2018 (French: Avoir 18 ans en 2018) (in French). Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2017. Quand je me suis mise à dire que je voulais des rôles plus « matures », je pense que j'ai reçu cinq scénarios où je me faisais violer. C'est rare, les scénarios où il ne faut pas que je couche avec quelqu'un ou que j'embrasse quelqu'un.
  19. ^ "Sophie Nélisse aurait refusé le rôle de Fanny dans Fugueuse pour cette raison". Showbizz.net. April 25, 2018. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  20. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
  21. ^ "'It's weird to see us evolve at the same time': Yellowjackets' Sophie Nélisse on how her life mirrors Shauna's". Cosmopolitan. April 11, 2025. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
  22. ^ "Festival de Cannes". moncompte.festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  23. ^ "Lou-Pascal Tremblay s'en va à Cannes". En Vedette. May 17, 2017. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017.
  24. ^ "DEMAIN DES HOMMES : une série dramatique originale dans l'univers du hockey junior sur ICI TOU.TV EXTRA". Radio-Canada. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  25. ^ ""Demain des hommes" : une nouvelle série de hockey à Radio-Canada". HuffPost Québec. November 13, 2017. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  26. ^ "Une série sur le hockey signée Guillaume Vigneault". Radio-Canada. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  27. ^ "Bell Media Announces 2025/26 Original Content Slate - Bell Media". Bell Media Announces 2025/26 Original Content Slate - Bell Media. Retrieved June 6, 2025.
  28. ^ "Complete list of winners for the 19th Critics' Choice Movie Awards". LA Times. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  29. ^ "2013 Award Categories". International Press Academy. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  30. ^ "'Gravity,' 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Lead Saturn Awards Noms". Variety. February 25, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  31. ^ "2013 NOMINATIONS". Young Artist Awards. May 5, 2013. Archived from the original on June 12, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  32. ^ "2014 NOMINATIONS & RESULTS". Young Artist Awards. May 4, 2014. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
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