Marie-Sophie Nélisse (born March 27, 2000) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for sc ...

–winning performance in ''

Monsieur Lazhar ''Monsieur Lazhar'' is a 2011 Canadian French-language drama film directed by Philippe Falardeau and starring Mohamed Saïd Fellag, Sophie Nélisse and Danielle Proulx. Based on ''Bashir Lazhar'', a one-character play by Évelyne de la Chene ...

'', as Liesel Meminger in the

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

of the best-selling novel ''

The Book Thief ''The Book Thief'' is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, and is his most popular book. Published in 2005, ''The Book Thief'' became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 16 mil ...

'', written by

Markus Zusak Markus Zusak (born 23 June 1975) is an Australian writer with Austrian and German roots. He is best known for '' The Book Thief'' and '' The Messenger'' (US title: ''I Am the Messenger''), two novels which became international bestsellers ...

, and as Caroline in '' The Kid Detective''. She also stars as young Shauna in Showtime's series ''Yellowjackets''.

Early life

Marie-Sophie Nélisse was born in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

, on March 27, 2000. She is of French descent. Her mother, Pauline Belhumeur, left her job as a schoolteacher in 2013 to act as a

talent manager A talent manager (also known as an artist manager, band manager or music manager) is an individual who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of the talent manager is to oversee the day-to-da ...

for both Sophie and her younger sister

Isabelle Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba, Elisheva''), Arising in ...

, who is also an actress. Nélisse is fluent in both French and English. The family moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

when she was four.

Career

She spent her early years training in gymnastics, aiming for the 2016 Olympics, and signed to a talent agency to make money to pay for the training, but after getting the part in ''

'' (and subsequent accolades) she shifted her focus to acting. Additionally, Nélisse formed and still maintains a close friendship with her co-star from ''The Book Thief'', Nico Liersch.

Besides her Genie Award for ''

'', she won a

Jutra Award The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

nomination as Best Leading Young Actress in an International Feature Film. She held a recurring role the Québec

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

' and she also starred in the title role of the 2015 film ''

The Great Gilly Hopkins ''The Great Gilly Hopkins'' is a realistic children's novel by Katherine Paterson. It was published by Crowell in 1978 and it won the U.S. National Book Award next year.Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

for the first time to present Canadian thriller movie ''

Mean Dreams ''Mean Dreams'' is a 2016 Canadian coming-of-age film, coming-of-age thriller film directed by Nathan Morlando and written by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby. The film stars Sophie Nélisse, Josh Wiggins, and Bill Paxton. It was screened in the Di ...

''. In 2016, Nélisse was one of four actors selected by the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

, alongside

Grace Glowicki Grace Glowicki is a Canadian actress and filmmaker from Edmonton, Alberta.Fish Griwkowsky"Edmonton-born actress wins at Sundance" '' Edmonton Journal'', February 2, 2016. She is most noted for directing and starring in the 2019 film ''Tito'', whic ...

, Jared Abrahamson, and

Mylène Mackay Mylène Mackay (born 7 July 1987) is a Canadian actress. She received a Canadian Screen Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards for her performance in '' Endorphine''. In 2016, she appeared as Nelly Arcan i ...

for its "Rising Stars" programme, described as an "intensive professional development programme

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

immerses participants in a series of public events and industry meetings during the Festival." In June 2018, it was announced that she would be the face of

Caroline Néron Caroline Néron (born July 21, 1973) is a Canadian actress, singer and fashion designer (accessories). She has appeared in a number of roles on television and also on films. She was born in Boucherville, Quebec. Filmography She was nominated fo ...

's Fall 2018 jewelry line. After graduating high school in June 2017, Nélisse confirmed she wouldn't be enrolling in

post-secondary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

for the time being due to commitments shooting ''Close'' in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. In a ''

L'actualité ''L'actualité'' is a Canadian French-language news and general interest magazine published in Montreal by Rogers Communications until 2016, then by Mishmash (XPND Capital). The magazine has over a million readers, according to Canada's Print Measu ...

'' 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 Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...

and that scenarios she receives almost always include sexual elements.), access-date=December 18, 2017, language=fr, date=December 8, 2017, trans-title=Entering adulthood in troubled times, quote=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. One of these instances was when she turned down the sexually-charged lead role in '' Fugueuse'', in which

Ludivine Reding Vénutia-Ludivine Dubé Reding (born 6 February 1997), professionally known as Ludivine Reding, is an actress from Montreal, Canada. She played Fanny Couture in the television series '' Fugueuse''. Her father is a Belgian immigrant and her moth ...

was eventually cast as Fanny, the titular teenage runaway who ends up a sex trafficking victim.

Personal life

Her sister Isabelle Nélisse is also an actress, best known for her roles in ''

Mama Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places * Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlemen ...

'' and HBO's controversial film ''

The Tale ''The Tale'' is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Jennifer Fox and starring Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Ritter, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabelle Nélisse, Common, Frances Conroy, and John Heard. It tells the story about Fo ...

''; the sisters also acted together in ', '' Wait Till Helen Comes'' and '' Worst Case, We Get Married''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelisse, Sophie 2000 births Actresses from Montreal Canadian child actresses Canadian film actresses Best Supporting Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Living people Canadian television actresses Actresses from Windsor, Ontario Franco-Ontarian people 21st-century Canadian actresses Best Supporting Actress Jutra and Iris Award winners