Growing up, Tokyo-born, Somerset-raised Sonoya Mizuno wanted to be just like her uncle, Edward Duke. "I totally adored him, and he was a theater actor in London, so I was like, 'I want to be an actor!'" Mizuno says. At his encouragement, Mizuno's mother enrolled her in ballet and stage school and soon realized that she was a natural-born dancer. "It snowballed from there. I trained professionally as a dancer and went and danced in ballet companies, but [acting] kept creeping up. It never really went away."
The same year that Mizuno danced at the Royal Opera House, she also made her film debut in Alex Garland's Oscar-winning sci-fi thriller Ex Machina. (She has since appeared in all of Garland's films, including this year's dystopian Civil War.) Mizuno landed a small role in 2016's La La Land, playing one of Emma Stone's roommates, and then co-starred as the bride-to-be in 2018's Crazy Rich Asians.
Transitioning from professional ballet dancer to working actor, Mizuno says, "There is definitely an element of physicality that I always think about, because it is the thing that I know so well. I think about the character's physicality and their rhythm, because that's how we were taught at school. But there are also things which are a hindrance. The discipline is ingrained in me, but there's also an element of needing to be a human being — not being a perfect ballerina. I've had to try and let that go, which is an ongoing process."
While Mizuno is perhaps best known for inhabiting science fiction and fantasy worlds — she's also had roles on the series Devs and House of the Dragon — along with over-the-top romantic blockbusters, her latest role is a decidedly grounded affair: In the dramedy Am I OK?, she plays the supportive best friend of Dakota Johnson's late-blooming lesbian. There are no dragons and there are no robots, and nobody breaks out into song or dance. "Honestly, it is quite meaningful, because most of the work I have done is genre stuff," she says. "I was dying to just play a human in the real world."
Below, Mizuno shares with A.frame her five favorite films. "I've always wondered if I'd have to do one of these, and I'd think, 'God, that must be so hard! There are so many films that I want to talk about.' But today's the day, and I've chosen five," she says. "And if it was another day, I'd probably choose a different five."
Directed by: Nicolas Roeg | Written by: Allan Scott and Chris Bryant
Don't Look Now is one of my favorite films and one of the films I probably watch the most. I had such a very visceral reaction to the film. I found it so haunting and so moving and such a beautiful story about grief. I really admire Nic Roeg's films in general, and the subtlety of his films, and the boldness of how he edits things. It made me realize the possibilities of what cinema can be.
And then Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland have this beautiful chemistry. It has that sex scene in it, which I think is one of the most beautiful sequences in cinema, ever. And to be honest, I'm a bit of a prude when it comes to sex scenes, because I find they often take me out of the movie. But that one just takes my breath away.
Directed by: Sidney Lumet | Written by: Frank Pierson
Dog Day Afternoon was the first time I saw John Cazale's work, and I was like, "Wow! Who is this actor?" I couldn't believe what he was doing, first of all, and then I discovered his story. I was just very attracted to him as an actor — to his non-showy, very subtle, but also very alive and slightly strange style. I completely was blown away by his work. He only ever did five films, but I then watched them all.
Directed by: Walter Lang | Written by: Ernest Lehman
The King and I is a film from my childhood that really had an impact on me. I loved musicals when I was a child, and my mom showed me The King and I, and it's one that I watched over and over. I think the reason I watched it so much was because there were so many Asian kids in it, and then they had this English school teacher. There was some kind of mirror that I could see in my life, because my mom was English and white, and I looked like these school kids, and they were singing and dancing and that's what I started to do. There was something in that which kind of seeped into me, so I think it was more influential than I realized at the time.
Directed by: Hiroshi Teshigahara | Written by: Kōbō Abe
I wanted to put a Japanese film in, and I chose Woman in the Dunes. It's in black and white, but it's this amazing assault of the senses, and the imagery, the cinematography is unlike anything that I've seen in any film. Again, my reaction was so visceral, I think, because of the way it's filmed. There's extreme close-ups, and then this beautiful imagery of sand dunes, and this very strange score. It's amazing what the sand does, which makes you feel both paranoid and grossed out, but it's also erotic at the same time. It's just a total assault of the senses.
And it's quite long. I remember I first watched it in COVID, and the time passed so quickly. I've gone back to it many times now. If you haven't seen it, I won't tell you what it's about; you should just watch it. Because it's really an exceptional film.
Directed by: Paul Feig | Written by: Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
I just think Bridesmaids is one of the best films of all time. I remember the first time I saw it in the cinema with my sister, and I remember I've never laughed that much at a film in my life. What those women are doing is just so f*****g incredible, all of them, but particularly Kristen Wiig on the airplane. I was like, "How is she doing this?!" That was also a moment where I thought, "Wow, they're really paying forward something for what possibilities are available for women in cinema." It was amazing. I thought it was really monumental, and it really holds up! I watch it all the time.
