Meet the grown-up Evelyn – actress Sophie Vavasseur is taking Hollywood by storm after landing two leading roles in upcoming Netflix movies.
The Dubliner shot to fame as a young girl when she starred in Pierce Brosnan’s movie Evelyn and now she’s back in the spotlight.
The 28-year-old told the Irish Mirror: “Evelyn has been shown on TCM movies this month. It’s mad to think I was only nine.
“It was Betty Ann Norton, who sadly passed away this year, who gave me my big break. She sent me to
audition for Hollywood movie Evelyn.
“I went for eight rounds of auditions and my career took off.”
A close bond with the former James Bond star quickly followed.
Sophie said: “It was Pierce’s production company who shot Evelyn, he was saying on The Late Late show recently that Eveyln was his pride and joy.
“It’s so nostalgic, I get emotional when I talk about it. Pierce could not have been a nicer man, it was such an amazing time for my family.
“I wear the gold locket he made for me all the time. He took myself and my family under his wing, I’m from a very working-class family and I’m the only actress.
“Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman, Halle Berry were on the red carpet with me, we had premieres everywhere.
“I was doing interview after interview at the likes of the Toronto Film Festival and it was incredible.
“A couple of years afterwards, he was filming Laws Of Attraction with Julianne Moore in Ireland, he invited me and my family to meet everyone.
“He’ll be over here in Ireland filming something at Christmas time, you never know, I might get a part in that.”
After Evelyn, Sophie had acting agents in the UK and LA and things spiralled. She revealed: “It was by chance that I fell into the industry. I was 12 when we shot Resident Evil and then I started to do period dramas.
“I did Northanger Abbey with Carey Mulligan and I did the Charles Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop with Derek Jacobi where I played Little Nell.”
But tragedy struck Sophie as a teen when she lost her father and acting took a back seat for a while.
She said: “My dad Christopher was a plumber, he passed away when I was 16. He had a heart attack.
“It put things into perspective, I was at home at the time when he died.
“Dad would sit with me for hours with the scripts, they were huge.
“My dad had the most amazing patience. I miss him every day.”
After a stint at journalism college, Sophie took time away from acting but now she’s finding her feet again and Hollywood is knocking.
She said: “The transition from child acting to adult acting was big for me.
“I trained with Maureen Hughes and John Carney in The Factory, they did a special onscreen course.
“Growing up as an actor as a child it was quite isolating, doing a course like that
was huge, to work with like-minded actors was brilliant.” After landing a role in Vikings as princess Ellisif, things started taking off again globally.
She then flew to Capetown and shot Bring It On.
Sophie said: “I was in my element, it was 10 weeks of full-on cheerleading training.”
This year saw the star shoot two films for Netflix back-to-back.
She said: “I did Picture Perfect World Christmas with Roxanne McKee who played Doreah in Game Of Thrones and in February I shot Lost And Found in Rome.”
Sophie, whose inspiration is actress Saoirse Ronan, also told how she worked with TV’s Maura Higgins.
She said: “The Bellamianta advert was random, they contacted me through my Instagram, I jumped at it.
“I teach gymnastics too when I’m not busy and do modelling.
“They approached me and I did the shoot with Maura Higgins a month before she went into Love Island. She was lovely on the shoot but very quiet and unassuming. I dreamt recently I was in Love Island but I wouldn’t do it, I take my career too seriously.”
But with her profile on the rise there’s no time for love.
Sophie said: “I had been in a relationship for four years with Jordan Smith. We’ve recently parted ways, it was very serious, we met on Vikings.
“But I’m in such a good place and so motivated, I feel focused and independent, I’m not actively searching.”