Sonoya Mizuno

Sonoya Mizuno had a dilemma a few years after finishing London's Royal Ballet School. She'd auditioned for a tiny role in Alex Garland's debut film, Ex Machina, and despite her lack of experience reading screenplays, he gave her a role that required weeks of shooting in London. However, she remained under contract with Scottish Ballet. She could either remain as a professional dancer, performing Sleeping Beauty for 70-year-olds, or she could breach her contract and try her hand as an actress.

Mizuno opted for the latter. She composed a resignation letter, booked a trip, boarded the aircraft, sent the emails, and switched off her phone. "So that's what I tried, and it worked out like Hell," she said to an interviewer over tea in Brooklyn on a rainy day. It's an illustrative genesis tale for an actress whose first lead part is in a near-future science fiction miniseries that delves into our understanding of free choice. Devs, which stars her as Lily Chan, a software developer for a fictitious quantum computing firm named Amaya, is about defying what people, technology, and the cosmos mandate what we do and who we are. It warps our existential beliefs on the universe, reality, and autonomy, as directed and written by Garland, the creator behind the film Annihilation. And Mizuno got there by taking calculated risks.

After the success of Devs, Sonoya Mizuno rose to her deserved stardom. Now, she is one of the most beloved Asian actresses in Hollywood.

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Nationality: Japanese

Famous movies: Devs, Annihilation, Crazy Rich Asians