Sophia ALI

f a picture is worth a thousand words, Sophia Ali’s skin is a book. On her right shoulder is a Sailor Jerry heart tattoo, with, Ali says her most recent project, an Amazon Studios production, is “the first time I’m really proud of something”. Set in New Zealand, the YA series juxtaposes the pressure of high school life with the challenge of surviving on a deserted island. The script struck a chord with the eight actors who serve as the show’s heroines. Ali, a second-generation Pakistani-American, plays Fatim Jamadi, who uses sex to rebel against her conservative upbringing. “She’s a strong woman who is so much like me,” says Ali. “It’s everything that I’ve ever wanted for myself as an actor.” Ali commemorated the series in the best way she knows how: with a tattoo. “After we finished filming the pilot, I got a tattoo of a mermaid on my shin,” she says of her homage to the days and nights spent filming on Auckland’s Bethells Beach. “It felt important to mark this because it’s been life-changing.”