Sonoya Mizuno (born 1 July 1986) is a British actress. She is known for her collaborations with Alex Garland—most notably, portraying Kyoko in the film Ex Machina (2014) and starring in the FX miniseries Devs (2020)—as well as for her roles in the Netflix series Maniac (2018), the HBO series House of the Dragon (2022–present) and the film Crazy Rich Asians (2018).
Early life Sonoya Mizuno was born in Tokyo on 1 July 1986, the daughter of an mother and Japanese father. The family later moved to England, where she grew up in Somerset. She graduated from the Royal Ballet School before dancing with several ballet companies, including Semperoper Ballet in Dresden, Ballet Ireland, New English Ballet Theatre and Scottish Ballet.
Career Mizuno took up professional modelling at age 20 with Profile Models in London. She has modelled for Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton. In 2014, she appeared in Arthur Pita's work of dance theatre The World's Greatest Show at Greenwich Dance and the Royal Opera House.
While modeling, she took acting classes and made her film debut in 2014, in Alex Garland's science-fiction thriller Ex Machina, and in 2016 appeared in the dance film High Strung, directed by Michael Damian. Mizuno performed in the Dom & Nic video for The Chemical Brothers' "Wide Open", featuring Beck, where she played a dancer gradually transformed into a 3-D lattice. Later that year she appeared in the music video for Frank Ocean's song "Nikes". Also in 2016, she appeared in La La Land as one of the three roommates of Mia, played by Emma Stone.
In 2017, Mizuno appeared in a small role as the debutante in Disney's live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, and in 2018, she acted in the Warner Bros. film Crazy Rich Asians.
She has appeared in television/streaming roles including Cary Joji Fukunaga's Maniac on Netflix. In 2018, she took the lead role of Lily Chan in Garland's miniseries for FX, Devs. In 2024, she appeared in the war drama Civil War. She has worked with Garland five times: as the lead of Devs, as a supporting character in Ex Machina and Civil War, and as a featured extra in Annihilation and Men.
Mizuno appeared on stage in Gareth Farr’s A Child of Science, which ran at the Bristol Old Vic from June to July 2024.
Filmography Film Year Title Role(s) Director(s) Notes 2012 Venus in Eros Forest Guard Takako Imai 2014 Ex Machina Kyoko Alex Garland2016 High Strung Jazzy Michael Damian Alleycats Suzie Ian Bonhôte La La Land Caitlin Damien Chazelle 2017 Beauty and the Beast Debutante Bill Condon2018 Annihilation Katie / Humanoid Alex Garland All About Nina Ganja Eva Vives The Domestics Betsy Mike P. Nelson Crazy Rich Asians Araminta Lee Jon M. Chu 2019 Ambition Sarah Robert Shaye2022 Am I OK? Jane Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allynne Men Police Operator Alex Garland Voice 2023 Shortcomings Meredith Randall Park 2024 Civil War Anya Alex Garland2025 Deep Cover Shosh Tom Kingsley Eternal Return Yaniv Raz 2028 Alex Garland Post-production Herself Director and writer; pre-production
Television Year Title Role Notes 2018 Maniac Dr. Azumi Fujita Miniseries 2020 Devs Lily Chan Lead role; miniseries 2022–present House of the Dragon Mysaria Main role; 21 episodes 2024 Terminator Zero Eiko Voice role2025 Too Much Peregrine Episode: "One Wedding and a Sex Pest" Star Wars: Visions Nakime Voice role; episode: "The Bird of Paradise"
Music videos Year Title Performer(s) Ref.2010"Coma Cat"Tensnake2016"Wide Open"The Chemical Brothers featuring Beck"Nikes"Frank Ocean2023"God Walked Down"The Allergies
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