The Transformation Of Sophia Di Martino From Childhood To Loki

On "Loki," Sophia di Martino plays the title character's female variant named Sylvie. Before causing major issues for the Time Variance Authority, di Martino worked on quite a few different projects. During a June interview with Variety, she revealed that her love of acting came may have tested her sister's patience. "I was one of those annoying kids who's always like trying to get my sister to do plays in the living room, and always casting myself in the better part and having her play like the Cinderella character," she said.

Di Martino said she was not open about wanting to become an actor, as she was concerned that her parents "would have just laughed." She explained that she did not have any family connections in the industry that could have helped to solidify her career, so "it wasn't really within [her] grasp." She went on to say acting professionally "was always a little dream" that she kept to herself but she has "been quietly chipping away at it for the past 25 years," until finally being cast in the Marvel Studios production.

Sophia di Martino's desire to become an actor eventually led her to attend the University of Salford, where she received a degree in Media and Performance, per her acting resume. According to the BBC, two years after graduating from the university, she was cast as a young nursing student named Gemma Pennant on the soap opera, "The Royal Today." Unfortunately, the series only ran for three months in 2008 before being canceled. 

A year following the show's cancellation, she landed a recurring role as ambulance technician Polly Emmerson on another medical drama, "Casualty." During an interview with Holby.tv, a website dedicated to "Casualty" and its spin-off series, "Holby City," di Martino revealed that her final day of filming in 2011 "was unexpectedly emotional." She also disclosed that her fellow cast members gave her "a really posh bread maker" that she uses "all the time."

After saying goodbye to Polly Emmerson, Sophia di Martino booked a string of one-off roles in quite a few shows, such as "Eternal Law" and "Midsomer Murders" (via IMDb) before joining the cast of the dark comedy "Flowers" in 2016. She starred as Amy Flowers, a musician in her mid-20s who lives with her parents, Deborah (Olivia Colman) and Maurice (Julian Barratt). 

While promoting the show's second and final season on London Live, di Martino revealed that she filmed a pilot for a comedy directed by Paul Feig. During the 2018 interview, she spoke about having to travel to America for the project, entitled "Girls Code," and said she didn't feel nervous while working with Hollywood executives, saying "People are kind and nice and it's not as intimidating as they would have you believe." Unfortunately, Feig's pilot was not picked up. A year after "Flowers" ended, di Martino made a brief appearance as the character Carol in "Yesterday," which starred Himesh Patel and Lily James.

Sophia di Martino also had starring roles in a few short films, including a 2017 horror-comedy called "Smear," which was directed and written by "Loki" director Kate Herron. Di Martino's connection to Herron ended up coming in quite handy. While speaking to ComicBook.com in June, she revealed that Herron had reached out to her about auditioning to play Sylvie. However, the 37-year-old was not given any identifying details about the show and received a script in which Loki and Sylvie's names were changed to "Bob and Sarah." 

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, di Martino revealed that the scene she auditioned with "ended up being in episode 3," when Loki and Sylvie share insight about their childhoods and how they feel about love. She did clarify that the scene "was pretty different" by the time they shot it, and "had had lots of work done to it." During her conversation with Variety, dnicolei Martino noted that at the time of her audition, she was "heavily pregnant," with her first child, whom she shares with her partner Will Sharpe. For this reason, she "couldn't travel" and was unable to do a screen test." However, she proved that she was a perfect Sylvie with just a self-taped audition and the rest is history.