Sophie Turner is blowing up right now. The 23-year-old actress became a household name on the HBO blockbuster Game of Thrones and since then she’s hit the big screen in X-Men: Apocalypse and X-Men Dark Phoenix, playing Jean Grey.
She’s also married to singer Joe Jonas, and her profile is bigger than ever right now. But there’s still a lot you probably don’t know about the woman who brought the unforgettable character of Sansa Stark to life.
Here are 10 facts about her.
1. Working-class roots
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Although Turner is now a huge Hollywood star, she comes from a working-class family in Chesterton, Warwickshire, England. Her mother was a teacher and her father worked for a company that delivered pallets to warehouses.
2. In the mud
She was well-prepared for all the mud and muck on the set of Game of Thrones. Turner said, “My childhood was pretty fun. We had pigsties, barns, and a paddock, and used to muck around in the mud.”
3. Big screen jump
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Her big-screen debut was in 2013 with the independent thriller Another Me. Her co-stars included Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Claire Forlani, and Rhys Ifans.
4. Competition
In order to land the role of Jean Grey in the X-Men movies, Turner had to beat out many other actresses who were considered for the role, including Elle Fanning, Hailee Steinfeld, Saoirse Ronan, and Margot Robbie.
5. That’s strange…
Turner takes over the Jean Grey role from actress Famke Janssen, and the two surprisingly have a few things in common. Neither are natural redheads and they’re both exactly one inch taller than the actor who plays their love interest, Cyclops.
Tye Sheridan is 5’8” and Sophie Turner is 5’9”. James Marsden is 5’10”, while Janssen is 5’11”
6. Inked
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Turner and her Game of Thrones co-star Maisie Williams are very close offscreen. So much so that they have matching tattoos. They both have “07.08.09” tattoos, which is the date they both learned they were cast on the hit show.
7. Furry friend
No, direwolves don’t really exist – but during the filming of GOT, Turner fell so in love with the Northern Inuit dog playing her direwolf on the show that she ended up adopting the pup, whose name is Zunni.
8. Slide into my DMs
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It’s hard to get away from social media these days, and that even applies to big Hollywood stars. Turner and Joe Jonas had a few friends on Instagram and Jonas decided to direct message her for a chat one evening. And the rest is history…
9. Take some time off
The final season of GOT received mixed reviews from fans and critics, and Turner took the negative criticism very personally. She took it so hard that she revealed it had caused her major depression and in the spring of 2019 she would take a break from acting.
10. A young star
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Turner has been interested in acting from a very young age. She joined a well-known children’s theater company when she was only 3-years-old.
She’s a lifer!
