Sophie Nélisse

Marie-Sophie Nélisse (born March 27, 2000) is a Canadian actress. She made her film debut in the French-language drama Monsieur Lazhar, for which she won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Liesel Meminger in the 2013 war drama The Book Thief, young Joan Fischer in the biographical film Pawn Sacrifice (2014), Casey Caraway in the coming-of-age drama Mean Dreams (2016), Aster in The Rest of Us (2019), and Irena Gut in Irena's Vow (2023). Since 2021, she has starred as Shauna Shipman in the Showtime psychological thriller series Yellowjackets. She also portrays Rose Landry in the Canadian sports romance series Heated Rivalry (2025–present).

Early life Marie-Sophie Nélisse was born in Windsor, Ontario, on March 27, 2000. She is French Canadian. Her family moved to Montreal when she was four. Her mother left her job as a schoolteacher in 2013 to act as a talent manager for both Sophie and her younger sister Isabelle, who is also an actress. Nélisse is fluent in French and English.

Besides her Genie Award for Monsieur Lazhar, she won a Jutra Award for her performance and a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Leading Young Actress in an International Feature Film. She held a recurring role in the Québec sitcom The Parent Family and she also starred in the title role of the 2015 film The Great Gilly Hopkins. In May 2016, Nélisse was present on the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival for the first time to present Canadian thriller movie Mean Dreams.

In 2016, Nélisse was one of four actors selected by the Toronto International Film Festival, alongside Grace Glowicki, Jared Abrahamson, and Mylène Mackay for its "Rising Stars" programme, described as an "intensive professional development programme [that] immerses participants in a series of public events and industry meetings during the Festival."

After graduating high school in June 2017, Nélisse confirmed she wouldn't be enrolling in post-secondary education due to commitments shooting Close in London and Morocco.

In June 2018, it was announced that she would be the face of Caroline Néron's Fall 2018 jewelry line. In a L'actualité series about "Being 18 years old in 2018", Nélisse spoke about entering adulthood in the era of the Weinstein effect, and deplored that when she announced she was looking for "more mature roles", she was quickly offered multiple roles where her characters would be raped and that scenarios she receives almost always include sexual elements. One of these instances was when she turned down the sexually charged lead role in Fugueuse, in which Ludivine Reding was eventually cast as Fanny, the titular teenage runaway who ends up a sex trafficking victim.

In November 2019, it was announced that she was cast as Shauna Shipman in the Showtime psychological thriller series Yellowjackets. The series debuted on Showtime on November 14, 2021. The second season premiered on March 26, 2023, and the third season premiered on February 14, 2025.

In 2023, she starred as Irena Gut, a Polish nurse who helped to shelter and protect Jewish people during the Holocaust by hiding them in the cellar of the home where she was employed as a housekeeper by German Army officer, in Irena's Vow. It premiered in the Centrepiece program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival in September.

On April 18, 2025, the author of the book Girl in Pieces, Kathleen Glasgow, confirmed that Courtney Eaton and Sophie Nélisse bought the film rights to the book. Nelisse portrays Rose Landry in the Canadian sports romance television series Heated Rivalry (2025–present).

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2011 Monsieur Lazhar Alice L'Écuyer 2012 Ésimésac Marie Gélinas 2013 The Book Thief Liesel Meminger 2014 Pawn Sacrifice Joan Fischer 2015 Endorphine Simone de Koninck The Great Gilly Hopkins Gilly Hopkins 2016 Mean Dreams Casey Caraway 1:54 Jennifer Wait Till Helen Comes Molly The History of Love Alma Singer 2017 Worst Case, We Get Married Aïcha Saint-Pierre 2019 Close Zoe Tanner 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Mia The Rest of Us Aster 2020 Flashwood Rose The Kid Detective Caroline 2023 Irena's Vow Irena Gut 2025 Two Women Jessica Elli and Her Monster Team Elli (voice) English dub Whistle Ellie Gains 2026 Lydia (voice) Stranger in Town Ruth Post-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 2010 Jeune fille de Ralf Episode: "Vulnérabilités" Marie-Anne 3 episodes 2011–2016 The Parent Family Zoé Larivière-Beaudoin 36 episodes 2012 Vertige Rosalie Roussel 6 episodes 2018 Roxanne Rousseau 4 episodes 2019–2020 Romy Lalonde 2020 Florence Episode: "Avenue Greene – Rue Notre-Dame Ouest" 2021–present Yellowjackets Shauna Shipman 29 episodes 2022 Transplant Hannah Miller Episode: "Jasmine" 2023 Aller Simple Fanny Lori 6 episodes 2025 L'Indétectable Stéphanie Parent Sirois 6 episodes 2025–present Heated Rivalry Rose Landry 3 episodes 2026 Catherine Calvert 2 episodes This Summer Will Be Different Lucy Ashby 10 episodes

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 2012 Genie Awards Best Supporting Actress Monsieur Lazhar Jutra Awards Best Supporting Actress Monsieur Lazhar 2013 Young Artist Awards Best Performance in an International Feature Film – Young Actress Monsieur Lazhar Hollywood Film Awards Spotlight Award The Book Thief Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Performance by a Youth – Female The Book Thief Nevada Film Critics Society Awards Best Youth Performance The Book Thief 2014 Critics' Choice Awards Best Young Actor/Actress The Book Thief Satellite Awards Breakthrough Performance Award The Book Thief Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress The Book Thief Saturn Awards Best Performance by a Younger Actor The Book Thief 2026 Canadian Screen Awards Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Program or Series Heated Rivalry Radius Award Herself ACTRA Awards in Montreal Outstanding Performance in Television Series Heated Rivalry