British-Japanese actress, model and ballerina Sonoya Mizuno appears in the critically acclaimed musical/romantic comedy “La La Land,” now playing in theaters nationwide.
Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, the movie is set in Los Angeles and stars Ryan Gosling as Sebastian, a jazz musician, and Emma Stone as Mia, an aspiring actress. The two fall in love but their relationship faces challenges as they pursue their career goals. The cast also includes John Legend, J.K. Simmons and Rosemarie DeWitt.
Mizuno plays Caitlin, one of Mia’s three roommates, along with Callie Hernandez as Tracy and Jessica Rothe as Alexis. The four perform a song and dance number, “Someone in the Crowd.”
Other dancers in “La La Land” include Bryan Tanaka, Tracy Shibata, and Dana Fukagawa.
Born in 1988 in Tokyo and raised in England, Mizuno worked for several ballet companies, including Ballet Ireland, New English Ballet and Scottish Ballet. She was also a model for Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton, and appeared in Arthur Pita’s dance theater work “The World’s Greatest Show” at Greenwich Dance and the Royal Opera House in 2014.
In the 2015 sci-fi film “Ex Machina,” Mizuno made her big-screen debut as an android named Kyoko. Her movie credits this year include “High Strung,” a movie about a hip-hop violinist (Nicholas Galitzine) and a classical dancer (Keenan Kampa), and “Alley Cats,” a crime thriller starring Eleanor Tomlinson and John Hannah. Mizuno also appeared in the music video for Frank Ocean’s “Nikes.”
Her upcoming films include “Beauty and the Beast,” a live-action version of the Disney animated classic starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens; “Annihilation,” a sci-fi thriller starring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh; another thriller, “Ambition,” starring Katherine Hughes and Kyanna Simone; and “The Domestics,” a post-apocalyptic drama starring Tyler Hoechlin and Kate Bosworth.