Sofia Carson (born Sofía Daccarett Char on April 10, 1993) is a Colombian-American singer, dancer, and actress. She starred as Ava Jalali in the Freeform series, Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.
Life and Career[]
Carson was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to José F. Daccarett and Laura Char Carson, who had moved to Ft. Lauderdale from Colombia. Through her mother, Carson is related to the Char family of Colombian politicians. At the age of three, Sofia started her dance training, which continued to do for seventeen-years and trained in ballet, pointe, jazz, musical theatre dance, hip hop, flamenco, modern, contemporary, and tap.
In 2001, Carson starred in her first musical production as Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz” at the Riviera Theatre in Miami. One year later, she was accepted into the University of Miami’s Musical Theatre Summer Intensive, where she trained in dance and vocal performance and performed in multiple musicals throughout the summer. She has competed in multiple renowned National Dance Competitions, such as Star Power, Onstage, and Hall of Fame, where she won top performance awards (for dance, vocal performance, musical theatre, and acting) such as First Place Award (for group and solo performance), Critics Choice Award, Triple Threat Award, and Broadway Diva Award, to name a few. In 2006, Carson started classical vocal training. She attended St. Hugh School and graduated from Carrollton School in Miami.
She later attended In Motion Dance Studio, where she was part of the IMPAC Youth Ensemble program. Because of this, she was able to compete in dance competitions all over the United States. After she was finished touring, she enrolled in UCLA where she majored in Communications and Minored in French.
In 2012, Sofia started her musical career when she was signed as a singer-songwriter to the record-label, BMI.
Carson as Evie in Descendants 2.
Her acting career, however, started in 2014 on Disney Channel, when she was cast as a guest star on their hit-series series Austin & Ally where she played Chelsea. A few months later, Sofia was cast as a recurring guest star on MTV's series Faking It as Soleli.
At the early start of 2015, she was cast as Evie in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Descendants, as Evie. Descendants followed the lives of the children of the most iconic villains in the Disney universe, as the embarked on their teen-years in Auradon, where villains used to be banned. Sophia's character, Evie, is the fashion-driven daughter of the Evil Queen who longs to be good and flourishes in Auradon. In 2017, she reprised her role as Evie in, Descendants 2. In 2018, she was Evie once again in Descendants 3: Under the Sea, which is scheduled for a 2019 release date.
On January 9, 2015, she was cast in the co-lead role in the Disney Channel original movie, Adventures in Babysitting starring alongside Sabrina Carpenter. The project was planned to begin filming in Spring 2015, for an early 2016 television premiere. In an August 2015 interview, Sofia stated she was working on her first album. Sometime around September 1, 2015, Carson was added to the list of Hollywood Records artists. Previously, some of Disney Channel Europe websites reported the incorporation of Sofia to the label.
In March 2016, Hollywood Records and Republic Records officially announced that Sofia had signed a joint worldwide record deal with both respective companies. Her debut single is "Love Is the Name", an interpolation of Opus' "Life Is Life". The song was followed by her singles, "I'm Gonna Love You" and "Back to Beautiful". In 2016 she was also cast in another installment of the Cinderella Stories, A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits.
On January 29, 2018, Sofia was cast Ava Jalali on Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, the spin-off of Freeform's hit tv-series, Pretty Little Liars. She will be joining PLL veterans, Sasha Pieterse and Janel Parrish, as the main cast member. The series ran for one season on Freeform before its shocking cancelation.
In 2018, she performed at Coachella for the first time. Among this time, her song Ins and Outs was nominated for a Radio Disney Music Award in the Summer Crush Song category. on August 23rd, her new song, Rumors debuted and topped the worldwide music charts. It also snagged the number two most added song in the world on August 24th, one day after its release. The song was also a collaboration with the Dutch house artist and DJ, R3hab.
Additionally, Sofia has performed in NBC's 2015 Thanksgiving Parade, ABC's Disney Parks Christmas Celebration, Univision's Feliz 2016 (New Year's Eve Special), and the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards, and was a presenter on ABC's Disneyland 60th Anniversary Special.
In 2020, Sofia starred in the hit Netflix film, Feel The Beat where she played a young dancer striving for Broadway fame. When her dreams come crashing down, she is forced to return home where she is served a lesson about family, friends, and perfection. Sofia was also cast in a second Netflix film that wouldn't release until 2022, Purple Hearts. She played Cassie Salazar, a diabetic who is a singer-songwriter. She marries a marine corps soldier to scam the government for health insurance, while he marries her to pay back a debt. This romantic drama earned renowned praise and trended on Netflix weeks after its debut. Sofia also executive produced the film and wrote the soundtrack, which she lent her voice too. The film quickly became the #1 most watched Netflix original movie.
Filmography[]
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Austin & Ally | Chelsea | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Faking It | Soleil | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | Descendants | Evie | Television film |
| 2015 | Descendants: Wicked World | Evie | Voice |
| 2015 | Blue Peter | Herself | Guest |
| 2016 | Adventures in Babysitting | Lola | Television film |
| 2015 | Tini: The Movie | Melanie Diaz | Television film |
| 2016 | A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits | Tessa/Bella | Direct-to-film |
| 2017 | Descendants 2 | Evie | Television film |
| 2018 | Famous In Love | Sloane Silver | Guest role |
| 2019 | Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists | Ava Jalali | Main role |
| 2019 | Descendants 3 | Evie | Television film |
| 2019 | Project Runway: All-Stars | Herself | Guest Judge |
Movies
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Feel The Beat | April Dinard | Lead (Netflix Film) |
| 2020 | Songbird | Sara | Lead |
| 2021 | My Little Pony: A New Generation | Pipp Petals | Voice |
| 2022 | Purple Hearts | Cassie Salazar | Lead (Netflix Film) |
Discography[]
Albums[]
| Title | Release date | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sofia Carson | March 25, 2022 | Hollywood | CD, digital download, streaming |
Soundtrack albums[]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US OST |
AUS | BEL | FRA | GER | ITA | NL | SPA | ||||||
| Descendants |
|
1 | 1 | 57 | 178 | 102 | 50 | 19 | 50 | 36 | ||||
| A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits |
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Purple Hearts |
|
136 | 7 | 28 | 29 | 125 | 53 | - | 62 | 76 | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Singles[]
| Year | Title | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | "Rotten to the Core" (with Descendants cast) | Descendants |
| 2016 | "Love is the Name" | TBA |
| 2017 | "Back to Beautiful" (featuring Alan Walker) | TBA |
| "Ways to be Wicked" (with Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, & Booboo Stewart) | Descendants 2 | |
| "Ins and Outs" | TBA | |
| "Chillin' Like a Snowman" | Non-album single | |
| 2018 | "Rumors" (with R3HAB) | The Wave |
| "Different World" (with Alan Walker & K-391 ft. Corsak) | Different World | |
| 2019 | "I Luv U" (with R3hab) | Sofia Carson (Japanese edition) |
| 2020 | "Always" | Non-album single in conjecture with Feel the Beat |
| 2020 | "Miss U More Than U Know" (with R3hab) | Sofia Carson (Japanese edition) |
| "Guess I'm a Liar" | ||
| "Hold On to Me" | ||
| 2022 | "It's Only Love, Nobody Dies" | Sofia Carson |
| "Come Back Home" | Purple Hearts (Soundtrack album) | |
| "Applause" | Sofia Carson | |
| 2024 | "I Hope You Know" | TBA |
| "Joke's On Me" | TBA |
Promotional singles[]
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | |||
| "I'm Your Girl" (with Dove Cameron) |
2016 | — | TBA |
| "I'm Gonna Love You" | — | ||
| "Rather Be With You" (with Dove Cameron, Lauryn McClain, and Brenna D'Amico) |
— |
Other charted songs[]
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions |
Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | CAN | |||||||||||||
| "Rotten to the Core" (among Descendants cast) |
2015 | 38 | 66 | Descendants | ||||||||||
| "Set It Off" (among Descendants cast) |
— | — | ||||||||||||
| "I Didn't Know" | 2022 | - | - | Purple Hearts | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Quotes[]
I remember it perfectly. It was a Tuesday afternoon. And it was about five'o'clock in the afternoon and Marlene King calls my cell phone. And just at that fact, I was already freaking out. And I answer my phone and she goes, "Hi, Sofia. Guess what?" I'm like what? And she goes, "You are my newest Pretty Little Liars!" and my jaw literally dropped to the floor and I was completely speechless. As the biggest fan of Marlene, of her work, and of the show, I was just mind blown. And so honored and excited. |
I remember when I first watched the show years and years ago, she was one of the first people to write in a gay character, and in such a beautiful way. All of her females are so strong and empowered and each of them is so different. I’m so excited to work with Marlene, as a female director, as well.Sofia Carson about Marlene |
A year ago today, Marlene King called to tell me I was her newest “Pretty Little Liar”. One year later, we are shooting our last day of season one. Surreal doesn’t even begin to describe it. What a beautiful, unforgettable ride it has been. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart Mar, for welcoming me into your family. To our cast, I adore you and admire you (SO so much). Here’s to many, many more. I cannot wait to share this with the world (very soon). |
Trivia[]
- Sofia narrated three audiobooks for Melissa de la Cruz's Descendants novel series (Isle of the Lost, Return to the Isle of the Lost and Rise of the Isle of the Lost)
- She chose the stage-name "Carson" after her American maternal grandmother, Lauraine Carson.
- She is a UCLA graduate, and majored in Communications and minored in French.
- She is an advocate for Chance to Dance a charity that gives children the chance to learn how to dance. She was able to teach one of the classes that prepares the children for the Gala.
- She was a big fan of Pretty Little Liars before she was cast in the spin-off, was obsessed with it, and believes that it was a phenomenon.[1] She has also seen every episode.
- She found out the Monday before her casting was announced that she was playing Ava Jalali. Marlene was the one that called her and gave her the news.[1]
- She actually didn't audition for the role of Ava the first time but another character (possibly Caitlin). She later got called to try out for Ava.[2]
- She is fluent in Spanish, English, and French.
- She is best friends with Dove Cameron, whom she has acted alongside a number of times.
- She is often mistaken for Lily Collins, which she finds flattering as she is a fan of Lily and thinks she's gorgeous.
- She wrote her first song at the age of ten.[3]
- Her ultimate icon is Cher, while her other favorite singers include Elvis Presley, Pink, Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift.[3]
- Her main goal with her platform is to empower women and girls.[3]
- She ships Haleb and thinks they are amazing together. They were her favorite throughout the series.
- Her least favorite PLL ship was either Paily or Emaya, although, it wasn't clear which one she was referring too. Her favorite Emily and Alison ship was Emison.[4]
- She has the same birthday as Pretty Little Liars alum, Shay Mitchell.
- Her favorite snack is Wasabi peanuts. Her best-friend Dove Cameron knew this and special ordered them and had them shipped to her house so that Sofia could eat them while she was there.
- Her favorite apps are Whatsapp and Instagram.
- Her favorite toy growing up was a miniature Minnie Mouse stuffed animal.
- "Lost and Found" was her favorite episode to film.
- Her favorite line from Ava in Season 1 is, "Act normal, bitches.".
- When the camera isn't on her, Sofia is described as being, "quiet as a field mouse".[5]
- Sofia originally auditioned for the role of "Caitlin", and almost booked the role until the executives of Freeform and Warner Brothers asked her to audition for Ava instead.[6]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Et Online: Sofia Carson Spills 'Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists' Secrets and a Big Clue About Ava! (Exclusive)
- ↑ JustJared Jr: Sofia Carson Didn't Originally Audition For 'The Perfectionists' Ava At All
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 W Magazine: Sofia Carson Is Just as Excited About the Pretty Little Liars Spinoff As You
- ↑ Youtube (@BuzzFeedCeleb): Sofia Carson Plays With Puppies While Answering Fan Questions
- ↑ Pop Sugar: Pretty Little Perfectionists
- ↑ Youtube (@BUILDSeriesNYC): Sofia Carson Chats About "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists"