Sophie Turner

• 1. Introduction

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  Sophie Turner was 14 years old in July 2010, when cameras began turning on the HBO fantasy drama Game of Thrones. The part of Sansa Stark, a young noblewoman, was her first role on television. She would stay with the character for the better part of a decade, growing up while the series kept filming. Three questions follow her through the years that came after. What did it cost a teenager to spend her adolescence on screen? How did a girl from Warwickshire build a film career beyond Westeros? And what happened when the attention shifted from her roles to her private life?

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• 2. A Warwickshire Childhood

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  Sophie Belinda Turner was born in Northampton, England, on the 21st of February 1996. Her mother, Sally, taught nursery school, and her father, Andrew, was managing director of an international pallet distribution company. She has two older brothers, James, born in 1987, and William, born in 1989. Her twin died in utero.

  At the age of two, Turner moved to Chesterton, Warwickshire. She grew up in a large Edwardian house near Leamington Spa, and she remembered the place fondly. In her words, "My childhood was pretty fun. We had pigsties, barns, and a paddock, and used to muck around in the mud."

  Warwick Prep School took her until she was 11. She then moved on to the independent The King's High School for Girls. Acting began far earlier than either school, since she has been performing since she was three years old. She is also a member of the Playbox Theatre Company.

  When she joined the Game of Thrones set, her schooling travelled with her. A tutor worked with her there until she turned 16.

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• 3. Becoming Sansa

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  In August 2009, almost a year before filming started, Turner was cast as Sansa Stark. Her drama teacher had urged her to audition. The role came with a change of look, because she dyed her natural blonde hair auburn. From the seventh season onward she wore wigs instead.

  In 2012, the Young Artist Awards nominated her in the category Best Performance in a TV Series - Supporting Young Actress. Maisie Williams, who played her on-screen sister, was nominated alongside her. The show ran from 2011 to 2019, and Turner appeared in all eight broadcast seasons.

  Her record of honours for the series is long. It includes a Scream Award category for Best Ensemble, an Empire Hero Award, and a Glamour Awards category for Best UK TV Actress. A Saturn Award category for Best Supporting Actress on Television appears on the list too.

  The biggest name on that list arrived in 2019, the final year of the show. That year Turner received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

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• 4. Fame and Its Terms

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  During her years as Sansa Stark, Turner was told to lose weight. She has said that she suffered from mental health problems while spending her teenage years on screen. She also had an eating disorder.

  In August 2017, she offered a blunt view of how her career had progressed. She said her social media following had won her a role in an unnamed project. In her words, "It was between me and another girl who is a far better actress than I am, far better, but I had the followers, so I got the job."

  Brands noticed her too. In 2014, she was the face of Karen Millen's "The Journey" campaign. In June 2017, she began working with Wella Hair and became its first international brand ambassador. She has also appeared in print work for the luxury designer Louis Vuitton.

  Her public profile served other purposes as well. In March 2017, she announced that she had become a patron of Women for Women, an organisation that supports female war survivors.

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• 5. Beyond Westeros

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  The year 2013 brought Turner her first film role. She took the lead in the independent thriller Another Me, based on the novel of the same name by Catherine MacPhail. That same year she played Adeline March in the television film The Thirteenth Tale.

  Her voice found work as well. She narrated the Lev Grossman short story "The Girl in the Mirror", which appeared in the anthology Dangerous Women, edited by George R. R. Martin. In 2014, she narrated the audiobook of City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare.

  Also in 2013, she was cast in the comedy Barely Lethal, alongside Hailee Steinfeld. Turner played Heather, who also goes by Agent 84. The film reached audiences only on the 29th of May 2015, in a limited release and through video on demand.

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• 6. Phoenix Rising

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  In May 2016, Turner appeared as the mutant Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse, which earned mixed critical success. That summer she also hosted the web video Powershift, made in partnership with the Huffington Post.

  Producing came next. In November 2017, she was cast as Juliane Koepcke in the film Girl Who Fell From the Sky, which she also produced. In March and April 2018, she filmed the independent film Heavy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, playing a character named Maddie.

  Jean Grey returned in June 2019 with Dark Phoenix. The film takes place in 1992 and follows the events of Apocalypse. Her credit lists the character as Jean Grey and Phoenix.

  In September 2019, as the X-Men chapter closed, Turner was cast in the thriller television show Survive.

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• 7. Marriage and Divorce

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  In 2016, Turner began dating the American singer Joe Jonas. They became engaged on the 15th of October 2017, while visiting her parents. They married on the 1st of May 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and held a second ceremony in Paris on the 29th of June 2019.

  Music tied the couple together in public. Her filmography lists the 2019 music video for "Sucker" by the Jonas Brothers. Jonas also wrote the song "Hesitate" as a love letter to her, and it appeared on the Jonas Brothers reunion album Happiness Begins.

  The couple lived for a time in New York City and Miami Beach. Their first daughter was born on the 22nd of July 2020, and their second on the 5th of July 2022.

  In early September 2023, Jonas filed for divorce in Miami, Florida. Both confirmed on Instagram that the decision was mutual. Later that month, Turner sued so that their daughters, who were born in the United States, could return to the UK. The lawsuit was dismissed shortly afterward.

  A temporary custody agreement followed in October 2023. The divorce was finalized in September 2024.

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• 8. A Second Act

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  In 2022, Turner took a minor role as Erica in the teen black comedy Do Revenge. Her character is accused of drug possession in a pivotal scene and reacts in an "over-the-top" way. The scene went viral. Turner admitted she played the line deliberately to echo the cinema outbursts of actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson.

  In 2024, she took the lead in the ITV serial drama Joan, playing the diamond thief Joan Hannington. Away from acting, she sits on the cultural advisory board of Colossal Biosciences. She has said that working with the company "feels like bringing a bit of fantasy to life".

  In June 2025, Turner spoke at South by Southwest London. Three months later, in September 2025, Amazon Prime Video announced that she would play Lara Croft in its live-action Tomb Raider series. Filming was set to begin in early 2026.

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