Sophie Wilde stars in Stan Australia’s Eden and Jan Logan campaign

The future is dazzling for actress Sophie Wilde, with a stellar turn on the small screen and a new jewellery campaign.

Up-and-coming actress Sophie Wilde is relieved that Australia’s post-lockdown arts industry is opening up to an increasingly broad talent pool. Picture: Jane Dempster

Sophie Wilde started the year as every new NIDA graduate hopes to — with her first professional role, in her case with Sydney’s Bell Shakes­peare Company.

“A week after opening we went into lockdown … it seemed like the end of the world,” she says.

“Like, I’ve graduated — and goodbye to my career.”

Despite the devastation that COVID-19 has wreaked upon the arts industry, Wilde is finishing the year on a high once more.

She stars in the upcoming eight-part Stan original series Eden, and this week was revealed as the face of jeweller Jan Logan’s 2021 Kandinsky Collection.

Early in the pandemic, Wilde said her mood was “not despair, but a bit lost” when looking at so much uncertainty.

“You work so hard at NIDA, it’s such an intense and rigorous course, and so there is a feeling of sadness when you get out and you’re excited and fresh-faced and want to do all of these things — and then it’s put on hold.”

Eden was shot in Byron Bay and the Northern Rivers region of NSW, with an all-Australian cast and crew, some of whom had returned from the US to work on the project.

She said that working at a time like this gave the shoot “a special kind of energy — everyone was so excited to be working”.

The Ivorian-Australian actress has been a vocal supporter of diversity in casting, from film to fashion, citing its importance to children to have people to identify with in the public arena.

“I think absolutely there’s definitely more of a push and I’ve seen that this year,” she says.

“Even in our show Eden, it’s a very diverse cast. There is always work to do and always places we can go and we can push it further … but I’m definitely seeing a shift and that’s very exciting.”

This is the 20th year Jan Logan has looked to rising Australian acting talent to front its campaigns, starting with Rose Byrne in 2001. Others include Elizabeth Debicki, Emma Lung and Tilda Cobham-Hervey of the Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman.

“So many amazing actresses have come before (me) — it’s so cool,” Wilde says with a smile.