Meet Sonja O’Hara

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonja O’Hara.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sonja. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I began to write and direct as a response to the sort of one-dimensional roles that were being offered to me as an actress in my early 20’s. I want to play outspoken, messy, challenging, playful and dynamic women with both flaws and strengths! So a few years ago I took a leap of faith and wrote and starred in a feature film called “Ovum” (TribecaNow) based on my own experience as an egg donor in New York City. It was dark and feminist and explored the world of reproductive rights and eugenics, but from the perspective of a millennial artist. From there I wrote and directed a series called “Doomsday” (Amazon) about a matriarchal cult and then my career sort of just took off. Now I’m in the crazy position of writing and directing other people’s projects and getting to play some really cool roles. Stepping out of my comfort zone and making my own films completely changed my life and career.

Has it been a smooth road?
Man, it hasn’t always been smooth. I’m originally from a fishing village in Nova Scotia, Canada. Immigrating from another country as a seventeen-year-old with infinite ambition and a crazy dream, but no connections (or Green Card!) was incredibly challenging. I was a dog walker, an art model, the personal assistant to an Oscar-winning movie star, a writing assistant to a blind playwright. I had so many survival jobs before getting my big break (and dual citizenship!) and eventually signing with my dream agents at WME. It’s been quite the surreal journey.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As a filmmaker, my work is dark, provocative and cerebral. I write female lead stories about marginalized protagonists breaking out of oppression and experiencing personal and sexual liberation in unusual ways. I think the greatest compliment that I’ve ever received is that my projects seem like the love child of Sofia Coppola (“The Virgin Suicides”) and Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Lobster.) I’m really just a passionate weirdo and use surreal, sexy and bizarre imagery to make the kind of cinema and TV series that I want to see in the world. I’m also bisexual and most of my screenplays explore onscreen lesbian relationships.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I’m head over heels in love with Los Angeles now but it hasn’t always been that way. When I first moved here, I was twenty years old and was searching to recreate my former New York lifestyle here in the West Coast, which was clearly impossible and left me resentful and burnt out. Now years later, after moving back here from Brooklyn, I now live in KTown and have embraced the city for what it actually is, not what I imagined it would offer me. As an actor and creator, this is absolutely the right place for my career path. I want to capture LA onscreen in a million ways. I’m endlessly inspired by the geography and stories out here!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sonjaohara.com
• Instagram: @sonjakohara
• Facebook: @sonjakohara
• Twitter: @sonjaohara

Image Credit:
Emily Lambert, Dan McBride, ITVFest, Paul Smith Photography, Main Photo – Ashley A. Poole

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