Sonya Balmores

Born and raised on the Garden Isle of Kaua'i, Sonya Balmores grew up surfing and modeling in the islands. Her exotic and natural beauty landed her on print campaigns for Roxy, Rip Curl, Billabong, Hurley and Nike as well as on the covers of Women's Health, Shape, Foam and Outside magazines. In 2004, Sonya won the Miss Hawaii Teen USA title and placed first runner-up on the national stage. After booking a series regular role on The N's (Nickelodeons) teen surf drama Beyond the Break, Sonya fell in love with acting and dropped out of her studies at Hawaii Pacific University. She completed three seasons of Beyond the Break, shot on location on the island of Oahu. Sonya followed up the action-packed surfing girl role with a feature film debut in Soul Surfer as Malina Birch, the main antagonist to Anna Sophia Robb's portrayal of shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton alongside Academy Award winner Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid. In 2017, Sonya guest starred on HBO's Ballers with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, completed a major arc on ABC Marvel's Inhumans as Auran, a fierce assassin and royal guard, opposite Game of Thrones alum Iwan Rheon, Lost alumni Ken Leung, and Hell on Wheels star Anson Mount, and supported 50 Cent as his wife in STX Films bank heist film Den of Thieves led by Gerard Butler. In addition to TV and film, Sonya has over five years of experience in Video Game Motion Capture and Voice Over playing the no-nonsense Division Agent Alani Kelso for Tom Clancy's: The Division 2 (Ubisoft). When not on the set Sonya loves to study her craft. She has had the privilege of training at many fine programs in Los Angeles: The Groundlings, The Actors Gang, Identity School of Acting, and Shakespeare with Juilliard alum Diane Venora. Sonya is a graduate of The Baron Brown Acting Studio, a two year Meisner program in Santa Monica, CA. In 2021, Sonya completed a recurring role on the Amazon reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, shot on location in Honolulu, Hawaii. Coming in 2022, Balmores stars in Moonrise, a feature film produced by Sony/Affirm Films for PureFlix and most recently completed production on the highly anticipated third season of The Chosen, a multi-season series about the life of Jesus Christ and the largest crowd funded media project of all time, produced by VidAngel Studios.