Sofia Wylie Will 'Bring Some Realness' To The School For Good And Evil

“I'm certain this hotel's haunted,” the actress Sofia Wylie says about 15 minutes into our call. Once we speak, she’s recently arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she is filming Netflix’s adaptation of Soman Chainani’s beloved fantasy series, The School for Good Evil. In her first film role, she’ll star alongside seasoned actors like Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington as Agatha, a brooding young girl with a flair for formless black dresses along with a bald cat named Reaper — that is, not the sort of character who’s afraid of ghosts. “My TV just turned on, that’s not terrifying at all,” Wylie adds. “I'm certainly going to call my parents to have them come over soon after this.”


Haunted hotel rooms or not, the work never aids in preventing, even for a Capricorn like Wylie, whose varied pursuits have taken her from dancing backup for Justin Bieber to a modeling contract with IMG, a top business that also resembles Bella Hadid and Ashley Graham. At 17, she’s best known for the role of sophomore transfer student Gina Porter in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which kicks off its second season on Friday (May 14); before that, she entered the Disney Channel fold because the outspoken Buffy Driscoll in Andi Mack. “I think I would get bored if I ever just settled on one thing,” she says. “I just aspire to keep growing as much as I can.”


Once she’s not acting, or modeling, or singing, or fending off spirits, Wylie is a common teen, attempting to earn her high school diploma, determine what comes right after and, in her spare time, nail the latest TikTok dance challenge to her preference Blackpink song. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Wylie tells MTV News about managing it all and what she’s bringing to her debut feature-length role.


MTV News: Could you tell me a little about what we can expect from Gina on Season 2 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series?


Sofia Wylie: Gina is attempting to identify if she's going to reside at East High. If she does stay, the largest thing she's going to struggle with is who she wants to be at East High right now that she's permanently here or here for a longer period of time, because she's so used to hopping around. She has to calculate who she wants to be in this new place and who she wants to be around, also. She gets to play. I got to act with a lot more actors this season, which I enjoyed so much. And I think a lot of people will adore the new dynamics that are experimented with this season, because there is a lot of relationships and chaos that ensues.


MTV News: Are you also balancing school on top of shooting everything?


Wylie: Sadly, I am. It's the worst. I am so excited to just get to the finish line. I have semester and also one half left. I'm going to finish a little early, which will be nice. I'm just very intrigued by the idea of being on set and just getting concentrate on the work because I currently am having give attention to the work and the schoolwork, which isn't a fun little balancing act.


MTV News: Are you thinking about college or are you going straight into working as an actress?


Wylie: That's something I've Been thinking about a lot recently. You’re routinely told you go to school, you go to more school, then go to work, then you retire, and that's how your life is. Although I've realized that it's not like that for everybody, and I think some of the outlandish ways of living just work better for some people. I think education is so critical, yet I also wish to dedicate my life to acting as much as I can.


MTV News: now, you’re shooting The School for Good and Evil. What can you tell us about the show and around your character, Agatha?


Wylie: I have been doing a lot of scene-studying and attempting to calculate my character because we're still in pre-production. It's really exhilarating taking a book and making a whole movie or series off of that because you get to bring that character to life. There's a large fan base for the books and thus several people who love Agatha because of her well-rounded character. She’s so snarky and grouchy nevertheless then also has such a good heart and soul. That's what I really loved about her, reading the books and reading the script, that she has so several layers.


MTV News: What do you wish to bring to the role of Agatha, maybe from your own life or from your own personality?


Wylie: There's this moment inside the books any time once she realizes she's routinely been cute. One of her big insecurities is feeling as though she's hideous and ugly because people have treated her as though she is for so much of her life. And I think that's such a phenomenal message to know that it isn't about what is physically there that's key, however how you visualize yourself. And the way you visualize yourself radiates out and that's what creates aesthetics. That’s something that I personally can really relate to, that voice indoors of your head, how much power it has. I deal with those doubts and those insecurities. And I think I can really bring some realness to Agatha in that sense because I know, as a teenage girl, it could be very complicated to defeat that voice.


MTV News: Are there any moments where you look back and visualize that you overcame something like that?


Wylie: I think a lot of young females and males who look like me, who are mixed, growing up in this world with the specific aesthetics standards that I could might not directly necessarily fit, it might forces you desire to just fit into that mold, to change. I certainly did that growing up, where I thought, OK, each person around me is blonde with straight hair. I need to look like that if I'd like to be beautiful. I eventually realized I have been blessed with something so unique and that is a piece of me. Once I realized that, so several things changed for me. I began booking so several more jobs because I was coming into auditions with an aspects of myself that makes me be noticeable and makes me unique.


MTV News: And right now you’ve even signed with IMG Models. What is it about the style and aesthetics industries that excite you?


Wylie: I'll look back at videos on my iPad that had If I was 6 and there really are just these hour-long style shows I would put on for myself, these music videos I would create. I've routinely loved style and performing. Yet a lot of folks are realizing how essential representation is. I'm hoping that for the generation that is coming, that everybody is able to grow up seeing someone who looks like them and knowing that they can do that, also. Seeing someone that looks like you succeed just gives you so much more confidence. I hope that by me pursuing whichever it is in the style industry or acting, or singing and dancing, that it permits another young mixed girl to know they can do it, too.


MTV News: I saw you were dancing to a Blackpink song on TikTok. Are there other K-pop groups that you follow?


Wylie: I really like Twice, BTS, and Blackpink. One of my main go to things about K-pop is the efficiency aspect of it and why each performer has such a unique thing that they bring. I will constantly be learning their dances at 4 a.M. In the morning.


MTV News: What do you do as soon as you're procrastinating?


Wylie: I love reading. While in a semester that I was really in back of, my mom was like, "We can go to Barnes and Noble in case you finish your classes early." So I'm attempting to finish my classes as fast as possible and I'm thinking in my head subsequently, "Am I really working hard on my schoolwork so that I can then read subsequently? Who did I become?”


MTV News: Out all of the things you do — modeling, acting, dancing — what is your biggest passion through it all?


Wylie: That is a very hard question because there have been different points of my life where I would have confidently mentioned dancing is going to be the thing I pursue for the rest of my life, or acting is the thing. I don't think I ever desire to just pursue one thing. And I routinely desire to be very multifaceted in that sense of wanting to produce one day, wanting to direct, wanting to act, wanting to prepare design a clothing line, wanting to do style, wanting to model. I think I would get bored if I ever just settled on one thing. I just aspire to keep growing as much as I can.