Sophie Nyweide, a former child actor whose film credits included Lukas Moodysson’s 2009 thriller Mammoth and Darren Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah, died on April 14 at the age of 24.
Her family revealed the news in a death notice, stating that Nyweide “self-medicated to deal with all the trauma and shame she held inside, and it resulted in her death.” Her family described her as a “kind and trusting girl,” but added without explanation that “often this left her open to being taken advantage of by others.”
“She wrote and drew voraciously and much of this art depicts the depth she had and it also represents the pain she suffered,” she’d say. “Many of her writings and artwork are reflections of her challenges and tragedies. Despite those roadmaps, diagnoses, and her own revelations, those closest to her, as well as therapists, law enforcement personnel, and others who attempted to help her, are heartbroken that their efforts were in vain.”
Nyweide was just six years old when she was cast in her debut film, the drama Bella, released in 2006. In nine more films and TV episodes, she played the daughter of Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal in Mammoth and the daughter of Enid Graham and Michael Cullen in Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding, alongside Nicole Kidman.
She appeared alongside Jessica Alba in An Invisible Sign and James Franco in Shadows & Lies. Nyweide’s television credits includes a 2007 Law & Order episode and a 2015 cameo as herself on the reality news show What Would You Do?, which was her final screen performance.
Nyweide, a Vermont native, realized she wanted to be an actress when she was four years old after seeing the 2003 Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton rom-com Something’s Gotta Give at the Village Picture Shows Cinema, which her mother, former actress Shelly Gibson, used to own.
“She grew up in this movie theater, slept in it, had a little bed in the projection booth, and watched many movies,” Gibson recalled in a 2010 joint interview with her daughter.
Nyweide said, “I really, really wanted to be an actress, and I kept begging my mother.” She thought it was humorous because she was an actress before I was born, but I had no idea.”
