Sonya Salomaa was born in Sudbury, Ontario. At four-years-old she moved to Salmon Arm, British Columbia and later to Prince George to attend the University of Northern British Columbia to pursue a bachelor of science in forestry. Every summer she worked in the bush doing such jobs as mapping, brush cutting trees, research and engineering. During her last summer break she moved to Victoria to sing and play guitar at ‘open mikes’ to be more creative.
While in Victoria, she took an acting workshop conducted by two of Vancouver’s top casting directors on a whim. A few days later, both casting directors invited Sonya to Vancouver for several auditions. She booked one of the roles, andSonya’s career took on a new direction. She got an agent that week and booked a US National commercial. It only took another few months for Sonya to book a recurring role on a FOX Kid’s show where she had the opportunity to learn about the business, and she has been learning ever since.
Recently, Sonya joined the cast of the hit series The Guard, which airs on Global and is currently shooting its second season. This one-hour, character-driven series focuses on the lives of four coast guard rescue specialists. Sonya stars as First Mate Laura Nelson, a woman searching for meaning in her life while enduring the daily dangers of life out on the Pacific Ocean.
Also on Global, Sonya plays the wife of Justin Louis, Traci Prager, in the television series Durham County on Monday evenings at 10 pm. Sonya was recently nominated for a 2008 Leo Award for her role in this series. This original, dramatic series, starring Hugh Dillon (Down to the Bone) and Justin Louis (The Marsh) is about evil lurking in a suburban community. It combines police investigations with family melodrama and examines how sometimes violence is driven by a desire for love.
In Durham County, Detective Mike Sweeney (Dillon) moves his family to a seemingly idyllic community in the hopes of a new beginning. To Mike’s surprise his old friend from high school, Ray Prager (Louis), makes Mike’s life miserable. These two, cop and killer, are neighbours with a shared history that goes back to high school. The ongoing storyline reveals their dark secrets, grudges, jealousies, and shared loves. It plays out in Durham County, the suburban heaven (or hell) they’re condemned to live in.
Durham County continues in the vein of other edgy, contemporary and hard-hitting dramas such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and the Canadian series Terminal City.
Sonya also plays the lead female role of Maya Kandinski in the hit series The Collector seen on City TV across Canada and in 66 countries worldwide. Her character Mayahas been at the mercy of forces beyond her control all her life, and we see increasing evidence of this as the series progresses. We see Maya go through the torment of a recovering heroin addiction and struggle through her growing feelings for her unrequited love and sordid past.
Sonya is most proud of her starring role in the feature film Black Eyed Dog directed by Pierre Gang and produced by Grana Productions. Filmed in New Brunswick, this feature is a universal tale of the small town girl who didn’t follow her dreams and the resentment that comes with that. Sonya plays Betty a tough, street smart waitress who always imagined herself as THE NEXT Joni Mitchell. Betty dreams of leaving her small town to pursue fame and fortune but at 30, she is still waiting tables while her singing voice has been muted for years. Black Eyed Dog focuses on the quiet desperation and tragic sense of urgency fuelling Sonya’s character. "Unrequited passions, stolen money, accusations, betrayal and violence criss-cross, culminating in murder...Black Eyed Dog is a drama of a town's reckoning with its own legacy of violence, poverty and betrayal and a woman’s battle against her fate." Sonya also wrote the song she performs at the end of the film.
Sonya also stars in The Ties That Bind for Lifetime produced by Insight Productions and directed by Terry Ingram.
Seven years in the acting world is a small amount of time but during this time, Sonya has been busy. She has had guest starring, recurring and lead roles on shows such as Dark Angel, The L Word, STARGATE SG-1, Andromeda, Dead Like Me, Glory Days, A Teacher’s Crime, Flash Gordon and numerous movies of the week and feature films including Thralls, House of the Dead, Odysseus and the Isle of the Mists, Fatal Reunion and the upcoming Watchmen.
Sonya has won two Leo Awards for Best Supporting actress in a one-hour drama for her role of Maya on The Collector in 2005 and was also nominated for a Leo Award for Best Lead Actress in a Feature Length Film for her role in the movie "Firefight" in 2004 and for her role on Durham County in 2008. In 2006, Sonya was nominated for Leading Actress in a Television Series at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.
Sonya’s father is a minister and her mother owns an upholstery business. She has an older sister with two children and is married to actor Warren Christie (October Road). Sonya is proud to be a part of the Canadian film industry and looks forward to many more years of continued success.
News
Sonya Salomaa stars in Durham County on Global
She joins the ensemble cast of The Guard now in production
For immediate release – June 2008 - Sonya Salomaa stars as Traci Prager in Global Television’s Durham County. Sonya was recently nominated for a 2008 Leo Award for her role in this series.
This original, dramatic series is about evil lurking in a suburban community, starring Hugh Dillon (Down to the Bone) and Justin Louis (The Marsh). Durham County (www.durhamcounty.ca) combines police procedural with family melodrama and examines how violence is driven by the desire for love. Sometimes the most brutal evil you can imagine is living right across the street.
In Durham County, Detective Mike Sweeney (Dillon) moves his family to a seemingly idyllic community in the hopes of a new beginning. But Mike’s old friend from high school, Ray Prager (Louis), makes life terrible for them. These two, cop and killer, are neighbours with a shared history that goes back to high school. The ongoing storyline reveals their dark secrets, grudges, jealousies, intrigues and shared amours. It plays out in Durham County, the suburban heaven (or hell) they’re condemned to live in. Sonya plays Ray Prager’s wife.
Durham County continues in the vein of edgy, contemporary and hard-hitting drama whose pace have been set by the great HBO shows: The Sopranos, Six Feet Under as well as the Canadian series Terminal City.
Also on Global, Sonya joined the ensemble cast of the hit series The Guard. Sonya Salomaa stars as ambitious First Mate Laura Nelson. The Guard is currently shooting the second season. This one-hour character-driven is an original series that focuses on the lives of four imperfect, offbeat and sometimes difficult heroes. These coast guard rescue specialists continue to look for meaning in their own lives while enduring the daily dangers of life out on the Pacific Ocean.
Sonya plays the lead female role of Maya Kandinski in the hit series The Collector seen on City TV across Canada and in 66 countries worldwide. Her character Maya has been at the mercy of forces beyond her control all her life, and we see increasing evidence of this as the series progresses. We see Maya go through the torment of a recovering heroin addiction and struggle through her growing feelings for her unrequited love and her sordid past.
Sonya is most proud of her starring role in the feature film Black Eyed Dog directed by Pierre Gang. Filmed in New Brunswick this feature is a universal tale of the small town girl who didn’t follow her dreams and the resentment that comes with that. Sonya plays Betty a tough, street-smart waitress who always imagined herself as THE NEXT Joni Mitchell. Betty dreams of leaving her small town to pursue fame and fortune but at 30, she is still waiting tables while her singing voice has been muted for years. Black Eyed Dog focuses on the quiet desperation and tragic sense of urgency fuelling Sonya’s character. Unrequited passions, stolen money, accusations, betrayal and violence criss-cross, culminating in murder...Black Eyed Dog is a drama of a town's reckoning with its own legacy of violence, poverty and betrayal and a woman’s battle against her fate. Sonya also wrote the song she performs at the end of the film.
Seven years in the acting world is a small amount of time but during this time, Sonya has been busy. She has had guest starring, recurring and lead roles on shows such as Dark Angel, The L Word, STARGATE SG-1, Andromeda, Dead Like Me, Glory Days Flash Gordon, A Teacher’s Crime and numerous movies of the week and feature films, including Watchmen, Thralls, House of the Dead, The Ties that Bind and Fatal Reunion.
Sonya has won two Leo Awards for Best Supporting actress in a one-hour drama for her role as Maya on The Collector in 2005. Sonya was also nominated for a Leo Award for Best Lead Actress in a Feature Length Film for her role in the movie Firefight in 2004 and was nominated for Leading Actress in a Television Series at the Monte Carlo Television Festival 2006.
Sonya is married to actor Warren Christie (October Road). They reside in Vancouver and Los Angeles.
Sonya is available for interviews and photographs upon request.