Date of Birth

23 December 1984, Seattle, Washington, USA

Birth Name

Alison Sudol

Nickname

Allie

Height

5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Alison Sudol is an actress, musician and author based in Los Angeles. Alongside a successful music career, Alison starred in the two-time Golden Globe-winning Amazon hit 'Transparent', USA network's 'DIG' from the creators of 'Homeland' and 'Heroes' and Rafael Palacio's show 'The Force'. Alison plays Queenie in the new Harry Potter spin-off 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'.

Trivia

• Alison Sudol is an alternative singer-songwriter and actress. Known as A Fine Frenzy, her first album "One Cell in the Sea" was released in 2007. Her second album, "Bomb in a Birdcage" was released in 2009. Her third album "Pines" was released to global critical acclaim in October 2012. Alison is a Goodwill Ambassador for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and lives in Los Angeles.
• Alison was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Los Angeles, California.

Quotes

• I found music a very non-feminine place to be in, so embracing this level of femininity has been a really interesting challenge for me. It really was difficult for me to go, "Okay, I can be soft and feminine and strong and take care of myself and not lessen myself." I've enjoyed that quite a bit, I've enjoyed wearing heels and a dress every day and having these lovely curls and soft fabrics.
• I'm a much newer actress than everybody else [in Fantastic Beasts] and there was a lot of pressure coming into it. But I had this strange feeling during the auditions that there was a huge force behind me; I could either get smashed underneath it and crumble because of how much I wanted it and how big this was, or step on top of it and let it push me upwards.
• I can spend entire days walking, going to museums, parks and coffee shops and just observing people.
• In LA you can be quite isolated, but in London you can ride the Tube and are right in the thick of humanity and every type of person that you can imagine is passing by. I love watching people.
• I come from the music world, where you're constantly surrounded by men and you feel like you're in really intimate situations all the time working with guys.
• This is a wild surreal dream for me, I read all of the books. I read some of the books on tour, actually, and it's really lovely to have that sort of universe to escape to, because when you're on tour you are constantly moving from city to city and then it's all quite disorientating, and then to go to such a strong vivid world in my bunk at night is really quite lovely.
• The [Fantastic Beasts] sets are so massive and powerful that I had quite a few moments of just stopping and looking around and trying to take it in.
• Fiona [Weir] told me about this character, Queenie, who I play, she just described her as incredibly empathetic and kind. She is seen as a beauty, but that is not how she sees herself at all, she is very feminine and incredibly perceptive and lovely. The way we talked about Queenie, made me fall in love with this person. Then she said that she was a witch and I didn't know what was happening.
• It [the book] makes it all of this more surreal because that is how my mind works. Naturally. It's really long and needs editing and I can't face it. One day when I can face editing a 400-page novel down to 200 pages, you will hear about it.
• I went for a general meeting with Fiona Weir, the casting agent [for Fantastic Beasts], and within a few minutes she said, I'd like you to read for something, but first you have to sign a non-disclosure-agreement.
• I graduated high school when I was 16, because at my school you could kind of go at your own pace, so I did a lot of summer school and extra programs to get ahead. When I graduated, I was nerdy, quiet - I didn't drink or smoke or do anything like that and I was so nervous about going into college like that and super young. I figured I would take two years and try to find out what I was doing with music. And when I was 18, I was just so deep into it that I didn't want to stop.