[archive] from iFMagazine
ANATOMY OF A CHARACTER:
SOPHIE DEVEREAUX (The Grifter)
The greatest actress you’ll ever see won’t be in front of you on a stage, or inside the television, or even on the big movie screen. In fact, you might never even have known that you had seen her until she has taken everything you have ever owned. LEVERAGE’S Sophie Devereaux (played by Gina Bellam) is one of the most talented grifters in the world, skilled with many accents and familiar with a lot of different customs.
Not much is known about Sophie Devereaux, and it’s highly unlikely that that is even her real name, seeing as she was also known by the name "Jenny" at one point. It could even be questionable that she is even really British. The woman is a master at the masquerades she frequently uses, and it could arguably be said that the only reason she goes by Sophie and/or uses the British accent with the rest of the team is only due to the fact that that’s how she introduced herself to Nathan Ford so many years ago. Seeing as she fancies Nate, dropping the masquerade or going by her possible real name would make him angry that she lied to him, even though it is her profession, and really all she wants at the moment is to just please the man.
Sophie can do a wide range of accents, ranging from Southern Belle to German, and everything in between. The accents she used in the first season was a staggering amount, using at least one per episode and sometimes even more than that. French, Italian, New Zealand, or Nigerian. You name it, and she can either do it or possibly just fake it very, very well. She also is fluent or is familiar with a number of different languages, including French and even some Chinese. One could only assume that she picked all these up during her world travels, study, or both. Sophie seems to the type to have gotten educated, very broadly so. She’s got this air of sophistication and intelligence that ties in extremely well to her whole seductress side. But her past is a complete mystery, more so than the rest of the team. She guards her secrets closely, and does a very good job doing it.
The interesting thing about Sophie though, is that no matter how amazing she is acting during a con, plain and simple, the woman is horrible on stage. Sophie wants to be a real actress, due probably to the glamour and the kind of lifestyle that it includes. But for some reason, she cannot for the life of her see the difference from when she’s pulling off a con flawlessly, or making people want to blow their brains out when watching her perform in a play. Sophie is over-dramatic, even in life sometimes as well as on stage, and maybe it’s due to her so desperately wanting to be good that she ends up really bad. It’s a life goal for herself, not a survival necessity. But on a completely different take of it all, Sophie could also purposely tone down her talent due to knowing that she can never really be famous, because she’s wanted so many places. Her face can never be widely known the way she might like it to be. Hell, even the whole thing could be a running con, and possibly even a joke for her. With Sophie, you really don’t know.
Sophie takes obvious pride in the way she presents herself, with a closet one probably couldn’t even begin to imagine in their wildest dreams. Her wardrobe alone could probably buy her a new house, with her addiction being mainly shoes. With boots that cost fifteen hundred dollars and the mention in the first episode that she bought a “truly impressive number of shoes,” one could only assume her closet is an asset just on its own. Sophie values material over monetary, having bought vacation homes all over the world as well. Her niche also seems to be stealing priceless artwork, and her “retirement plan” consisted mostly of artwork she had stolen, including the Second David statue. Art is known for it’s sophistication, and Sophie seems to like to capitalize on that more than anything, maybe being who she is or trying to be someone she has always wanted to be, it’s anyone’s guess.
Sophie is one of the two members of the team that seems to actually care about the rest of the group. While Hardison is caring and friendly to everyone around him, Sophie is more maternal to the group, sometimes getting on Nate about being too hard on the rest of them. She’s a teacher to mainly Parker, helping the girl with her social difficulties, but also helps the rest of the team during a job with little things here and there, which Eliot expresses to Nate as “you learn, and you con.” She warns Nate that the rest of them might not stick around if he keeps acting the way he does at times, controlling and when he’s intoxicated even kind of belligerent. whether that’s out of caring for the rest of the team or doing it because she knows if the team breaks up than she wouldn’t have an excuse to be around Nate is questionable. Sophie is known as being somewhat selfish, but really it’s not pure selfishness, because while something may help her out in the long run, she also makes sure it helps other people out at the same time.
Nate is her weakness though. The exact nature of their relationship in the past is unclear, other than that they had never truly consummated it, reminding Nate that he never cheated on his wife. She however seems more invested in it than he is, being a hopeless romantic herself. She wants Nate to fall head over heels and whisk her away, but the poor man is so damaged right now that her hopes are plainly futile at this point. She tries to hard, and gets so frustrated by his "will I, won’t I" behaviors that it’s no doubt why she sometimes blows up at him sometimes. She’s made it quite clear how she feels about him, and while he shows that he does indeed care for her more than just a friend or a coworker, it won’t be any surprise if she decides not to continue waiting around for him to make up his mind on the matter.
Sophie is a bit controlling over him though, even though they aren’t actually together. She unrealistically expects him to act like her boyfriend, knowing exact details of their relationship and doing things for her that just shouldn’t be required for someone who isn’t in that position with her. She gets jealous of other women, mainly Nate’s ex wife Maggie. It’s only been due to Nate that she has ever stepped out of character during a con, first during "The Bank Shot Job" when Nate gets shot and then again when she hears what him and Maggie are talking about over the comms and bursts out with a sarcastic “Great!”, out of accent and out of character. She reminds Nate that Maggie is his ex wife, making sure to stress that point to him. She can’t bear the thought of the man that she most likely is in love with still being hung up on someone else. To her, her tries so hard to be this ultimate woman almost, that it’s upsetting to her that even she can’t overshadow the love he had, or maybe even still has, for Maggie.
Sophie also apparently has this funny little inability to apologize. I say funny due it being amusing for myself, but she seems to have this mentality of that she is always right, and whatever happened she still has her excuses on why she did what she did, thus making the mistake still completely acceptable in her mind. While she’s willing to accept and forgive the mistakes of others, for herself it seems almost impossible that she could be or do any wrong. She could honesty could just set a standard for herself that is impossible for any human to reach, actually feeling like she is this magnificent person and for her to do anything wrong would just be completely unacceptable. It probably could all stem from self esteem issues, but that’s a stretch since she has yet to show any issues with that. Then again, if there’s one thing she’s really good at… it’s lying about who she really is.
Sophie is the one character in LEVERAGE that you will always question if anything about her is real or not. Bellman’s physical appearance makes her able to pass off any different races, and also allows Sophie to be so beautiful that it works to the character’s advantage is so many ways during a con or otherwise. It’s probably very unlikely that we will ever get more than just a fleeting glimpse of the “real” Sophie, therefore making her so much more intoxicating due to the mystery that surrounds her and the questions she raises.
SOPHIE DEVEREAUX (The Grifter)
The greatest actress you’ll ever see won’t be in front of you on a stage, or inside the television, or even on the big movie screen. In fact, you might never even have known that you had seen her until she has taken everything you have ever owned. LEVERAGE’S Sophie Devereaux (played by Gina Bellam) is one of the most talented grifters in the world, skilled with many accents and familiar with a lot of different customs.
Not much is known about Sophie Devereaux, and it’s highly unlikely that that is even her real name, seeing as she was also known by the name "Jenny" at one point. It could even be questionable that she is even really British. The woman is a master at the masquerades she frequently uses, and it could arguably be said that the only reason she goes by Sophie and/or uses the British accent with the rest of the team is only due to the fact that that’s how she introduced herself to Nathan Ford so many years ago. Seeing as she fancies Nate, dropping the masquerade or going by her possible real name would make him angry that she lied to him, even though it is her profession, and really all she wants at the moment is to just please the man.
Sophie can do a wide range of accents, ranging from Southern Belle to German, and everything in between. The accents she used in the first season was a staggering amount, using at least one per episode and sometimes even more than that. French, Italian, New Zealand, or Nigerian. You name it, and she can either do it or possibly just fake it very, very well. She also is fluent or is familiar with a number of different languages, including French and even some Chinese. One could only assume that she picked all these up during her world travels, study, or both. Sophie seems to the type to have gotten educated, very broadly so. She’s got this air of sophistication and intelligence that ties in extremely well to her whole seductress side. But her past is a complete mystery, more so than the rest of the team. She guards her secrets closely, and does a very good job doing it.
The interesting thing about Sophie though, is that no matter how amazing she is acting during a con, plain and simple, the woman is horrible on stage. Sophie wants to be a real actress, due probably to the glamour and the kind of lifestyle that it includes. But for some reason, she cannot for the life of her see the difference from when she’s pulling off a con flawlessly, or making people want to blow their brains out when watching her perform in a play. Sophie is over-dramatic, even in life sometimes as well as on stage, and maybe it’s due to her so desperately wanting to be good that she ends up really bad. It’s a life goal for herself, not a survival necessity. But on a completely different take of it all, Sophie could also purposely tone down her talent due to knowing that she can never really be famous, because she’s wanted so many places. Her face can never be widely known the way she might like it to be. Hell, even the whole thing could be a running con, and possibly even a joke for her. With Sophie, you really don’t know.
Sophie takes obvious pride in the way she presents herself, with a closet one probably couldn’t even begin to imagine in their wildest dreams. Her wardrobe alone could probably buy her a new house, with her addiction being mainly shoes. With boots that cost fifteen hundred dollars and the mention in the first episode that she bought a “truly impressive number of shoes,” one could only assume her closet is an asset just on its own. Sophie values material over monetary, having bought vacation homes all over the world as well. Her niche also seems to be stealing priceless artwork, and her “retirement plan” consisted mostly of artwork she had stolen, including the Second David statue. Art is known for it’s sophistication, and Sophie seems to like to capitalize on that more than anything, maybe being who she is or trying to be someone she has always wanted to be, it’s anyone’s guess.
Sophie is one of the two members of the team that seems to actually care about the rest of the group. While Hardison is caring and friendly to everyone around him, Sophie is more maternal to the group, sometimes getting on Nate about being too hard on the rest of them. She’s a teacher to mainly Parker, helping the girl with her social difficulties, but also helps the rest of the team during a job with little things here and there, which Eliot expresses to Nate as “you learn, and you con.” She warns Nate that the rest of them might not stick around if he keeps acting the way he does at times, controlling and when he’s intoxicated even kind of belligerent. whether that’s out of caring for the rest of the team or doing it because she knows if the team breaks up than she wouldn’t have an excuse to be around Nate is questionable. Sophie is known as being somewhat selfish, but really it’s not pure selfishness, because while something may help her out in the long run, she also makes sure it helps other people out at the same time.
Nate is her weakness though. The exact nature of their relationship in the past is unclear, other than that they had never truly consummated it, reminding Nate that he never cheated on his wife. She however seems more invested in it than he is, being a hopeless romantic herself. She wants Nate to fall head over heels and whisk her away, but the poor man is so damaged right now that her hopes are plainly futile at this point. She tries to hard, and gets so frustrated by his "will I, won’t I" behaviors that it’s no doubt why she sometimes blows up at him sometimes. She’s made it quite clear how she feels about him, and while he shows that he does indeed care for her more than just a friend or a coworker, it won’t be any surprise if she decides not to continue waiting around for him to make up his mind on the matter.
Sophie is a bit controlling over him though, even though they aren’t actually together. She unrealistically expects him to act like her boyfriend, knowing exact details of their relationship and doing things for her that just shouldn’t be required for someone who isn’t in that position with her. She gets jealous of other women, mainly Nate’s ex wife Maggie. It’s only been due to Nate that she has ever stepped out of character during a con, first during "The Bank Shot Job" when Nate gets shot and then again when she hears what him and Maggie are talking about over the comms and bursts out with a sarcastic “Great!”, out of accent and out of character. She reminds Nate that Maggie is his ex wife, making sure to stress that point to him. She can’t bear the thought of the man that she most likely is in love with still being hung up on someone else. To her, her tries so hard to be this ultimate woman almost, that it’s upsetting to her that even she can’t overshadow the love he had, or maybe even still has, for Maggie.
Sophie also apparently has this funny little inability to apologize. I say funny due it being amusing for myself, but she seems to have this mentality of that she is always right, and whatever happened she still has her excuses on why she did what she did, thus making the mistake still completely acceptable in her mind. While she’s willing to accept and forgive the mistakes of others, for herself it seems almost impossible that she could be or do any wrong. She could honesty could just set a standard for herself that is impossible for any human to reach, actually feeling like she is this magnificent person and for her to do anything wrong would just be completely unacceptable. It probably could all stem from self esteem issues, but that’s a stretch since she has yet to show any issues with that. Then again, if there’s one thing she’s really good at… it’s lying about who she really is.
Sophie is the one character in LEVERAGE that you will always question if anything about her is real or not. Bellman’s physical appearance makes her able to pass off any different races, and also allows Sophie to be so beautiful that it works to the character’s advantage is so many ways during a con or otherwise. It’s probably very unlikely that we will ever get more than just a fleeting glimpse of the “real” Sophie, therefore making her so much more intoxicating due to the mystery that surrounds her and the questions she raises.