Young star of The Hunger Games and Barbie with Down syndrome turned out to be Ukrainian: what is known about her and how she supports her native country

In 2023, two long-awaited blockbusters, Barbie and The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, were released. The young star Sofia Sanchez attracts special attention among the bright actors in the movies. The girl has Down syndrome, but this does not prevent her from being a sought-after actress in films, TV series and commercials in the United States, a model, activist and artist. Ukrainian fans should pay even more attention to this unique child because Sofia is Ukrainian, and she has been supporting her homeland in the wake of the full-scale invasion by the terrorist country of Russia.

The girl was born in Ukraine, but her biological parents abandoned her when they learned about her syndrome. Sophia spent a year of her life in an orphanage in Dnipro until she was adopted by a family from California, Jennifer and Hector Sanchez. OBOZ.UA decided to tell the story of an unusual child who became a Hollywood star and did not forget her roots.

Jennifer and Hector Sanchez saw Sophia on the Reece's Rainbow website among the photos of other orphans. The American couple was immediately charmed by the sunny girl's smile. At that time, they already had three sons, the youngest of whom also had Down syndrome.

The couple nicknamed the girl "Ukrainian Princess" and began the process of adopting her. First, they traveled a long way across the ocean and flew to Dnipro, where they visited their future daughter in an orphanage for several months. The institution's website incorrectly listed the girl's date of birth. The Sanchez family thought she was the same age as their younger son and wanted to raise them as twins. The age difference initially confused and upset the adoptive parents, but did not stop them.

"Her documents indicated that she was born in the same year as Joaquin, so we thought we would be raising twins. But a few months later, we found out that the Ukrainian orphanage had recorded the year of birth incorrectly. At first, we were a little disappointed because we had a picture in our minds of raising twins. But now it seems that we are indeed raising twins because boys are a little bit behind in development compared to girls. They keep up with each other, and it's great! They are both fully involved in our local school. That was very important to us. It was something that we fought very hard for and that did not come easy to us. There was a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and literally trials," said the mother of Sofia and three other boys in an interview.

In the United States, the "Ukrainian princess" became famous for her heartwarming motivational videos in which she talked about her condition. "It's not scary, it's so exciting!" the girl said about Down syndrome. One of these videos garnered more than five million views in the first two days after its publication. Since then, despite her very young age, Sofia has realized how important her messages are.

After that, the Ukrainian became literally the voice of all sunny children in America. She especially supports her brother Joaquin, who, in addition to Down syndrome, also has mild autism. The girl talks about him with love, and it's also noteworthy that she leaves an emoji of two hearts - blue and yellow - at the end of some of her posts.

The charismatic Sophia began to be invited as a model to shoot advertisements for brands, and later to appear in films. The Ukrainian-American actress got her debut role at the age of six when she appeared in the iconic American TV series Switched at Birth in 2015.

After that, there were many popular projects in the United States, but it was the Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling that made her internationally famous, as well as the newly-released movie of The Hunger Games franchise, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is a prequel to the three original Jennifer Lawrence films.

In the comedy about the iconic blonde doll, Sofia played one of the Barbies, while in the action movie based on the novel by Susan Collins, she played a small tribute at the 10th annual Hunger Games.

Sanchez attended red carpet events along with all the actors in both films and as you can tell from the photos and videos she posts, she is very happy with her acting and film career.

However, acting is not the only thing Sofia is currently doing. She also became the author of illustrations for a series of books about children with Down syndrome called You Are Enough and You Are Loved. The young actress is also involved in many social initiatives, environmental and conservation campaigns, and participates in various protests, including a large-scale strike of US film actors and screenwriters.

Even with such a busy schedule and active life, she does not forget about her roots. After February 24, 2022, Sofia regularly appealed to her audience to support Ukraine. In addition, Sanchez positions herself exclusively as a Ukrainian actress. She states this, in particular, in the description of her Instagram profile, where she has about 35 thousand followers.

"Ukrainian actress in The Hunger Games and Barbie with Down syndrome," Sofia wrote in the profile header, adding the blue and yellow heart emojis again.

We can find a post in support of her native country with a Ukrainian flag behind her. Obviously, the photo was taken in Poland.

"We continue to pray for Ukraine! It's incredible to see the support for Ukraine in Poland," the Ukrainian woman wrote under the picture.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote about another star of the movie The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, who is also known for the role of Tyrion Lannister in the iconic series The Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage. Read our article to find out how the 135-centimeter-tall actor managed to achieve success and what he had to go through to get there.

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