Sophia Bush is a versatile performer, known for her sultry, hard-boiled good girl persona on television. However, in person she is something else: a sensitive person, who tries her best to understand the people around her. A clear example of this sensitivity is her decision to accept the award for Outstanding Producer at the 2021 Emmy Awards to feel the pressure from within to bow out due to the pressure from producers. In this article we’ll take a quick look at Sophia Bush’s biography and discover how her actions could have led to a different career path.
Born in 1944, Sophia Bush was barely five years old when her parents, George and Florence, were separated during a plane crash. After her mother died in the crash, Sophia stayed with her father and younger brother, Rocky. Growing up in New York City, Sophia would experience abandonment, neglect, rejection and the painful feeling that no one loves her. As a result, she developed a deep-seated anger towards women, especially her own mother, whom she felt did not love her or respect her. This, in turn, impacted all areas of her personal and professional life, causing Sophia to develop feelings of inadequacy and embittered feelings towards her own mother. In high school, however, she discovered a theater play that would help define the character that would define her for the rest of her life – the bold and scrappy reporter, chronicler, and adventurer named Anna Pigeon.
Following college, Sophia Bush continued to work hard in order to support herself. Working as a reporter for the Associated Press, she discovered the inherent need for creative reporting in small towns across the United States, writing about topics such as local food and culture. Although Sophia didn’t plan on becoming an actress, she was discovered by Hollywood agents while performing a scene for the film High School Confidential, in which she played the role of a white girl who was blackout drunk while attending a party. After that, agents reached out to numerous other actresses, which resulted in the eventual development of the career that would become known as Sophia Bush. It was during this time that she began receiving phone calls from Hollywood, asking her out to audition.
On the day of her audition, Sophia Bush was preparing for her turn as Anna Pigeon in High School Confidential when she received a call from one of the agents. According to Sophia, the agent told her that they had in fact found a role that needed a female co-star, but they needed someone with less of a scene presence so that it would be easier for the director to cut scenes without worrying about being apparent. In response, Sophia Bush did not take the agent’s first name for granted. Instead, she responded by asking if she could use her nickname “Wilder”. The rest is history…
Sophia Bush did not start out as a member of the TV cast of High School Confidential. The casting director instead placed her in the lead role, which meant that her scenes would be the most important ones. This is because the actress was the only one of the bunch who had never done any theatre before, so the director felt it necessary that she understand the basics of acting before moving into more complex roles. As it turns out, Sophia Bush was not only an incredibly talented actress but she was also incredibly understanding and perceptive, which made her a perfect fit for the lead role of Wilder in the film. In fact, it is said that Sophia Bush was the person who auditioned for the lead role before Anna Pigeon, proving that her devotion to acting far outweighs her commitment to college.
The voice role of Wilder is one of the earliest episodes of High School Confidential where Sophia Bush does not have a line. However, when she does have a line in the fifth season, it is entirely different than what was used in the previous seasons. In the fifth season, it is revealed that Sophia Bush has been offered a recurring role as Voyd, the son of Wilder. It is here where her skills as a character are highlighted, as Voyd’s voice is much deeper and richer, bringing a more human quality to the role than her previous appearances. The voice role of Voyd was later offered to Idina Menzel, but after the success of Bush’s Wilder performance, she was replaced by Jennifer Aniston, cementing the popularity of the actress.
