Sonya Balmores
Actor · Born June 23, 1986 (40) · Kalaheo, Hawaii
Born and raised on the Garden Isle of Kaua'i, Sonya Balmores grew up surfing and modeling in the islands. Her exotic and natural beauty landed her on print campaigns for Roxy, Rip Curl, Billabong, Hurley and Nike as well as on the covers of Women's Health, Shape, Foam and Outside magazines. In 2004, Sonya won the Miss Hawaii Teen USA title and placed first runner-up on the national stage. After booking a series regular role on The N's (Nickelodeons) teen surf drama Beyond the Break, Sonya fell in love with acting and dropped out of her studies at Hawaii Pacific University. She completed three seasons of Beyond the Break, shot on location on the island of Oahu. Sonya followed up the action-packed surfing girl role with a feature film debut in Soul Surfer as Malina Birch, the main antagonist to Anna Sophia Robb's portrayal of shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton alongside Academy Award winner Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid. In 2017, Sonya guest starred on HBO's Ballers with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, completed a major arc on ABC Marvel's Inhumans as Auran, a fierce assassin and royal guard, opposite Game of Thrones alum Iwan Rheon, Lost alumni Ken Leung, and Hell on Wheels star Anson Mount, and supported 50 Cent as his wife in STX Films bank heist film Den of Thieves led by Gerard Butler. In addition to TV and film, Sonya has over five years of experience in Video Game Motion Capture and Voice Over playing the no-nonsense Division Agent Alani Kelso for Tom Clancy's: The Division 2 (Ubisoft). When not on the set Sonya loves to study her craft. She has had the privilege of training at many fine programs in Los Angeles: The Groundlings, The Actors Gang, Identity School of Acting, and Shakespeare with Juilliard alum Diane Venora. Sonya is a graduate of The Baron Brown Acting Studio, a two year Meisner program in Santa Monica, CA. In 2021, Sonya completed a recurring role on the Amazon reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, shot on location in Honolulu, Hawaii. Coming in 2022, Balmores stars in Moonrise, a feature film produced by Sony/Affirm Films for PureFlix and most recently completed production on the highly anticipated third season of The Chosen, a multi-season series about the life of Jesus Christ and the largest crowd funded media project of all time, produced by VidAngel Studios.
Read moreShow less
Biography from IMDb.
- June 23, 1986 (40)
- Kalaheo, Hawaii
- Actor
- 15 on Motif · 20 credits in all
What are Sonya Balmores' films like?
Across their 6 Motif titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 2 · Serious 2 · Dark 0
Grounded 4 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 4 · Intense 0
Steady 0 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 1
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 3 · Relentless 0
Casual 2 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 0
A split, not a type: Easy watch 1 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 3
Resolved 4 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Roles they play
- Threshold guardianas Malina Birch in Soul Surfer (2011)
- Heraldas Tanya McQueen in A Midsummer's Hawaiian Dream (2016)
Moods and endings
- Happy3
- Bittersweet2
- Ambiguous1
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Sonya Balmores' films?
As of October 24, 2026, all 15 Motif titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (5).
Subscription and free streaming for Sonya Balmores' titles on Motif; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
20 credits, 15 with a Motif page.
Jamojaya (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2023)
Moonrise(2022)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 8th percentile of all shows
Sidewinder (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2020)
FBI: Most Wanted(2020)
Midcredits score: 55th percentile of all shows
The Chosen(2017)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all shows
Roswell, New Mexico(2019)
Midcredits score: 41st percentile of all shows
Magnum P.I.(2018)
Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all shows
Den of Thieves(2018)
Midcredits score: 79th percentile of all films
Inhumans(2017)
Midcredits score: 3rd percentile of all shows
Inhumans: The First Chapter (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2017)
Maui(2017)
Midcredits score: 71st percentile of all films
Lucifer(2016)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 9th percentile of all films
Ballers(2015)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all shows
Soul Surfer(2011)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Hawaii Five-0(2010)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all shows
Beyond the Break (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2006)
NCIS(2003)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all shows
Miss Teen USA (not in the Motif catalog yet)(1983)
Career shape
Star power in the 80th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 20 titles from 1983 to 2023; peak year 2011.
Biggest box office
Soul Surfer (2011)
Highest rated
Soul Surfer (2011)
Most popular right now
Inhumans (2017)
Film career
Peak 2011 · fewer prominent film roles lately. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 2011Screen debut· Soul Surfer
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on Motif, shown from 5 scored.
How do Sonya Balmores' films land?
Their typical Motif film has a Midcredits score in the 71st percentile, the median of all 5; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 70th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up7
- 50th to 74th3
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
6 of their 15 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Divisive1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser6
- Mixed5
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on Motif; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their Motif titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Sonya Balmores' work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 3 Motif titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Sonya Balmores work with?
People who share at least 2 of Sonya Balmores' Motif titles, grouped by what they did on them; Augie Tulba shares the most, 2.
Actors
- Augie TulbaShared titles: Maui (2017), A Midsummer's Hawaiian Dream (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Augie Tulba
Producers
- David BrookwellShared titles: Moonrise (2022), Soul Surfer (2011)See all 2 shared titles with David Brookwell
- Sean McNamaraShared titles: Moonrise (2022), Soul Surfer (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Sean McNamara
- Ricardo S. GalindezShared titles: A Midsummer's Hawaiian Dream (2016), Soul Surfer (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Ricardo S. Galindez
