Access - Summer Cohort
Sonder Access was built on a simple idea: give emerging actors real access, to professional shoots, to genuine mentorship, and to a community of people walking the same path. This summer, we ran that idea for the very first time, and four actors trusted us enough to be part of it.
Meet the Cohort
Our first intake couldn't have been a better mix. Louis Rhone, a working actor with international production experience and a physical skill set most people only dream of bringing to a role. Alex Davison, who relocated from Sydney to London chasing a career in period drama, and has spent the programme reworking his voice, quite literally, to build a British accent. Teondra Imurni, the youngest of the group at 19, still figuring out exactly where she belongs across stage and screen, and open enough to try everything in the meantime. Finally, Jessica Lim, a musical theatre performer branching decisively into screen work.
Four very different starting points. One shared drive to actually do the work.
The Shoots
Over the course of the programme, they've gone through headshots, character profile's, and a dedicated showreel session tailored to them. The kind of shoots most actors never get the chance to properly explore. Jess had the idea of bringing a more fantasy concept to the character profile with the use of swords and costume, in which each of them fully embraced alongside the firearm looks, which made the shoot a lot of fun as they each got their own bespoke outfit and proper direction from our instructors on how to pose and hold the weapons.
The showreels beat even our own expectations, with a tailored crew to handle each part of production, we could capture showreels that look, sound and feel authentic whilst giving our talents content that fully represents what they can do.
The collaborations
One of the moments we're proudest of wasn't planned from day one, it grew out of the cohort itself. Jess and Teondra, who met through the programme, chose to build their showreels together rather than separately, two outstanding joint dialogue scenes as two performers rather than going it alone. It's exactly the kind of organic collaboration Sonder Access was designed to make possible.
Meetups and mentorship
Beyond the shoots, the cohort has come together for regular meetups, sitting down to talk through career goals, get to know one another properly, and swap ideas. If you ask any of them what stood out, it's rarely just the photos, it's the room. The energy, the honesty, the sense of having people in your corner who actually understand what you're chasing. Throughout it all, mentorship has run alongside the shoots rather than sitting separately from them. For some in this cohort, that meant help navigating representation. For others, it's meant a hand with visibility, direction, or simply the confidence to put themselves forward.
Whats next
This first cohort was always going to be a test of the idea as much as anything else, and it's exceeded what we hoped for. Four actors, four very different journeys, one genuinely connected group. If this is what a first cohort looks like, we can't wait to see what the next one becomes.