--- title: Wonderstruck Movie: Millicent Simmonds Discusses Her Role description: In Wonderstruck, Millicent Simmonds plays Rose, a 12-year-old deaf girl living in 1927 Hoboken, New Jersey, who runs away from home. canonical: https://time.com/4997245/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-25T20:17:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:00:01.799Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Deaf Actress Millicent Simmonds on Her Breakout Role in 'Wonderstruck' og:description: And why the 14-year-old is so close to the character she plays og:url: https://time.com/4997245/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd86cce46b289d8c/6988e36d86f68e4da56e6fed/millicent-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Millicent Simmonds attends Wonderstruck Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Deaf Actress Millicent Simmonds on Her Breakout Role in 'Wonderstruck' twitter:description: And why the 14-year-old is so close to the character she plays twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd86cce46b289d8c/6988e36d86f68e4da56e6fed/millicent-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Breakout _Wonderstruck_ Star Millicent Simmonds on Why She's So Close to Her Character by [Ale Russian / People](/author/people/) ## Ale Russian / People Oct 25, 2017 8:17 PM CUT  Millicent Simmonds attends Wonderstruck Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France. Millicent Simmonds attends Wonderstruck Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France.Dominique Charriau--WireImage/Getty Images by [Ale Russian / People](/author/people/) ## Ale Russian / People Oct 25, 2017 8:17 PM CUT Meet [Millicent Simmonds](http://people.com/movies/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck-5-things-to-know/ "undefined") — the deaf actress making her mark on Hollywood. The 14-year-old from Bountiful, Utah, makes her breakout performance in the acclaimed new movie _Wonderstruck_. Simmonds is the subject of a new featurette for the film, which gives viewers a better sense of her life and journey with the movie. In _Wonderstruck_, Simmonds plays Rose, a 12-year-old deaf girl living in 1927 Hoboken, New Jersey, who runs away from home and wanders through New York’s Museum of Natural History. Her story is interlaced with another taking place in 1977 New York, focusing on a lost boy (Oakes Fegley) and mysterious older woman ([Julianne Moore](http://people.com/tag/julianne-moore "undefined")). In the featurette, exclusive to PEOPLE, the young performer reveals that she became an actor by “accident” when her school drama teacher asked her mom to let her join his class. Director Todd Haynes makes an appearance, saying he was blown away by her audition for the character of Rose. “She knew that there was something inside of her that was readable. Something innate that the camera could pick up,” Haynes says. “But how the hell she knew that is still a mystery to me.” The behind-the-scenes video shows how the cast and crew took sign language classes to help communicate with Simmonds. The child star also opens up about how her mom is her “best friend,” and explains why she felt such a close connection to her character in the coming-of-age film. Simmonds previously told PEOPLE that her mom had her family learn sign language after she lost her hearing as a baby due to a medication overdose. “When I lost my hearing, my mom got a deaf mentor to come into the home,” Simmonds told PEOPLE with the help of her interpreter, Lynette Taylor. “She would come once a week to teach the whole family sign language. My family is amazing. We can communicate very easily now. I’ve also gone to a deaf school all my life. I love all my friends there and it has been an easy journey. I’m very lucky.” _Wonderstruck_ is in theaters now. _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/movies/wonderstruck-deaf-breakout-star-millicent-simmonds-explains-why-shes-so-close-to-her-character-in-new-featurette/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4997245/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4997245/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck/"},"headline":"Breakout Wonderstruck Star Millicent Simmonds on Why She's So Close to Her Character","datePublished":"2017-10-25T20:17:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:00:01.799Z","description":"And why she is so close to the character she plays","url":"https://time.com/4997245/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd86cce46b289d8c/6988e36d86f68e4da56e6fed/millicent-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ale Russian / People"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd86cce46b289d8c/6988e36d86f68e4da56e6fed/millicent-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Millicent Simmonds attends Wonderstruck Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France.","caption":"Millicent Simmonds attends Wonderstruck Photocall during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France.","creditText":"Dominique Charriau--WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4997245/millicent-simmonds-wonderstruck/","name":"Breakout Wonderstruck Star Millicent Simmonds on Why She's So Close to Her Character"}}]}] ```