GEEK GIRL has been dominating the Netflix charts as the project made its much-awaited and massive debut on the streaming platform.

Based on the highly beloved best-selling and award-winning books by Holly Smale, the story revolves around neurodivergent teenager Harriet Manners who unexpectedly gets spotted and cast to be a model and a front runner for one of the most sought-after fashion campaign ever. 

The project perfectly combines a coming-of-age story incorporating a life-affirming journey of self-discovery alongside an astonishing arc of an ordinary student trying to balance school further becoming the new face of fashion.

One of the creatives that won the hearts of the audience further captivating them with her phenomenal portrayal was none other than Sandra Yi Sencindiver. 

Embodying the role of iconic designer 'Yuji Lee', Sencindiver delivers a raw and versatile performance as she portrays the fashion icon who transforms herself into one of the most sought-after creative in the fashion industry and everyone including the star-studded ensemble from her previous campaigns are dying to work for the fashion sensation. 

On the lookout for her next big thing; especially for her top-secret debut perfume campaign, Lee is dedicated to scouting for a talent that screams uniqueness as they become the novel face of her brand further aligning her artistic vision on stage. 

But that's not it! Sencindiver is also a phenomenal writer and director as you can witness her talents in the award-winning short film 'WATCH'. Her short film “Seeking Hwa Sun” has very recently also been shortlisted for The Robert-Prisen (Robert Award), an annual award given by the Danish Film Academy considered as the Danish equivalent of the Oscars, and British BAFTAs for films. 

Besides direction, Sencindiver's diverse acting abilities can be observed in a plethora of projects; some of them including- Apple TV+ Emmy-nominated sci-fi series 'FOUNDATION', Amazon Prime's 'The Wheel Of Time', where she stars alongside Rosamund Pike.

And many critically acclaimed primetime dramas in Scandinavia, including 'Oxen', the formative Nordic noir series 'The Killing', 'The Protectors', 'Below The Surface', 'DNA', 'Follow The Money', the thrilling noir drama film 'The Bridge', and the Swedish detective series 'Bäckström'. 

She has also just wrapped up filming the highly-anticipated forthcoming project "Alien" which is set to mark its premiere very soon! 

Sandra Yi Sencindiver recently joined us as our latest cover star to talk all things GEEK GIRL, delving more into who her fashion inspirations are, what it was like portraying 'Yuji Lee' in the currently trending project, her experience working with the cast and crew of the Netflix series, and much more!  

Hi there Sandra. Thank you for joining us on ReVamp as our latest cover star! How are you doing?

I am so happy and I feel truly blessed right now. My short film “Seeking Hwa Sun” has been shortlisted for a Robert, which is a major film Award in Denmark, I just finished shooting Alien, Geek Girl has been charting and people love it - and I have just returned from Korea where I gorged on Korean food, Korean culture and met some amazing creatives in the Korean film and TV industry!

Beginning our conversation, I would love for you to take me back to those initial days of your successful professional journey. 

What was it really that made you realise acting was something you wanted to pursue as a form of career?  

Ha ha ha. It does tickle me that you define my career as successful! Yes, it does seem like it is going quite well right now, doesn’t it? I could fall into the cliché and answer, that it is all the result of a lot of hard work. That anyone with talent who puts in the hard work and believes in themselves will eventually make it. But the truth is, it has been a long, humble although decent career with ups and downs and a lot of fighting: fighting for space, fighting for the right for self-definition and fighting for opportunity and visibility. So yes, I did put a lot of work into it but there are a great deal of incredible talented and hardworking people in this industry who are not where I am now. So, I also acknowledge it is a matter of good fortune, trend and market. And somehow, I fit in and fill a demand - for once in my life! 

You're currently under the massive spotlight for your impeccable performance as the iconic "Yuji Lee" in Netflix's "Geek Girl". First of all, huge congratulations on getting this role as well as your phenomenal portrayal in the project!  

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. It’s kind of funny, when you are doing the work, you never know how people will perceive and receive your work, which can be a blessing. I was rather unfazed during shooting and just allowed myself to make bold choices and immerse myself into Yuji and not think about the reception but allow myself to have fun and play around! 

Were you a fan of the best-selling work by the wonderful Holly Smale beforehand or were you introduced to these books after you were offered the role?

Although I am a huge YA reader, I was not acquainted with the books when I auditioned for the series. But I did immensely enjoy reading the books after being offered the part. I did however let the book version of the character be the book version and built my Yuji around what was in the script. But the thing that struck me was Holly writing a neurodivergent main character back in 2013! Only now, we are all becoming slightly more aware and sensitive to the fact that peoples’ brains are wired differently. 

Yuji Lee is showcased to be a soul possessing an outstanding sense of fashion as she scouts for the "Next Big Thing" for her massively successful and sought-after designs alongside her debut perfume campaign. 

If you yourself could go back in time and scout a creative that is currently highly-recognisable in the real world, who do you think you would've loved to scout and work with? 

The first that comes to mind is a very young Danish actress Flora Ophelia Hofmann Lindahl. People outside of Denmark may not know her (yet), but just wait - she is amazing! I saw her in a brilliant Danish drama called “Cry Wolf” in 2020. She must have filmed it when she was 14. She was known as a child singer but was not known as an actress. Seeing her in that show, it sent chills down my spine. When you watch her perform, you just know she is special – a once in a generation actress. Six months later, she won the award for best female lead (shared with Jessica Chastain) at San Sebastian Film Festival for her performance in a wonderful arthouse film by Tea Lindeburg “As in Heaven”. She is pure talent and instinct. 

Relating to Yuji's extremely distinctive and peculiar personality traits, how much do you personally resonate with Yuji as a character? How similar and different are you in terms of her in real life?

I resonate with her drive and need to make something divine and elevated. And I recognize and share her ability to zone in and be ultra-focussed. And I also understand her need of control and perfectionism - I can really relate to that. It was especially something I struggled with as a child and as a young woman. But throughout the years I have found out that perfection doesn’t exist, and great art can’t be controlled into existence. Sometimes, if you are willing to let go of ultimate control, the process can take you places you couldn’t have imagined.

Playing a character who is one of the biggest designers and so affiliated with the fashion and beauty world, how would you personally define your own style? And where do you usually garner your styling inspirations from? 

Instagram and Pinterest are my jam. On Pinterest, I enjoy looking at old archives and fashion runways of vintage Dolce and Gabbana, Cavalli, Dior. On Instagram I love following stylists, fashion buffs and influencers. I always eat up fashion week, check out what the high-end designers are doing as well as follow upcoming designers. I take particular interest in Danish fashion designers and I have also been interested in checking out what the Korean designers are doing. On my trip I discovered Osoi, Seocookie and Céj which I love. I recommend shopping in the neighbourhood Seongsu! And I love combining contemporary finds with vintage pieces. 

My wardrobe is quite extensive and filled with vintage items, second hand as well as high-end and middle range staples. I play around and take joy in putting stuff together. Styling for me is fun, almost creatively meditative.

What was your experience like meeting your talented fellow co-stars and the diverse crew of “Geek Girl” for the first time? 

I remember coming into the makeup trailer and seeing Sarah Parish in the chair. I had just binged two seasons of “Industry” and absolutely I LOVED it. Especially Sarah’s flawed, complex, alluring and dark, almost depraved character Nicole Craig. I did not keep my cool, I just yelped and went fangirl on her! She is nothing like her character(s). She is funny, sweet, generous and very down to earth. Very easy to work with. I love her and also her rendition of mean sweet tooth Jude! 

What has been your memorable sequence you shot in this project? Any funny behind-the-scenes that you’d like to tell us about? 

We all had quite a laugh when shooting Yuji’s entrance into the fashion studio in episode 8. Yuji strives in, back lit, slow motion, shades on. It is quite the diva entrance. And in the background, there is live fire going off every 30 seconds. In the first shot the director yelled cut in the middle of the scene. He had to move my position, because it looked like fire was coming out of Yuji’s ass, hahaha! Apparently, larger than life characters have larger than life flatulence! 

Yuji Lee seems to be quite a sophisticated yet authoritarian being with a commanding presence.

Pertaining to that, I'm very curious to know how did you prepare yourself to execute those exact intricate mannerisms and get into this character's mindset before finally going in front of the cameras? 

Back when I trained to be an actor, we worked a lot with masks and commedia dell’arte related training. So, in all character work I am always interested in finding the character’s physicality: their voice, temperament, body and tempo. Once I have found that, I can feel free “living” in their body and in a scene. It is as if the character’s “mask” informs me of choices to make in a scene. It is kind of like finding a flow of intuition to work from. I love analyzing texts and making informed choices from reading the script, but the character doesn’t come alive before they have a breathing body. And I don’t want to rely on my own body and temperament, then all the characters become the same. 

With Yuji, I knew her movements had to reflect her artistry and her as an artist, so her movements would be very particular. I found a focused, almost stiff economy to her movements with a touch of billowy elegance. It is minimalist but detailed at the same time. And her voice would be low, she wouldn’t have to raise her voice to being listened to. And because she doesn’t speak a lot, I also thought her physical presence should be, well yes very present and precise. 

Having such a plethora of enigmatic layers around her, I'm sure you as an actor must have some questions pertaining to Yuji's arc that you couldn't quite figure out while playing her. 

So, in terms of that, I'm very curious to know if you could have the opportunity to interact with Lee herself, are there any questions that you would absolutely love to know her thoughts on? 

Well in terms of arc, the writers Jess Rushton and her team had written a very clear arc for the character so in that sense I feel they provided me with everything I needed on the page. And the director Declan was great keeping an eye on balance - when and how much light, humour and even vulnerability should we let shine through? A stern impenetrable armour is uninteresting. I wanted to show little cracks into an otherwise very guarded personality. 

If I did have access to Yuji, as a real person, I would LOVE to hear her back story. About her immigration to Europe, trying to make it in the business, how people received her as person and an artist, and what was her big break? And I also wonder how much of her special personality was formed by her upbringing, and how much was there from the start. Is her special personality accepted because she is a respected designer and artist, or did she “become” Yuji Lee. That I would find extremely interesting! 

For the people who are yet to be tuned into this phenomenal project, what can you tell us about it?

Geek Girl has a wide appeal! It is not “just” a show for young girls (we do love you, young girls) about young romance, fashion and the model industry. This is a show for anyone who has been misunderstood, bullied and underestimated.  Which is pretty much 90 percent of us, isn’t it?

As we speak, there already have been several significant discussions from the fans revolving around the renewal of the project as they encourage Netflix to give Season 2 a go.

I know the entire cast is currently unaware regarding Netflix giving GEEK GIRL the highly-anticipated greenlight but I would love to know your thoughts on this immensely positive reception you're currently garnering from around the world on this series as well as your own performance? 

I am sincerely grateful for being a part of something so many people love. And I received so many, sweet, genuine and loving messages from people from all over the world, of all ages, genders and backgrounds. Geek Girl fans are absolutely lovely. And I love the people who write to me as if I were Yuji Lee, as if she was a real person. Asking about becoming a designer, about becoming a model, asking about the fashion industry. That is the highest praise, isn’t it? That they think she is a real person. I take it as an appraisal; that I did my job well. 

Lastly, what's next for you and is there any message you'd like to convey to your supporters currently reading this interview? 

I just finished shooting Alien so that will be the next thing people can see. And for anyone interested in my work as a director, my first short Watch (Våge) is available here: https://www.ekkofilm.dk/shortlist/film/vage/