Mia Goth, star of ‘Infinity Pool’, went to school in south-east London and partied at ‘raves in Peckham’ - Southwark News (2024)

Slasher film star Mia Goth attended a Sydenham comprehensive school where her drama department was a “shack” and partied at raves in Peckham before her horror movie stardom.

The 29-year-old, who spent her teens living in Sydenham, New Cross and Lewisham, has received critical acclaim for edgy horror flicks such as X (2022), Pearl (2022) and most recently Infinity Pool (2023).

But before gaining earning her ‘scream queen’ reputation, Mia’s formative years were spent as a pupil at Sydenham girls’ school and later partying at “raves in Peckham”.

In an interview with ES Magazine in 2020, she said: “I went to Sydenham girls’ school, a state school not a private school, and all different walks of life went there.

“There were girls getting pregnant at fifteen, and others whose parents were upper-middle-class doctors. That social structure was an immense education. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Mia was born in Guy’s Hospital to a Brazilian mum and Canadian dad, and is the grand-daughter of Jewish-AmericanartistLee Jaffe, andBrazilianactressMaria Gladys.

Mia went with her mum to Brazil after she was born and then the pair briefly lived with Mia’s dad in Canada.

She moved back to the UK and attended the Sydenham girls’ school on Dartmouth Road from the age of twelve, being raised by her single mum who worked as a waitress.

Describing the school, Mia previously said: “‘The drama department for GCSE was a little shack that had raindrops constantly pouring in. We weren’t putting on West Side Story.”

Remembering life as a southeast London teen, Mia said: “We’d go to raves in Peckham…I feel as though I grew up in the last age of innocence, on the cusp of social media.

“We were still into MySpace. I had a phone you still had to put credit on. We were at the precipice of the entire world changing.”

Her journey into show business began when she was spotted by fashion photographer Gemma Booth at Underage Festival in Victoria Park.

Mia signed up with a modelling agency but with her sights set on the big screen, was frequently auditioning for acting roles from the age of sixteen.

Her feature film debut was in the erotic art film Nymphomaniac (2013) and she later appeared in The Survivalist(2015),High Life(2018),Suspiria(2018), andEmma(2020).

Her latest performance in Infinity Pool where she plays Gabi – a rich, flirtatious vacationer who leads a sinister band of fervent sensualists – has been described as “tremendous” with a “toxic energy” that “always holds the attention”.

In March 2022, she celebrated the birth of her daughter Isabel with her husband and fellow thespian, 36-year-old Shia LaBeouf.