In A Quiet Place, Millicent Simmonds gives the endangered child a force of personality that matters as much as the danger. We rate an actor who can make us worry about someone without reducing her to helplessness.
Fi1m perspective
In A Quiet Place (2018), Regan Abbott registers as a person with her own will, even when the whole family has to stay quiet. Simmonds gives her enough force to keep her from becoming merely another child for the adults to protect. Beside Emily Blunt's concentrated Evelyn and Noah Jupe's vulnerable Marcus, she helps make the family worth following through a thriller. We were frightened for them because these performances give us people to care about with so little dialogue.
Her feature debut was as Rose in Todd Haynes's Wonderstruck (2017). The breakthrough came with John Krasinski's A Quiet Place, followed by an expanded lead as Regan in A Quiet Place Part II (2021). That is a concentrated early film career, with much of its weight resting on one character, though a character who gives her something substantial to play.
Her contribution to Krasinski's film also extended beyond the performance. She brought her own experience to the accuracy of the signing and to the sound design, details that matter in a thriller organised around the danger of being heard. Krasinski gets good work from her by allowing Regan's personality to register alongside the adults.
There are limits to what the film allows her. Its script sometimes makes the family's decisions serve the next scare, and a convincing performance cannot make those decisions less convenient. Simmonds helps us stay invested, but she cannot repair the writing by force of personality. Her early parts were largely young, deaf characters, so we would be cautious about making wider claims for her acting on that evidence alone.
Her Broadway debut as Bernie in Grey House (2023) took her into stage work with integrated American Sign Language. We would welcome more screen roles that build on the independence she brings to Regan without requiring the same mortal danger. Start with A Quiet Place, and pay as much attention to the family as to what is hunting them.
Biography
Millicent Simmonds, also credited as Millie Simmonds, is an American actress. Born on 6 March 2003 in Bountiful, Utah, she is deaf and communicates primarily through American Sign Language.
She made her film debut in Wonderstruck (2017) as Rose. She played Regan Abbott in A Quiet Place (2018) and reprised the role in A Quiet Place Part II (2021). Other credits include Libby in the television series Andi Mack (2018–2019) and Chloe in Pretty Lethal (2026). She appeared in This Close (2019) and made her Broadway debut in Grey House (2023).
For her performances in Wonderstruck and A Quiet Place, Simmonds received several nominations for best youth performance. She has advocated for improved deaf representation in entertainment.
