Aria Mia Loberti, the breakout star of Shawn Levy‘s Netflix limited series “All the Light We Cannot See,” has narrated a new audio edition of Jules Verne’s classic novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.”
Loberti, a writer, human rights advocate and Fulbright Scholarship recipient, made her acting debut in “All the Light We Cannot See,” an adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning novel which will premiere on Netflix Thursday. In the show, Loberti plays Marie-Laure, a courageous blind teenager living in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. As an act of resilience, Marie-Laure Leblanc defies a Nazi ban on radio broadcasts and reads passages from “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” over the radio airwaves every night.
Loberti says she was captivated by the positioning of Verne’s classic novel within Doerr’s book and became interested in recording a full length audiobook of “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” as a companion project. The audiobook will be released across retail and libraries, in digital and CD formats by Blackstone Publishing on Nov. 7, a few days after the series premieres on Netflix.
Vikki Warner, senior acquisitions editor at Blackstone, said the company was “delighted to work with the multi-talented Aria Mia Loberti to bring her unique performance of this timeless novel to audiobook listeners.”
“Aria has a deep relationship with the text. The energy and style of her narration of this adventure-for-the-ages brings out new highlights therein,” said Warner.
“All the Light We Cannot See,” which also stars Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie, was produced by Shawn Levy and 21 Laps. Loberti landed the role after a global search for blind and low-vision actresses. She received her Master’s in ancient rhetoric with distinction in 2021 from Royal Holloway, University of London on a Fulbright Scholarship.
An advocate for human rights, Loberti began speaking out for disability rights at a young age and presented at several large forums, including a TedX Talk, and most recently as a featured speaker at New York Climate in support of UNICEF. She currently serves as the ambassador for the organization Guide Dogs for the Blind and for the skincare brand L’Occitane en Provence.
Aria Mia Loberti in “All the Light We Cannot See”
COURTESY OF KATALIN VERMES/NETFLIX