‘Succession’: Sarah Snook Says a Particularly ‘Baffling’ Part of Fame Comes Every October
Though she has worked as an actor for years, Succession pushed Sarah Snook to new levels of fame. The HBO actor is not always comfortable with this part of her job, however, finding much of fame confusing. There’s one annual element of her work that she’s found particularly baffling.
Where is Sarah Snook from?
Snook was born in Adelaide, Australia. She was the youngest child to a swimming-pool salesman father and an elder-care provider mother. Snook told Vogue Australia that from as early as she can remember, she was “making up dances and doing plays.”
She attended the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. After graduating, she picked up roles in Australian film and television. Despite steady work, Snook said she constantly worried that she wasn’t getting parts.
“It felt very tumultuous at times and not like I was working a lot—but IMDb seems to say something different,” she said. “It’s perspective. When you’re an adult and you look back and you’re like: ‘Oh, you were [working] …’ And yet I remember being in my 20s, desperately upset that I had no career prospects, but it’s just getting used to this industry.”
In 2014, Snook received her first international role with Predestination. From there, she continued to receive work abroad. So far, though, her most prominent role is that of Shiv Roy on Succession.
The ‘Succession’ actor finds one part of fame especially confusing
Snook’s rise to success has been swift, something that often surprises her.
“Actually, the pandemic and being thrust into volatility, globally, was like: ‘Oh, this is what my life is like,’” she said of adjusting to the entertainment industry.
Snook says she has a touch of imposter syndrome and is often comfortable sitting out high profile events
“Very sweetly, we’ve got a Succession thread and everyone is going: ‘There’s no premiere without Shiv! We’ll boycott. We won’t go,’” she said when she was unsure if she’d be able to leave Australia for the Succession Season 3 premiere. “And I’m like: ‘Yeah, or trot a cardboard cut-out of me around to every single event.’”
Because Snook is comfortable stepping away from the spotlight, she’s especially surprised when people dress up as her for Halloween.
“‘All you had to do was put a turtleneck on with a pair of pants and an orange wig!’ It’s baffling to me,” she said.
She also said that there’s little chance of fans seeing her in her signature Succession look off-camera.
“I am terrified to wear a turtleneck now,” she joked to Town & Country.
Sarah Snook spent her last Halloween getting engaged
Rather than dress up as her onscreen counterpart for Halloween, Snook spent her last Oct. 31 getting engaged. She spent her coronavirus (COVID-19) quarantine in Melbourne, hopping around between friends’ houses as she waited for Succession to resume filming.
At one point, she stayed with her long-time friend Dave Lawson. The couple fell in love, and Snook proposed on Halloween.
“We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, traveled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic,” she said. “We’ve just never been single at the same time. I proposed and we got married in February in my backyard.”
