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Sarah Snook
Australian actress (born 1987) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sarah Ruth Snook (born 1 December 1987) is an Australian actress. She is best known for her starring role as Shiv Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), for which she won two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.[1][2]
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Snook received three AACTA Awards for her leading roles in the films Sisters of War (2010), Predestination (2014), and Memoir of a Snail (2024). She also appeared in the films Not Suitable for Children (2012), These Final Hours (2013), Jessabelle (2014), The Dressmaker (2015), Steve Jobs (2015), The Glass Castle (2017), An American Pickle (2020), Pieces of a Woman (2020), Run Rabbit Run (2023), and The Beanie Bubble (2023).
On stage, Snook starred in the West End and Broadway productions of The Picture of Dorian Gray (2024–2025), for which she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Her other theatre credits include roles in King Lear (2009), The Master Builder (2016) and Saint Joan (2018).
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Early life and education
Sarah Ruth Snook[3] was born on 1 December 1987[4] in Adelaide, South Australia, and grew up in the suburb of Eden Hills. She has two older sisters.[5] Her father, a swimming-pool salesman, and her mother, an aged care provider, divorced when she was young.[6] She attended St John's Grammar School in Belair and won a drama scholarship to Scotch College in Torrens Park.[6] Her first paying job was as a fairy at children's birthday parties.[6]
In 2008, she graduated from Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art.[7]
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Career
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2009–2017: Early work
While at NIDA, Snook performed in stage productions of Macbeth and Gallipoli. She subsequently appeared in King Lear with the State Theatre Company of South Australia in 2009.[8] She garnered further success with roles in a string of Australian films, including Sisters of War (2010), Not Suitable for Children (2012), These Final Hours (2013),[9] and Predestination (2014).[10] Snook won two AACTA Awards for her performances in Sisters of War and Predestination. She also earned recognition for starring in the supernatural horror film Jessabelle (2014). Snook then portrayed Andrea Cunningham in Danny Boyle's biopic Steve Jobs (2015), starring Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet. That same year, she acted in Jocelyn Moorhouse's period drama The Dressmaker, also starring Winslet and Judy Davis, for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She appeared in the biopic The Glass Castle (2017), starring Brie Larson and based on the 2005 memoir of the same name.
In 2016, Snook appeared in an episode of the Netflix science fiction anthology series Black Mirror, titled "Men Against Fire", alongside Malachi Kirby, Madeline Brewer, and Michael Kelly. Also that year, she made her West End debut playing the role of Hilde Wangel in a revival of Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder opposite Ralph Fiennes at the Old Vic.[11] Paul Taylor from The Independent hailed Snook's performance writing, "Sarah Snook, the young Australian star, is a disarmingly direct, deep-voiced and uninhibited as Hilde in an assured [and] striking performance".[12] Snook returned to the stage in 2018, where she portrayed Joan of Arc in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan.[13][14][15] Her performance was hailed by John Sand of the Sydney Morning Herald, who described her performance as "beyond riveting" and said that "Snook catches the untamed bravado of a teenager fired with passion".[16]
2018–present: Breakthrough with Succession
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From 2018 to 2023, Snook gained prominence for her lead role as Siobhan "Shiv" Roy in the HBO drama series Succession. The role earned her widespread critical acclaim[17] and numerous accolades, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and two Golden Globe Awards.[1]
In 2020, Snook appeared in the comedy film An American Pickle, opposite Seth Rogen, and in Kornél Mundruczó's marital drama film Pieces of a Woman. In December 2021, she replaced Elisabeth Moss as the lead in the horror-thriller film Run Rabbit Run, directed by Daina Reid.[18] In January 2022, Snook was cast alongside Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks in the comedy drama film The Beanie Bubble, which was co-directed by Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash.[19] In 2022, Snook narrated the Netflix documentary film Kangaroo Valley.
In 2024, Snook returned to the West End portraying all 26 roles in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.[20] Arifa Akbar of The Guardian praised Snook on her performance citing the complexity of the role writing, "It is a juggling act of high order for Snook. She must perform in real time, react to the recorded footage and manipulate the technology herself in some scenes. She speaks in dialogue but also narrates omnisciently. Some scenes require athleticism, others sudden stillness. It demands an exacting synchronicity and she gets it pitch perfect, powering through 26 characters."[21] Snook's performance earned further acclaim upon the play's Broadway transfer at the Music Box Theatre the following year.[22][23][24] Naveen Kumar of The Washington Post praised her "extraordinary grasp on the physics of performing for stage and screen, often simultaneously. She can explode like a firework, containing it for the camera while filling the room with sparks."[25] Snook won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance.[26][27]
She also voiced the protagonist in the 2024 stop-motion animated film Memoir of a Snail directed by Adam Elliot.[28] Her voice performance drew praise from critics. Nate Richard of Collider wrote, “Snook gives one of the best voice performances of the year. Never once does she feel like she is haphazardly reading lines into a microphone. She pours so much emotion and soulfulness into Grace, and it pairs perfectly with Elliot’s stunning animation.”[29] Manuel Betancourt of The Los Angeles Times remarked, “The filmmaker is helped by Snook’s oft-deadpan delivery. Her voice makes the many outlandish events she describes feel grounded in a reality that refuses the call to pity. There is a push instead toward empathy, toward imagining and caring for the inner worlds of those we might otherwise disregard.”[30] For her performance, she was awarded her second AACTA award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, marking the first time the award went to a voice performance.[31] The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards.[32]
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Personal life
In 2020, Snook began dating Australian comedian Dave Lawson, whom she married in the backyard of her Brooklyn home in 2021.[33] She gave birth to a daughter in May 2023.[34][35][36] Snook is also the godmother of her Succession co-star Kieran Culkin's son.[37]
Acting credits
| † | Denotes projects that have not yet been released |
Film
Television
Theatre
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Awards and nominations
See also
References
External links
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