As the only daughter of billionaire media mogul Logan Roy on the TV show Succession, her custom-made power suits and cold-blooded ambition have made her one of the sexiest female characters on screen.
In the male-dominated world of HBO’s drama — based on Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp dynasty — the flame-haired Chief is the favorite to win the bitter battle to succeed her aging father, played by veteran British actor Brian Cox, as head of Waystar Royco’s global empire.
But with the highly anticipated fourth and final season of the drama set to premiere tomorrow, it won’t be just Shiv who stands by to see her fortunes change. The show has transformed the actress who plays her, Sarah Snoke, into one of the hottest talents in Hollywood.
Industry insiders suggest her success has been all the more refreshing because the 35-year-old Australian, who revealed her pregnancy at the series premiere in New York last week, isn’t the average, skinny L.A. star.
Sarah Snook (right) as Chief Roy, opposite Brian Cox as her father, Logan Roy (left), in Succession
In fact, Snook is credited with being a key figure in the movement for providing realistic portrayals of the female body to the industry.
Bolstered in her goals is her close friend and mentor Kate Winslet, who has spoken candidly about being a champion for “real” women’s bodies.
With characteristic candor, Snook told Vogue Australia: “I mean, every time you get a role, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s the role.'” I’m really going to work out and look like the movie star I hope to become.”
“And every once in a while, I’m like, Can I really subscribe to an unrealistic beauty standard that’s making more women unhappy, because they feel like they can’t actually achieve something unreal anyway?”
Snook was a little-known relative prior to her role as Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy in Succession, which first aired in 2018. Along with her three older siblings Connor, Kendall, and Roman, Shiv must fight for ultimate control of the company he formed. their father from scratch. Logan, amid concerns for his ailing health.
A Hollywood executive told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Sarah was without a doubt the defining star of the chain of succession. All the characters are great but Sarah is first among equals.
She’s taken on a complex persona as Shiv – someone who’s been emotionally damaged but has this cold exterior – and it makes you want to root for her. When she’s on screen, you can’t take your eyes off her.
Succession star Sarah Snook attends the HBO/HBO Max Emmy Nominees Reception at San Vicente Bungalows on September 12, 2022 in West Hollywood, California
However, Snook admitted that she almost didn’t get into the role – because she was afraid that becoming the show’s only heroine would get her to play “Bimbo.” Do not worry.
But this attitude is firmly rooted in her thoughtful Australian upbringing. Snoke, the youngest of three sisters, was born in Adelaide to Ian, a swimming pool salesman and volunteer firefighter, and Debbie, a carer.
The couple, who separated when the children were young, met while traveling in Papua New Guinea. Snoke later joked that they “raised three adventurous women.”
“They are a close-knit family,” a friend told MOSS, despite their spread all over the world. One sister, Laura, lives in Dubai, while the other, Rebecca, lives in London.
There is a history of acting in the family. Snoke’s maternal grandmother performed in London’s West End before stumbling across to South Africa at the outbreak of World War II. She eventually emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand, where her mother was born. An English aunt was also an actress.
But as a child in 1993, while watching Sister Rebecca fly across the stage in a production of Peter Pan, Snook fell in love with the ‘magic of the stage’ and decided to become an actress herself.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t know my sister could fly!'” she recalled in an interview.
Snook took acting lessons, appeared in school productions and worked briefly as a children’s illustrator called Fairy Lavender. “When you’re a children’s artist, nothing bothers you,” she later admitted. She got a place in Australia, the equivalent of RADA, Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art, but a friend said the bright lights of Los Angeles were never one of her appeal.
“Before her career began, Sarah was a typical Australian, backpacking around Europe, staying with friends,” said a friend. She came to Los Angeles at one point but didn’t like the whole scene.
However, her talent was undeniable and she embarked on a series of small but prestigious film roles that earned her a mentor in Academy Award winner Kate Winslet.
The couple starred in back-to-back films in 2015: the Australian comedy The Dressmaker and Steve Jobs, about the late Apple co-founder.
It’s probably not surprising that they did – they’re both known for their straight talkers and positive approach to the film industry.
Like her grandmother, Snook eventually played a role in London’s West End, performing alongside Ralph Fiennes in Ibsen’s production of The Master Builder in 2016.
After she was offered the role of Chef in 2017 — the first season, which aired the following year — she moved to New York.
“I’m much more into camping at home or in the bush,” she said, “and I thought the world of billionaires and high-flying wasn’t something I felt a natural inclination for.” So I wasn’t sure (the role) was right for me.
“But during the pilot, I was like, ‘I really hope they keep me this way. This is the script and it’s so much fun. “
A friend said: ‘Sarah has always been concerned with work. It was never about becoming a star.
But today, Sarah doesn’t have much choice in the matter. Once her ‘Succession’ began, the actress attracted an enthusiastic following online.
One section of Reddit’s social media post is dedicated to her bottom, showing close-ups of what one fan described as “the perfect bottom since Pippa Middleton.” Vogue’s fashion bible also dissected her character’s “enviable” style.
But Snook has candidly admitted to wearing Spanx — compression underwear — to achieve Shiv’s chic look.
‘It was a 100-degree day with full sun over it,’ she said as she filmed last season’s final scene in an Italian villa.
“I was in high heels… I was wearing Spanx and a tight dress.” I had to go and sit in a cold, dark room with a cold compress on my face.
Snoke told her friends that she finds the “obsession” with her character’s clothes and body “funny”.
A woman who has known the actress since 2011 said: “The refreshing thing about Sarah is what you see is what you get. She’s down to earth and genuine, and yes, she eats. She’s someone who always enjoyed a drink and had a good laugh. She hasn’t changed.”
Her succession stars share those views. Brian Cox said of her: ‘She’s really talented. I can’t think of anyone better, she’s just amazing. I adore her, she is beautiful.
Sarah Snook as Lorna White (left) in the 2010 telemovie Sisters of War
When Covid hit in 2020, Snook returned to Melbourne and spent lockdown at a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city with an old friend, Australian comedian Dave Lawson. They fell in love unexpectedly.
“We were so shocked by it,” she later said. “We’ve been friends since 2014, lived together, traveled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic.”
Snook proposed on Halloween that year and they married in her backyard in Brooklyn the following February, with only a handful of witnesses.
“We both cringe at the ‘I’m so happy, I married my best friend’ thought,” she said. “We’re like, ‘Oh my God, are we one of those people?'” “”
The couple is now expecting their first child, and stylists are keeping her blossoming bump under wraps while filming the final season of the series Succession.
Critics who watched the first four episodes say there is a “bombshell” that will blow viewers away.
It is known that the new series includes a funeral, which has led to speculation that one of the main characters has been killed.
“There is promise in the succession title,” the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, told The New Yorker. I never thought it could go on forever.
But while it may be the end for Shiv, it’s only the beginning for Snook.
Last year, she portrayed the Australian horror film Run Rabbit Run, and she has voiced a character in the new animated series Koala Man, alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. For now, her friends say, she’s looking forward to becoming a mother in May and “seeing what the future brings.”
A friend said, “She’s not a braggart but someone who believes in her own worth, in her own talent.”
In person, she’s absolutely gorgeous, but it just didn’t quite fit Hollywood standards. I think she just had to wait for the industry to catch up.
Maybe then, Sarah Snoke is more like Chef than she ever imagined.
