‘Full circle moment’: A-list actor Sarah Snook returns to her roots with Scotch College interview

The award-winning actor shared her tips for success with students on the small-scale podcast that once only attracted around 200 views per episode.

International acting superstar Sarah Snook returned to her roots with an appearance on her former Adelaide high school’s podcast.

Snook, who graduated from Scotch College in 2005, spoke with her former drama teacher and current head of theatre arts at the school, Nicola Triglau, and her year 12 daughter Charlotte.

Charlotte led the wide-ranging interview for the podcast episode, released on Tuesday night, in which they spoke about topics from the Succession star’s early interest in acting at Scotch to advice for young actors.

“It’s quite a full-circle moment considering when you were in year 12 I was in my mother’s stomach and she was pregnant with me,” Charlotte told Snook.

“I’ve heard that you had to go down to the tuck shop to get her wraps.

“It’s so lovely that we could have a little moment now and come together now that I’m in year 12 and finishing.”

Adelaide-born A-list actor Sarah Snook, left, spoke to Scotch College year 12 student Charlotte Triglau and Nicola Triglau, who is Sarah's former drama teacher and Charlotte's mum. Picture: Supplied

Adelaide-born Snook went to Scotch College, in Torrens Park, for high school after she was awarded a performing arts scholarship.

After developing her passion for acting at the top Adelaide school, Snook gained entry into the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and graduated in 2008.

Her big break came in 2018 with her role as Shiv Roy in Succession, which earned her accolades including two Golden Globes and a Primetime Emmy award.

She told the podcast how she played the role of Wendy in Ms Triglau’s production of Peter Pan.

“I probably wanted to play Peter Pan,” the A-lister said.

“They were the things I remember most of my time at school (theatre productions).”

In particular she recalled being nervous about playing the role of Cherry in a production of Cosi Fan Tutte.

“We did Cosi (Fan Tutte) at Scotch and I remember … being on stage and being incredibly nervous,” she said.

“(It was) I don’t remember my lines, I don’t want to be here kind of nervous and getting the shakes.”

But the actor said she took the nerves in her stride and integrated it into her character with a shaky leg as a “tick”.

Later in school, the then budding actor Snook recalled taking charge in drama class with Ms Triglau.

“I was frustrated or bored … I remember just taking over a bit and I remember your mum coming over and going like … ‘if you’re just going to do it for other people no one is going to learn’,” she told the teen.

“It was such a good lesson.”

Adelaide-born A-list actor Sarah Snook spoke to Scotch College year 12 student Charlotte Triglau. Picture: Supplied

Adelaide-born A-list actor Sarah Snook spoke to Scotch College year 12 student Charlotte Triglau. Picture: Supplied

Throughout the interview, Snook gave advice to Charlotte, the performing arts captain at the school.

“Believing that you are allowed to occupy that space, I think that’s a really important thing for an actor because so much of it can become about rejection,” Snook said.

“They should be allowed to stand in their own spaces and speak their own voices.”

Snook revealed she has “pointedly chosen” roles through the lens of “is this an interesting character” and that actor initially turned down playing Shiv Roy in Succession because “I didn’t see the vision”.

“Is this character just sort of like, I call it a handbag to the plot?” she said when asked about how theatre and film can give a voice to women.

“Is the character just going to be a prop? … I’m not interested in doing that.

“It’s kind of why I wasn’t interested in Shiv initially because I just thought it was a bunch of white men in business.

“I’m very glad I said yes in the end.”

Snook also spoke about her upcoming voice role in the animated film, Memoir of a Snail by Australian director Adam Elliot, which she described as “a really nice collaborative process”.