Sara Sugarman: Very Sara Sugarman

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Adam Robert Lewis sits down, virtually, with director Sara Sugarman.

Sara, born in Rhyl, began her career as an actress making her television debut aged just 14 as ’Jessica Samuels’ in the BBC teen-drama ‘Grange Hill’.

Sara moved away from her acting career in the 1990s and decided to further a career behind the scenes, directing.

Sara gained praise behind the camera with a number of award-winning short films. Some of Sara’s early directorial pieces took place on location in the Garw Valley, where I grew up and consider home. 

Sara’s 1996 film ‘Valley Girls’, starring Gemma Jones and Wendy Phillips especially resonated with me. Wendy, affectionately known as Mrs Mop due to her previous job as our school cleaner, inspired me to go after my dream of acting. Sara and her faith in Wendy’s talent indicated that the dream was indeed possible.

Sara returned to the Garw Valley in 2001 to film cult-classic ‘Very Annie Mary’, a musical-comedy written and directed by Sara, starring Rachel Griffiths and Jonathan Pryce. I have fond memories of this proudly Welsh film and coincidentally consider it as my first acting job albeit as a very young extra amongst the crowds!

Sara soon moved from the Welsh valleys to the Silver Screen of Hollywood, where she directed motion pictures with Disney including teen-flick ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’, starring Lindsey Lohan, Adam Garcia and Megan Fox.

Sara’s most recent project “Saving the Cinema’ for Sky Movies, follows the story of Liz Evans and her campaign to save the local Lyric Cinema, starring Samantha Morton, Tom Felton and Jonathon Pryce.

This interview held an extra ‘special something’ for me, almost a feeling of things coming full circle. Being able to discuss how my passion for acting began because of Sara and her work was truly an honour.

And so with every story, we must start at the beginning…

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