Why Suzanne Weiss From Pieces Of A Woman Looks So Familiar
Netflix's recent hit drama Pieces of a Woman stars Vanessa Kirby as Martha, a young woman going through her first pregnancy with her partner Sean, played by Shia LaBeouf. Dealing with a traumatic home birth process that leaves everyone emotionally distraught, the couple's relationship is tested as Martha, Sean, and the people they are close to try to deal with the tragic event in their own way.
Along with Kirby and LaBeouf, the cast includes Ellen Burstyn as Martha's mother Elizabeth, Molly Parker as midwife Eva, and Sarah Snook as Martha's cousin, Suzanne Weiss. Suzanne works as the prosecuting attorney in the case between Martha and Sean regarding who's responsible for what happened to their child.
The actors (particularly Kirby) have been praised for their performances, and given the talent in this cast, it's no surprise. Though her role in Pieces of a Woman is a supporting one, Snook stands out among the pack as Suzanne. If you've been paying any attention to television and movies the past couple years, you will definitely recognize her face.
Not sure where you've seen Sarah Snook before? Here are her biggest roles to date.
Sarah Snook got her start with smaller Australian projects
Born in Adelaide, Australia, Snook unsurprisingly got her start in acting through smaller projects in her home country. Initially appearing in various shorts and TV movies, Snook got her first big supporting role in the supernatural drama-comedy Spirited, about a dentist who leaves her failing marriage to move into a new apartment where the ghost of an English rock star happens to also reside. Snook joined the series in the second season as the character Antonia.
Snook took a starring role in 2015's The Beautiful Lie, a modern adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel Anna Karenina. She played Anna Ivan, a sports star whose happy marriage to Xander Ivan (Rodger Corser) is tested by a man named Skeet Du Pont (Benedict Samuel), in this six-part miniseries. If your'e familiar with the original story, you can guess how well it ends for Anna.
Snook's career grew with supporting roles in dramatic movies
After her first major role in Spirited, Snook started branching out to different, bigger projects and working with more well-known actors. In just 2015 alone, Snook had two major supporting roles, as both Andrea Cunningham in Steve Jobs and Gertrude Pratt in the period drama The Dressmaker. Soon after, Snook played Lori in The Glass Castle, an indie film starring Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson.
Based on the 2005 memoir of the same name by Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle follows Larson's Jeannette as she grows up with an unconventional and impoverished upbringing, leading her to leave home at the first opportunity and become a writer. Snook's character Lori is Jeannette's older sister, who looks after her younger siblings but dreams of moving to New York City. The film was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, whose next project is the highly-anticipated Marvel film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
The actress is making her mark on genre anthology series
Snook has also acted in a couple of major genre anthologies over the past few years. In 2016, she starred in the Black Mirror episode "Men Against Fire," a story about the use of advanced technology on soldiers to remove their empathy and make them better killing machines. In this future, technology has developed to a point where humanity has the ability to remove "bugs" like our pesky emotions and empathy. The episode stars Malachi Kirby as Stripe, a soldier whose implant designed to keep him focused on missions starts to malfunction. Snook plays Medina, Stripe's squad leader.
More recently, Snook also took on the role of Nikki in the AMC anthology series Soulmates. Set 15 years in the future, the story takes place in a world where a company called Soul Connex can determine the person you are meant to be with. Snook stars in the show's first installment, "Watershed." Happily married to her husband Franklin (Ben Kingsley-Adir), her character Nikki begins to examine the validity of her relationship as everyone around them finds their soulmate. Taking the test behind her husband's back, Nikki must decide if she wants to pursue her predestined path or continue trying with Franklin. Soulmates questions whether love is fated or chosen, and explores how a relationship affects someone's personal identity. It was renewed for a second season before the first even premiered (via Deadline).
Sarah Snook's current and most well-known role is on Succession
Snook currently plays the character Shiv Roy on the hit HBO show Succession. Though it's her most recent role, it is also the one she has become most known for. The black comedy-drama is about the privileged Roy and their company, Waystar RoyCo. The family members fight and try to manipulate each other for control of the media company as the health of the patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox), begins to fail. Soap opera-level drama ensues.
The youngest child of the family and the only daughter, Snook's Shiv is married to Matthew MacFadyen's Tom Wambsgans. She works as a political "fixer" for presidential candidate Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian). Eavis disagrees with a lot of Waystar's ideas and beliefs, which makes him a big target of the company and the family. Succession also stars Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun, and Rob Yang.
The series has been very well-received by critics and audiences, and HBO has already renewed the show for a third season. Succession has also won many awards, including both a Golden Globe and Emmy for Best Drama Series, with Snook earning an Emmy nomination for her performance as Shiv.