Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sarah Elizabeth. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a Boston-based actor. I trained with the British American Drama Academy in London and the Tony-award winning Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. At Bard College, where I graduated with a BA in Theater, I was awarded the Carter Towbin Prize for creativity, versatility and commitment to theater.
Thanks to casting director Angela Peri at Boston Casting, I landed my first principal role in the feature film ‘Chappaquiddick’ as the Senate Secretary to Jason Clarke’s Ted Kennedy. The film earned a $20M distribution deal at TIFF and is set for theatrical release on April 2018. Additional Boston-area credits include indies, commercial/print work and numerous student films at Emerson College and Boston University.
I am also a model and have been featured in Vogue Italia’s Photo Vogue and Elegant Magazine. My work for photographer Ilona Szwarc (Yale School of Art, MFA ‘13) has been exhibited internationally and published in TIME Magazine’s LightBox and The New Yorker’s Photo Booth.
Please look at SarahElizabethMitchell.com for my demo reel and gallery.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I always planned to move to New York City on graduating from Bard College but returned home to Boston for personal reasons. At first, I felt that by staying in Boston I would be disadvantaged compared to my NYC-bound peers, but I have found that there has been some benefit to cutting my teeth in this city. Boston is an interesting space for an early-career actor. Thanks to the statewide Film Tax Incentive, we’re seeing more productions coming to town with each passing year. This year is the first since 1988 that we’ve had a series filmed fully in Boston thanks to Hulu’s Castle Rock filming on location in Massachusetts and at New England Studios. The New England film scene has some wonderful and close-knit talent. We don’t have nearly the saturation of actors that you see in New York City, for example. For that reason, I find that it’s a great space for early career actors to learn the ropes in a space where they can develop their craft, compete for day player roles, make and learn from mistakes and experience a slightly less crushing volume of competition. The small, tight knit community presents an excellent opportunity to grow. I would urge productions to continue to consider local talent as a quality option and as a less expensive option than flying talent in from other cities. Local actors and casting directors have a lot of talent to offer that’s already right here in Boston.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Actress, model – what should we know?
As a performing artist, my goal has always been to examine life and present a fresh perspective to the audience. I want them to walk away with fresh eyes on their own lives. I have always favored meaning over money, story over spectacle, efficacy over entertainment – perhaps to a fault. As we continue to grow and shift as a culture away from durational long-form storytelling and towards the meme-able, I believe holding on to these core values will become ever more important.
Any shootouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I have a friend who says, ‘it takes a village to make an actor’ and this could not ring truer to me. From family to friends to friends’ families and family friends, I cannot stress enough that support and sacrifice has been integral to my success at every step of the journey. The wisdom passed down to me from teachers and advisors has obviously been critical. The team at Boston Casting Inc. has also been huge for my development as an artist in the business sense – in college I learned the craft but at Boston Casting I learned how to audition and booked extra, photo-double, stand-in and principal work that taught me how to translate my training from class and theater to work on a professional film set.
Contact Info:
- Website: SarahElizabethMitchell.com
- Email: contact@sarahelizabethmitchell.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/sarah.elizabeth.mitchell
- Facebook: Facebook.com/sarahelizabethmitchell
- Twitter: Twitter.com/sarahelizamitch
Image Credit:
Jeff Heyer of Deeper Still Photography
Still frame from The Rift II (webseries) by Sam Krueger and Joshua F. Leonard
Model portfolio image by Chapman Studios
Headshot by Michael Roud Photography
Headshot by David Noles Photography
Headshot by David Noles Photograph
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