Sarah Yarkin’s Guide to Keeping Confident In Creative Careers

Words: Rob Corsini | Guide: Sarah Yarkin

Make it stand out

For an outside looking in, Sarah Yarkin’s career looks like the one of dreams - with leading roles in TV shows like School Spirits and Single Parents, starring performances in films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Happy Death Day 2U, and appearances in iconic shows from Transparent to The Good Place and American Horror Story.

But Sarah knows that with every role you book, there are a handful of others that pass you by. While that’s a natural part of acting - and more broadly any creative career - that doesn’t mean it feels any easier when you get a no. Any rejection can affect your self-esteem - but to keep yourself going, you need to truly believe in yourself and your ability to succeed.

After a decade in the industry, Sarah knows all about holding true to yourself - here’s Sarah Yarkin’s Guide to Keeping Confident In Creative Careers

People Want To See You

When I was younger, I feel like I got a lot of advice about how to act, the kind of roles I should play, and how I needed to walk into a room. It felt like people were trying to mould me into something I should be - and it’s taken me so long to get to the point where I’ve realised that all they want you to be is yourself. You don’t need to pretend to be anyone - literally go into the room and show them who you are, because that’s what they want.

Trust What Feels Natural To You

When I went to acting school, we were told all these techniques - sense memory, substitution, this and that.  All of that is so true and it all has a really important place in certain roles. But I think for me, what's worked the most is tuning all of that out and going in the room and asking myself: how would I say this? People want to feel like an actor is a real person - but often they don’t know what that person looks like until they see it. You get to bring it to life.

There’s No Right or Wrong Way

I'm such a perfectionist. So much of my life was spent trying to get A's in school! But there’s something in this career that is the opposite of that. You don’t want to go into a room and just say every line right. That is so boring! They could get anyone to say the line right. For me, the release of telling myself “The line doesn’t have to be fucking right at all” was so freeing. You can say all the wrong words if you go in as your full self!

Have Your Fingers In More Than One Pie

I always feel so much compassion and empathy for actors because we are the people who need the most validation. As you’re waiting for roles, it can put you in a really low place self-esteem wise - because you’re waiting for someone to tell you yes. But the reality is, you don’t know when that next role is going to come - and so you need to find other ways to validate yourself. I know that I can keep showing up for myself by doing my own creative work. That’s dream that I get to make happen myself.

Your Community Will Build Your Confidence

I'm so grateful that I’ve got to work with such amazing women who were the number ones on call sheets when I was coming up. I got to observe their behaviour - how they commanded the set, how they held themselves, how they brought everyone together, all while being so amazing and humble about it. Getting to watch them set an example and for them to be there for me when I was younger was invaluable. As much as I can do that for other people, I will - it’s such a rewarding part of the job.

Give Yourself a Break

A couple of months ago a friend who is very successful asked me if I think about acting every day? And I realised, I don't want to be a person who thinks about my career every day. What a boring, boring person -  that’s just not how I want to live my life. Sometimes I'm thinking about my career a lot more, like when I'm on a show - but I’ve also been thinking a lot about how I want my 30s to look, and what kind of life I want to be living. This career is gonna come and go. You’re going to be on and then you're gonna be off. You could work for many years and then not work at all. But to derive all my happiness and my self-worth from my career is just going to be the saddest life.