Actress
Sarah Douglas has always been an actress, first and foremost, and relishes the opportunity to practice her craft in various forms within the media. Whether she appears on stage, film, television or in voice-work, the chance to frequently evolve and try new things is something that Sarah enthusiastically tackles within her lengthy professional career. “As an actor, it is my natural desire to communicate..” she proclaims and so in addition to her acting profession, Sarah can also be found getting up close and personal with her audiences and fans by entertaining on both sides of the Atlantic with public appearances and presenting talks that take a light hearted look at her own career. Her talks on the importance of effective communications are motivational as well as entertaining and have on occasion been utilized by drama students and workshops, eager to follow in to the profession.
As an actress, Sarah’s career began at the tender age of nine on stage as The First Fairy in A Midsummer’s Nights Dream, performed in Stratford Upon Avon, England, home of the author of the play and of the aspiring young actress of which she will always consider to be her heart and home. From an early age, Sarah was surrounded by actors and actresses as her mother, Beryl, worked closely with performers of the Royal Shakespeare Company, as their physiotherapist. Growing up in the hometown of William Shakespeare was a source of continuous inspiration. As a young ingenue, Sarah joined The National Youth Theatre in her teens and attended The Rose Bruford Drama School. With an established love of the theatre, Sarah then worked in the West End show, Gomes, with Roy Dotrice, went on a National Tour of Don’t Just Lie There, Say Something! alongside the late Jon Pertwee and, in more recent years, along with Emily Lloyd, has appeared on The Open Air Shakespeare Tour of both Hamlet and As You Like It, and a production of Roast Beef at London’s Riverside Theatre.
Sarah’s career soon steered her in front of the camera, and her first screen appearance was in the 1973 sci-fi film, The Final Programme, with Jon Finch. The film was based on the book by Michael Moorcock and is a film that Sarah credits as the beginning of a “quite a career in the sci-fi, fantasy mould.” Soon after this, Sarah’s screen career began to flourish with appearances in top television shows, Space:1999, Return Of The Saint and Thundercloud.
Returning to the silver screen, Sarah began to establish herself in leading lady roles, starring in the highly controversial The Brute, with Julian Glover, and cult-favourite The People That Time Forgot, maintaining her reputation as the “good girl who was always a bit naughty on the side.” During the shooting of The People That Time Forgot, Sarah was invited to audition for a role that would ultimately take her career to new heights, and redefine her cinematic appeal.
Sarah’s casting as Hollywood’s “Queen Of Mean,” in the role of the monstrous super villain Ursa in the big-budget movies, Superman and Superman II, to be filmed concurrently was a brilliant decision by director Richard Donner. Beating over 600 actresses to the part, Sarah was to find herself “flying” at the end of a wire for the next three years as the movies were extensively filmed and then reshot by two different directors, Richard Donner and Richard Lester. After Superman and the World Tour she undertook alone to promote Superman II, which took 9 months and became the last of the World Tours that Warner Bros ran, Sarah went to America to “try my luck for 3 months” to capitalize upon her success and international breakthrough. There, moments before she was to return to the UK, she received a phone call that would lead her to become a household name and face to American television audiences. Sarah was asked to join the cast of the 1980’s TV soap, Falcon Crest, portraying the glamorous, fabulous but scheming Pamela Lynch, a role that she played for 2 full seasons.
During her stint on Falcon Crest, Sarah was luckily afforded the opportunities to work on other projects simultaneously with the hit show. 1984 saw the release of her box-office hit movie Conan The Destroyer, facing off against Arnold Schwarzenegger and joining the cast of cult sci-fi mini-series V, going head to head with the show’s star character Diana, played by fan-favourite Jane Badler. Over the next two decades in Hollywood, Sarah continued to play roles in what she self-referentially styles as “evil, wicked Queens…with different hats on,” finding herself working with Mel Brooks, Grace Jones, Tom Selleck, Heather Locklear and Pierce Brosnan in numerous projects ranging from hits shows such as Magnum PI, Stargate, Babylon 5 and Remington Steele to fantasy films including Beastmaster 2 and Solarbabies.
In more recent years, Sarah has furthered her genre credits by appearing in films for SyFy, such as Witchville for rising star director, Pearry Teo, and most recently, co-starred in the British horror-comedy film Strippers Vs Werewolves which features an acclaimed cast including Steven Berkoff and horror icon Robert Englund. To add to this, Sarah has recently become part of the Doctor Who universe, lending her vocals to three online Adventure Games, a BBC exclusive that enables players to interact with the current stars of the hit tv show. In addition to these games, the actress has frequently recorded Audio Stories for Doctor Who and numerous other radio plays and commercials. Continuing her animated credits, Sarah has a recurring voice role in Green Lantern: The Animated Series which began airing early in 2012, a role that Sarah clearly relishes within a media forum that the actress has always loved to get involved in.
During the autumn of 2012, Sarah returned to London’s West End, treading the boards in The Halloween Sessions, a collection of stories cleverly interwoven together by a team of writers that included Kim Newman, Stephen Volk and Anne Billson, with direction by Sean Hogan. Although intentionally a limited run, nevertheless the production received numerous positive reviews and critical acclaim. Most recently, more audio work has been completed and released, narrating the Age of Five trilogy, a series of books by Trudi Canavan.
Moving on to the future, Sarah is looking forward to further career opportunities that are currently in development, with further invitations to convention appearances also being lined up.
Sarah is continually approached by publishing houses to write her autobiography, however she has chosen to use her experiences as online blogs on this site in order to become readily accessible to her audience. In addition to her writing and acting, Sarah can also be found teaching and accepting invitations to appear at speaking events. Whenever opportunity allows, Sarah tries to attend as many conventions and signings globally as possible in order to meet her fans, many especially in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, of whom she is delighted to meet and thank them personally for all of their loyal support and interest in her lengthy career.
In her personal time, Sarah visits her beautiful and beloved Stratford Upon Avon and her family. Her passion for gardening, creating a piece of England’s “green and pleasant land” in the heart of the Hollywood Hills keeps this “Ursa’s” high flying feet on the ground.
Contact
- Website: www.sarah-douglas.com
Misty Moon Event
- An Evening With Sarah Douglas – 25th January 2014