We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sam Puskas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sam, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Once we wrapped on the Obi-Wan series in 2022 and I’ve returned from the States, I started directing in Budapest. My directorial debut was Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie at the Central Theatre, the one that Jodie Comer played on the West End and took to Broadway right after.

I met my beautiful wife on that project and It’ll remain the single most important piece of work I’ve ever brought to the table. Not only because of the hyper sensitive subject the plays’s fabric covers, but because of how truly therapeutic it’s been for Dorina tearing open decade-old wounds she never realised had scabbed badly and left scars. I am the goddamndest most fortunate chap I got to witness one of the greatest talents of our generation, reliving her traumas and turning what she found into cathartic, pure, spirit cleansing art.

No one will ever believe me when I say me being awestruck by her immense bravery and talents has got nothing to do with the fact I fell head over heals for her in the process. So I just encourage everyone who’s ever in town by chance to come see her monumental performance. It’s one for the ages.

Suzie Miller’s play in my humble opinion, acted and staged well is a masterpiece of our time and I’m proud beyond expression I’ve got the chance to be a part of its opening in Hungary.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well I rove some rocky trails becoming a stage director, looking back it was a positively insane ride, but being able to practice the profession I hold dearest to my heart had made it worth every minute of it. I mean it’s entertainment in general, but as a stage and film actor I’m not as conscientiously drawn towards hard hitting and difficult subject as I am with directing.

My latest premier, David Mamet’s Oleanna underlines that sentiment quite well, while I’m playing Albert in Molnar’s The Play’s the Thing. Which is a heartwarming period comedy.

I graduated as a Product Designer at London’s Middlesex University before moving out to LA to get a degree in film acting, been working as marketing manager for almost 15 years now to support myself during all this roving around and now I’m sitting here beside my 3 moths old son, wondering if there were any turns I could’ve taken to straighten this wildly winding path out a little bit. But I’m certain it was a more fun and scenic journey this way so I guess there’s no point in wondering.

Had someone nudged me when I was 18 years old and whispered in my ear, ‘you go down this road boy, you’ll be a dad in 10 years, married to the love of your life, doing what you love’ I wouldn’t’ve given a damn how many twists and turns the road ahead had in store for me. But if we forget the predetermined ‘road’ analogy for a moment, get real and face the fact how grand a part we got in carving our own destiny, the moral of my little story here is let’s be brave folks, go out in the world an rest assured, future comfort only ever awaits you outside your current comfort zone.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

To help people get a sense of how deeply intertwined we all are with each other, thru my work. Thru compelling storytelling. Simple as that.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Conversing with those select few, the people who – thru their own past experiences – really get what we were trying to say with a movie or a play. And they were moved, or healed, or uplifted by them. It just goes to show me I can really help someone else with what I do. And I’m not one to fall asleep easily, but when I lay down at night knowing I’ve made someone else’s day(s) easier, I sleep like my head’s had an impromptu rendezvous with a 2×4.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sam.puskas/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelpuskas/

Image Credits

Martin Wanda, Marie Claire Hungary.