We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Cleveland recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I always knew that I wanted to be an actor, however it never seemed like an actual option for me. When I was younger, I wanted to be a singer and a performer, so when I did my first school musical, I thought I would go for it. But, living in smaller town, as well as not having had any family or acquaintances in the arts, I felt it was so far out of reach.

It’s funny, anyone who knows me now or anyone who was very close to me as a child would not agree, but I was shy and awkward. It made it difficult to connect to new people and being picked on a lot really made me think there was no way I would be accepted in the world of acting.

Something happened when I hit high school, and I jumped out of my shell with full force and was still awkward, but now hyper as well. I met a lot of people and made wonderful friends who loved me for all of my silliness and weirdness, and they are still friends of mine to this day. Those friends are the ones who have been encouraging and supportive through my dreams and aspirations, and are definitely part of the reason I believed in myself enough to pursue this amazing and extremely fulfilling career of mine later in my life.

The only other thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a Mom, and I was lucky enough to fulfill that dream as well, very early on, with three beautiful daughters.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers and tell them how you got started in this career?

Well, I guess I always start by telling people that I am Mom, a Wife, and an Artist. I know that is a simple response, but those are who I am. Family and then work are my two passions and always have been.  In terms of who I am at this moment… I am someone who is extremely appreciative for this life I am getting to live right now.  And, I am also just a little wonky all around. I love to laugh, have fun, be silly, and make others happy as well.

As for how this career came to be,  it honestly started and stopped pretty quickly a long time ago.  I used to serve at several restaurants. One day there had been a casting call on the radio for Extras (BG) for an upcoming film. You had to have a lot of availability though, and I was working so much that I thought there would be no way to get time off. I went to the casting call anyway, along with hundreds of others, and got cast as background and a Featured Background for Disney’s The Music Man. Nothing can describe the insane gratitude and joy I had being on that set, and I knew at this moment that it didn’t matter when, I would be doing this job.

Fast forward many many years, and my husband, our three girls and I moved to Kentucky. We lived there for ten years and that was the next time I heard a radio casting call yet again. I thought that since my girls were getting older and more self sufficient maybe this was the time for me to take a shot at this dream that had been put on the back burner for long enough now. Not only did these wonderful people cast me in their film, they ended up casting me in a dozen more, my girls were in them, we had wrap parties and cast events in my home, they became my dear sweet friends, and the ones who gave me advice, lessons, and the push I needed.

This led in to me jumping right in to whatever I could find; student films, short films, commercials, print media and more Features. I was keeping quite busy, but still able to be flexible to be with my family and friends, and it had become all I had ever wanted.

Now we are here, 6 years later, and I am a full time working actor, writer, producer, and director. Being in front of the camera is a place I truly crave for being creative, but being behind the camera is a new found love that I am very much enjoying getting to know.

I am also on the Board of Film Access Northumberland and the Festival Director for their Eye2Eye International Film Festival. The film festival has a special place in my heart because our main focus is to bring opportunities to new and emerging filmmakers, especially to my small hometown. Considering it felt like such an out of reach dream for myself, growing up there, I wanted to be part of making it known and show others you can make a beautiful career in film.

At this time, what I am really doing is just taking advantage of every opportunity that is presented to me. This way I get to create and learn so that I can be an all around better performer. I am just making the most of this amazing life. I say life because it is only a job when it stops being fun. It is a life when you love it. It is a bonus when you get paid for it.

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

Being an actor for me is the greatest gift. I get to meet people from all over, who are all so very different. I get to dive in to different characters and see all sides of them; the good, the bad, and the ugly, in every one of them, Trying to find the good in a not so great character, or what appears to be just an all around terrible character, can be challenging, but rewarding and makes you more aware in life. I think it makes me a better person by reminding me that people are not always as they appear and we truly don’t know everything about someone.

Another rewarding aspect is that I laugh all of the time! When I am on set, my heart is consistently full from the people I encounter. It never ceases to amaze me how you can meet someone for a day or two weeks and you can end up friends for life after working together. I love the way an entire group, both cast and crew, can come together and create something, and yet without just one of those people, it is nothing. Every single person on that set is what makes the magic happen.

I have been very lucky to have been able to work on some very meaningful projects. There was a commercial I worked on called Dear Mom, where I played the role of the Mom whose son was depressed and she takes him to the Doctor’s for help. A short film about addiction, called Intervene, where I play an addict who loses custody of her son. A Feature called A Father’s Fight where I played the role of the wife of an addict and you see the effects it has on both her and her family. These roles not only impacted me in so many ways, but I had people call or message me to thank me for being part of those projects as they have changed their lives. It truly doesn’t get better than that.

And one last thing I will mention is that I get to show my girls that you can truly do anything you put your mind to, you can be exactly who you want to be, and it doesn’t matter what age you start.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Negativity. There was a time in my life where I felt that everything was so hard and I was very pessimistic. I am not sure where it came from; whether from low self esteem or or just not wanting to put forth the effort,  but it was a common go-to. “I will never finish that assignment”, so therefore didn’t start. “I won’t get that job”, so didn’t apply. It was only internal for the most part; people still saw me as confident and optimistic. But several years ago, I started telling myself that for every negative thought I had, I had to say the opposite. If I thought I wouldn’t complete something, I had to tell myself that I was going to complete it and fast! If I thought I wasn’t going to get a job, I told myself I was going to get it and be bloody good at it! Not only did this help me change my outlook for myself, but I felt as time moved on, I was more and more believing it. And it was ok if I didn’t get the job or the role or whatever it was I was working towards, I had put my best effort forward and next time I would be even better!

I always try to relate things back to my kids and being a good Mom to them. I want them to be strong, independent and confident, so how could I want that for them if I wasn’t doing the same for myself. I teach them to be kind and have grace for themselves and others, but I wasn’t giving myself grace and kindness. They say it takes 30 days to change a habit and I can say it took much longer than that for me to change my bad habit (and honestly I slip up), but at my core, I do truly believe in myself now, and sometimes I just have re-unlearn that negative self talk.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sarah-cleveland.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahcleveland
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/actorsarahcleveland

Image Credits
Megan Vincent Tyler Sansom