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s already outpaced AAMI’s Kath ‘n’ Kim-style “ She’ “Rhonda”, recognisable in a series so far of 12 different Toyota scenarios with more, recorded before Christmas, now scheduled this new year. ”
ous climb to fame via myriad bit parts. Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe names Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman trod the boards like Sarks, hitting the big time only in their mid-to late-30s. Linda Grey was late 30s, Kathy Bates early 40s and doyenne Lucille Ball nearly 40 when their names went up in lights. After a couple of notable TVCs, Paul Hogan was approaching 50 when he got his break. So, all the while, Sarks determinedly garners a growing, eclectic, portfolio of work, creating credentials in multiple genres. The Lydia Sarks acting resume ranges from parts in classic Roman epics and Greek tragedies such as Medea and The Metamorphoses, to seven different roles in Dylan Thomas’s Under Milkwood, to a spot in a spec TVC for Doritos. She’s played Jane Bennett and Anna Karenina in segments for ABC-TVs First Tuesday Book Club, featured in a music video for a popular band and appeared in an interstitial – a commercial integrated into another platform: an ad for Purina
pet food seen in the Bondi Vet series. As for many actors, much but not all of the work was unpaid, performed to establish a comprehensive show reel, gain experience and network with the right people. Indeed, Sarks’ first paid TVC role came just two years ago: coincidentally, for Toyota’s Yaris, but unrelated to her present contract. She’s appeared in short films, one shortlisted for Tropfest, and as a non-singing actor in Opera Australia productions Die Tote Stadt, directed by Bruce Beresford, and La Boheme. This year, her OA engagement sees her in the company’s current summer season at the Opera House. In the past year, at last, all the study and diligence have begun to pay off. She had the lead female role in TVCs for QBE Insurance and Mortgage Choice, then won the prized nation-wide Toyota contract, thrilled to be chosen from among more than 100 who tried out for the substantial extended part. Later this year she’ll be seen as a visiting character
in episodes of the new series of Channel 10’s romcom Wonderland. With a visiting Japanese crew, she’s recorded a TVC for Sony, also to be aired in 2014. For Sony, her second prestigious global TVC, she’ll be seen by an international audience as the commercial screens around the world. Sarks has a beautiful face for the camera: classic features, a striking smile and wide expressive green eyes that light up when she talks of her hopes for the future. This month and next she’ll be recording short scripts known as “sides”, auditioning for parts in American TV pilots. US agents send out an international casting call for artists, whose local agents send their tapes to LA. She’s up against world talent, plus on-the-ground American hopefuls. “You send it over,” she says, with a fingers-crossed air and a laugh, “hoping someone might go: ‘Yeah!! Grrreat!’.” The Toyota work offers a slight edge perhaps: US producers will recognise Zoe, an Aussie version
of a similar character for the brand, “Jan”, on TV across the States. The Sarks clan is close and family’s important. Brother Anthony, just 11 months younger, is “like a twin”. On her mother’s birthday, Dad brought Carole to dinner at The Mullet, secretly organised the kids to drive up from Sydney and had host Lou Perri sneak them into the restaurant via the back door. “Mum cried!” Sarks recalls merrily. It’s “old home” for her today: in her uni days she and her cousin Madeleine Cassegrain worked here as casual waitresses, and Lou greets her warmly. Now expecting his second child with wife Angela and enjoying fatherhood, he dandles his visiting one-year-old Milly on his arm and good-naturedly needles Sarks about settling down and starting a family herself. She laughs lightly and brushes off his teasing but were she to respond I’ve a feeling she’d be saying, for now anyway, acting comes first. Break a leg, Lydia.
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