For many women, one might think that becoming a mother means putting their career on hold.
But Sarah Snook has revealed the sleepless nights she spent breastfeeding her baby helped her win her Olivier award.
The mother of one said breastfeeding her daughter in the middle of the night gave her the chance to learn the 60,000 words of Oscar Wilde’s monologue, which won her British theater’s biggest prize on Sunday night.
The Australian actress best known for her role as Shiv Roy in Succession, for which she won an Emmy this year, won the Olivier Award for Best Actress for her one-woman portrayal of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Ms Snook, 36, said she at one point feared she wouldn’t be able to learn the lyrics for her West End debut and that motherhood ever made her regret taking on such a demanding role .
Sarah Snook has revealed that the sleepless nights she spent breastfeeding her baby helped her win her Olivier award (pictured at Sunday night’s event)
Snook welcomed her daughter last year with her husband, Australian actor Dave Lawson, 45
After receiving her award, she said, “I just felt, ‘What am I doing? Why am I doing a 60,000-word monologue with an eight-month-old baby?’ I felt so stupid.
“So I was doing a lot of nighttime breastfeeding.
“And when I woke up at night, instead of sitting on my phone and feeding her, I would run across the lines.
‘I find that if you learn your lines at night and then sleep on them, they come in more effectively.’
Ms Snook competed against fellow TV star Sarah Jessica Parker, 59, from Sex And The City, as well as Sheridan Smith, 42, Sophie Okonedo, 55, and Laura Donnelly, 41.
But the awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall was dominated by a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, which won best actor and actress in a musical for its leads, Tom Francis and Nicole Scherzinger, 45.
This awards season was one to celebrate for Ms. Snook, who saw her triumph at the Critics Choice, Golden Globes and Emmy Awards.
The mother of one said breastfeeding her daughter in the middle of the night gave her the chance to learn the 60,000 words of Oscar Wilde’s monologue
The Australian actress best known for her role as Shiv Roy in Succession, for which she won an Emmy this year, won the Olivier Award for Best Actress
During the evening, she reunited with her on-screen father and Succession co-star Brian Cox
Snook welcomed her daughter last year with her husband, Australian actor Dave Lawson, 45.
The Succession star made the announcement on Instagram as she wrote an emotional tribute to the show after the final episode aired.
She posted a photo of her and her new baby sitting in front of the TV, ready to watch the finale.
In the caption, she wrote, “I just watched the final episode of the final season of something that changed my life. And now my life has changed again.’