Meet Teig Sadhana

We were lucky to catch up with Teig Sadhana recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Teig, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I think it’s really artistically helpful and exciting to welcome the idea that we are each just figuring this all out for the first time. For me, that opens you up to an empathetic curiosity that is essential to making impactful art. That idea gives me a sense of purpose – that I am part of a collective culture trying to understand itself. The best work I’ve seen actors produce, on any level, opens itself up and invites you in. I find this really moving, and I am driven to be part of that artistic exchange. It feels culturally significant as a human being to connect like that, and that understanding has given me a tremendous amount of purpose throughout my career.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am an Actor/Director/Writer/Filmmaker based out of New York City.
I was born in London, but my parents moved me and my brothers to Australia when we were young and so I grew up bathed in sun and constantly picking bindiis out of my bare feet.

One of my mothers was a Puppeteer for many years working under John Wright at The Little Angel Marionette theatre in London, and I think that had a pretty profound effect on me as a kid. I think some of my first friends were those puppets. I remember staring at them for ages trying to figure out what stories suited them best – I would imagine them alive and speaking and arguing with each other on their hooks. This, I think, fed my love of character work which obviously led me straight to acting.

After a string of successful stage shows (She Stoops to Conquer, Casanova, The Normal Heart, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), an off-West End project (Figures of Speech), and a Fringe run in Australia (Talk Dirty to Me), I came to New York City to complete my training through the Professional Conservatory at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, in 2018. This experience cradled my talent and offered me the right challenges at the right time to polish my craft.

There is a wonderful culture of storytelling here in The States that I think is very unique – I brought my career here in order to contribute to that. There is a true optimism in the work here that I find inspiring, and you can see this in the hunger there is for new work, new talent, new experiences. It’s unlike any other industry.

I truly believe there has never been a better time to be an Actor/Filmmaker, and in recent months have been working on financing a number of my own projects and finalising scripts for work for which I expect to start production by the end of the year (watch this space!). To me, the ability to balance building a successful Acting career while simultaneously building a successful Filmmaking career is extremely exciting!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Compassion, Intention, Participation.

I grew up in a family that was less than ordinary at the time. I have Lesbian mothers. Families like ours were such a rarity back then that it kind of forced a sense of perspective on me. I had to deeply understand and accept that other people had other ways through which they viewed the world. I think this planted a little seed of compassion in me at a young age, which I have made my damn responsibility to foster as it grows – as I grow. It has deeply touched every piece of work I’ve ever produced – I approach every role with a sense of genuine curiosity – I want to discover a character’s POV, and my job is to do so in full light of an audience. I think without that sense of grace I am able to offer my characters, I may never have been able to get close enough to them to truly understand, and then share them.

My advice to younger Actors is simple:
Keep the light on.

It is desperately easy to tune out the world at the moment. It is cacophonous. Don’t do it.
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Keep the light on, to me, means stay present – be present in the lives of those around you, and be present in your own intentions, thoughts and action. You are an active participant in the poetry of your life. If you understand this, you will have a deeper capacity for your work, a stronger connection to your roles, and a healthier relationship to life.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

Again, as an Actor I’ll keep banging on this door. Perspective is everything.

We are all so understandably coded through our experiences and circumstances and as an Actor it is absolutely essential that you are not fooled into judging your characters from your own perspective.

When I was 15, my mother handed me the book “All Quiet on the Western Front”. Now I’m not really a war literature kind of guy, but I trusted her and read it. It blew my mind wide open.

If you’re not familiar, its about a group of young German boys being sent off to fight in the First World War.
They leave with this tremendous sense of purpose, identity, pride and joy, only to have it all brutally torn down around them as they see the realities of the warfare they’re engaged in. Those who do survive the novel do so irrevocably changed and broken.

For me, this was a poignant moment in my development – it was the first time I’d really considered how the “Bad Guy” in stories felt. It opened me up to the idea that even the “Bad Guys” think they’re the “Good Guys” and that it all depends on who’s narrating.

A moment like that was essential in the making of me. It absolutely impacts the way I approach my roles and gives my work its purpose.
I think what makes my work compelling is the effort I make to give these characters that aforementioned “grace” and let them tell me what they need from me instead of dictating my own perspective onto them as scaffolding. This keeps me constantly in a place of discovery and exploration, allows me to honour these characters more truthfully, and leaves the door open for the audience to join in the process.

Love and Light Always,
Teig Sadhana

Hare Krsna/Hare Rama x

Contact Info:

• Website: https://classes.stellaadler.com/showcase/teig-sadhana/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sadhat8/

Image Credits

Lie of the Mind – @richelleszypulskiphoto
Consent – @valnovaphotography
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – Canberra Rep
Sure As Hell – @nomousego / @david_mckinner