After a 30-year career in film, theater, and television, Sarah Paulson’s list of accolades includes, among others, an Emmy, a Golden Globe —both for her portrayal of Marcia Clark, the prosecutor who tried to convict O.J. Simpson, in the first season of American Crime Story — and a Tony for her role in the play Appropriate.
However, the most meaningful recognition Paulson, 50, has received wasn’t at her home in Los Angeles, where she’s giving this interview via video call, but at a restaurant in New York. In May 2024, Sardi’s, a legendary institution in Manhattan’s theater district, decided to hang a caricature of Paulson on one of its walls, inducting her into the exclusive club of Broadway performers whose portraits decorate the space.
The tribute held special significance for her: when Paulson’s mother moved to New York in the late 1970s with her two young daughters, aged five and two, her first job was at Sardi’s. Did the waitress’s daughter ever imagine one day seeing herself on the walls of the restaurant where her mother worked?
“Yes, but the idea of living as a theater actress in New York seemed unimaginable to me. Even though I started on Broadway. As a kid, my mom took me to see plays, and of course, I’ve been to that restaurant so many times, seen so many opening nights there… I’ve gone a lot over the years and would see all these actors I admire on the wall, and I’d think…” At that moment, the conversation was interrupted when Paulson received a call, which she declined. “How funny. That was my mom.”
Question. While working on Appropriate, you mentioned in an interview that in your free time, you could only watch The Kardashians. Now, you’ve just collaborated with Kim Kardashian on Ryan Murphy’s latest series, All’s Fair, about a family law firm, set to premiere this fall. What was it like working with her, alongside Glenn Close and Naomi Watts?
Answer. My relationship with all of them is truly special, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed filming. We just wrapped four days ago. I can tell you that Kim was the keenest and funniest person. Sometimes we struggled not to laugh in the middle of a scene. We’ve already asked Ryan Murphy to release a video of outtakes. And it was difficult because we’re actually playing very serious lawyers. She’s funny and generous. I can’t say enough good things about my experience working with her. And she’s the star of this series, a much bigger role than what she played on American Horror Story [she participated in its 12th season]. They’ve shown us the trailer, and I think people are going to go crazy.
Q. You don’t like seeing yourself on screen. In fact, as far as I know, you’ve never seen yourself playing Marcia Clark, one of your most famous roles. Why is that?
A. When I was young, I did, because I couldn’t believe I was on screen. And then, as I got older and started working more, I realized that my natural tendency toward self-criticism was ruining my experience as an actress. Making American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson has been, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary experiences of my creative life. And I thought, “Oh my God, if I watch it, I know I’m going to find the flaws.” And then, when people started reacting so positively to it and it became a turning point in my career, I felt like I couldn’t watch it because, “Everyone thinks it’s great. What if I watch it and hate it? I don’t want to turn this success, both for the show and for me, into something negative.”
Q. But since you became an executive producer, you now have to watch yourself. Why did you decide to cross over? How do you feel about seeing yourself on screen during filming?
A. Ryan Murphy offered it to me. No one had ever asked me if I wanted to take on that role before. I took it very seriously and I do it because I’m someone with strong opinions. Lately, in anything I do, I’ve been given that opportunity, which means I have a kind of written contractual obligation to be heard. And yes, that means I have to watch myself. And that’s a challenge. But, in a way, I can put myself in a different perspective because I focus more on the work as a whole and less on myself individually.
Q. You’ve said, “No one could tell me as many terrible things as I tell myself.” Do you still talk to yourself like that?
A. I’m trying to improve on that. And I think I am, but when you’re a person with strong opinions… I’m constantly looking for ways to improve. And I fail all the time. But I’m someone who cares about this kind of self-assessment.
Q. I’ve also heard you talk about the importance of being proud of yourself.
A. And this sort of fits with what I’m saying. I used to care more about what others thought, and now I’m more interested in evaluating my own work. At the beginning of my career, I thought I got jobs by chance. And now I know I’ve earned my place in the order of things. It doesn’t mean I don’t want or expect to do more, but I do know that I’ve achieved things in my working life. And, of course, I’m old enough now to let that seep in. So there’s a kind of internal battle between self-criticism and self-celebration. And I think there’s a healthy balance. I try to integrate them so that neither one outweighs the other.
Q. Some of your longtime best friends are actors, like Pedro Pascal and Amanda Peet. Do you think the cliché of rivalry between actors, like in All About Eve, is false? Or have you seen it in others?
A. I’ve seen it in others, and I’ve seen it in my own life, too. Not with those you mention, but with others. Pedro and I aren’t competing for the same roles, and Amanda and I have been best friends for 25 years. And we have such a deep friendship that we can talk and laugh about it. It’s a cliché, no doubt, but like many clichés, it’s rooted in reality. An actor has opportunities that are at the mercy of other people’s decisions, and you have the constant feeling of the carrot and the stick. It’s hard. I’ve been incredibly lucky, but there are also things I haven’t achieved. And I’ve lost some friends because of what you mention, and it’s been very painful. But when I look at the people around me, I’m so grateful to have them and I feel very safe with them.
Q. Speaking of All About Eve, your first acting job was understudying Amy Ryan in a Broadway play at the age of 19. What would you like to say to that young woman based on your experience today?
A. I would say, ‘Girl, you have no idea what’s going to happen to you. No idea! Your dreams are falling short.’ I never thought I’d win an Emmy, I never thought I’d win a Golden Globe, I never thought I’d play a two-headed character [in Freak Show, the fourth season of American Horror Story]… I’ll say this until the day I die, I owe my career to Ryan Murphy.
Q. And to yourself, to your talent…
A. But I know a lot of incredible actors who haven’t had the opportunities I’ve had. And part of that is because I was lucky, and because Ryan changed the game by bringing together a group of actors, including myself, to make anthology series where we played a different character each time. Audiences were grabbed by that, and I was able to develop as an actress without being pigeonholed. The people who want to work with me now know what I’m capable of; I don’t have to prove it to them.
Q. Since you mention it, I think versatility is one of your keys as an actress. You’ve had nine Emmy nominations, for nine different roles. Would you like to play a long-running character, or is that something you avoid?
A. Many actors receive multiple nominations for the same role. In my case, it’s great to know that when I get nominated, it’s not because they’ve fallen in love with a character I’ve been playing for years; I know they’re evaluating just my work. But I was always very jealous of Claire Danes in Homeland. That she followed the character’s trajectory.
Q. I was just going to ask you what recent character you would have liked to have played.
A. Let me think of one even more recent than Homeland. Okay, I would have loved to play Shiv Roy in Succession. Sarah Snook [the actress who played her] is wonderful. I would have loved to play both of those roles, but I never would have been able to play them as well as they did.
Q. Not only are some of your best friends actors, but your partner, Holland Taylor, is also an actress. How do you manage this? Do you give each other advice? Do you help each other with lines?
A. I admire her so much because she’s one of the great actresses of our time. And right now she’s preparing something that’s brilliant and very different from anything she’s done before, and I’m so excited for her. We don’t have any competitiveness between us; I admire her, and her opinion on what I do matters a lot to me. She saw Appropriate about 10 times in the theater. And after each performance, I always wanted to hear her opinion.
Q. Over the course of your 10-year relationship, you’ve become a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. Do you feel an extra sense of responsibility because of that? Does it ever feel like a burden?»
A. I don’t see it as a burden, but I don’t always like feeling like my relationship belongs to someone else. It’s a strange thing. However, what makes me happy is that, in a way, through our relationship, we can set an example of two people who fell in love. For many, our age difference [31 years] is very disconcerting. That’s why I like to represent something so positive and unconventional, because living by predetermined social norms is boring, and why would you follow a path that isn’t yours? So yes, I like to represent something so positive. And at the same time, my relationship belongs to me.
Q. What do you think about the situation in the United States?
A. It’s an incredibly difficult time for me. When I watch or read the news, I’m simply perplexed. Sometimes I want to move away.
Q. Finally, I’d like to know what question you’d like to answer that you’re never asked.
A. God. You should have asked me that question at the beginning, to give me time to think… I think the things I’d like to be asked, I can’t answer in public. Only over a glass of wine in a restaurant.
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