William Sadler Shares Wisdom with Theater Students
Interested in learning about acting from some of the biggest names in the business? Millbrook School is the place for you. Our theater classes receive regular visits from show business bigwigs happy to pass on wisdom to the next generation of performers. Most recently, actor William Sadler joined Elaine Lifter’s Honors Theater class to interact with Millbrook’s aspiring thespians.
Sadler’s credits include award-winning productions in theater, television, and movies. Perhaps most famous for playing Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, he’s also appeared in The Green Mile, Die Hard 2, The Grudge, The Pacific, Hawaii 5-0, and many more screen productions. On Broadway, Sadler has been in notable plays such as Exit the King and Denzel Washington’s production of Julius Caesar.
It's rare that high schoolers have the chance to hear from an actor like Sadler. Even rarer is the chance for them to interact informally in a small group setting—which is exactly what they did on Wednesday morning. The engaging back-and-forth began with students asking questions about Sadler’s career and the business of acting in general. Sadler graciously pulled back the curtain to share valuable insights from his several decades in the business.
“If I have a secret weapon as an actor, it’s empathy. I can look at someone else’s situation and begin to feel—actually feel—what they must be going through, even though I’m not going through it,” he explained. “And that informs me as I read the script and look at the relationships, look at how other people treat them. You start with the words and you start working backwards. You say, ‘Well, how would you have to feel to say that?’”
From his inspiration growing up enjoying typical childhood roleplaying games in Buffalo, New York, to being typecast as a villain to his comedic approach to playing Death in the Bill & Ted franchise, he gave the students a glimpse of how to become a professional actor. And part of that, he said, is simply by living a full life.
“I used to use the roles that I got to learn about myself and about other people. Because I grew up in a very provincial sort of setting, I wasn’t exposed to a lot of stuff,” he said. Sadler then explained that after being married for 45 years, having children and grandchildren and recently losing his wife, he no longer has to fake emotion for a role. “Now, there’s sort of this mountain of life that’s built up inside me that I can call on to do the work.”
One of the main points Sadler focused on was the fact that actors must work together to break the social contract—the expected basic level of decorum we maintain while interacting with each other in public—to create convincing performances. This idea resonated with students, who quickly connected it to their recent performance of Antigone, which included a scene in which one performer slaps another. The young actors noted how they were able to pull off that scene because they could trust each other completely.
After answering questions, Sadler took a seat with the students on the front row to watch Blake Frost ’26 deliver a monologue he’d prepared for his college application. Blake’s performance impressed the seasoned actor, who said he had no notes.
Moments like these are often the catalysts that propel students to success, instilling in them the confidence they need to overcome the obstacles in their path to creative careers. Thank you to Mr. Sadler for taking the time to visit Millbrook and inspire our students to follow in his footsteps!
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