“All the explanation you need to know is in her face and body language.” FILM THREAT
“Affirming and harrowing at the same time…Oliva’s incredibly affecting performance, a rich, intense and moving short film which is impossible to tear your eyes away from… well-crafted gem…ferocity and nurturing tenderness shines through every frame.” UK FILM REVIEW
“Oliva beautifully portrays the hunted wariness and demeanor of a woman grappling with abuse, but she also has the resolute determination and fierce love of a parent doing everything in her power to safeguard her child's safety and innocence.” OMELETO
She approaches her work with unbridled guts, vitality and courage, getting gritty and messy while embracing vulnerability and awkwardness; all with heart and (usually vulgar) wit.
Her short film “Lioness”, which she wrote, produced and acted in, received critical acclaim, screening at over 60 festivals, including Academy Award®, BAFTA, BIFA, and Canadian Screen Qualifying.
She can be seen in Dexter: Origins (Showtime), and just wrapped a role in the Amazon Prime series "Scarpetta”, starring Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Chicago, NY and FL credits include Northlight Theater, Mary-Arrchie Theater, Lifeline Theater, The Artistic Home, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sicinius in Shakespeare in the Parking Lot's Coriolanus ( NY Times Critics Pick. ) Regionally, she have performed at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, GableStage, American Stage, The Berkshire Theater Group, Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Playfest), Orlando International Fringe Festival, and many others
She received her MFA in Acting from Brandeis University, where the focus was in the Suzuki Martial-Arts Actor Training. She the most proud mother of a fierce, award-winning sculptress daughter.
Provocative. Passionate. Bold.
WON "Best Actress" Lioness - Georgia Shorts Film Festival
WON "Best Actress" A View From the Bridge - Critics' Pick Orlando Sentinel
WON "Best Supporting Actress" Top Girls - Critics' Pick Orlando Sentinel
NOMINATED “Best Actress” Lioness - SOHOInternational Film Festival
NOMINATED “Best Short - Drama” Lioness - First Glance Film Festival Philadelphia
NOMINATED “Best Cinematic Writing” Lioness - Blackbird Film Festival
NOMINATED "Best Supporting Actress" Between Riverside and Crazy - Theater Tampa Bay Awards
NOMINATED “MELA HUDSON EXCELLENCE IN FILMMAKING" - First Glance Film Festival
WON “Powerful Voice Award” Lioness - Blackbird Film Festival
WON “BEST STORY”- LakeCity International Film Festival
WON Director "Best Production" Qualia Be Original Theater Festival
“Unforgettable, played to perfection. Ms. Oliva's Mabel is quite a piece of work - part Lisa Loopner nerd, part Eunice from The Carol Burnett Show, and part Joy/Hulga from Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People…She will break your heart” Broadwayworld
”Marvelously demented” Creative Loafing
“The Divine Sara. The cast shines, but it’s Sara Oliva who rivets the attention, in a performance that captures Mabel in all her awkward, exuberant, and deeply affecting glory.” Registry Tampa Bay - 10 Women To Watch
“Sara Oliva dominates the stage. As the “long-suffering” wife of Eddie, Beatrice provides the strongest performance in the show. Oliva portrays Bea as not pathetic and weak, but as the real pillar of the family, with love and patience” The Arthur Miller Society
“Sara Oliva makes her time on stage worthwhile….and is hilarious as the foot soldier of public healthcare” Windy City Times
“Sara Oliva turns Helen the maid into a scene stealer who disrupts arguments with badly times entrances and then milks every step for all its worth” Palm Beach Magazine
“As Church Lady, Sara Oliva nails one of the wildest onstage transformations imaginable” Miami Herald
“Sara Oliva does remarkable work in the role, one that stores a surprise that cannot be described” Tampa Bay Times
“The hilarious and touching Sara Oliva’s Church Lady gets the most memorable scene of the show and maybe even of the year” Broadwayworld
“Watching the skillful actors play out the most passionate and destructive emotions is a heady pleasure…Sara Oliva gets every note just absolutely right as Beatrice. A most compelling tale given top-notch treatment” Orlando Sentinel
“Oliva’s selfless devotion to her son is as heart-wrenching as a Pieta…a war production that is equally affecting on both an emotional and intellectual level.” Orlando Weekly
Rivkeh’s anguish, exacerbated by the death of her brother, is palpable in her performance. Her Rivkeh journey is one that sees her battle loneliness, depression…Sara Oliva’s motherly struggle…breathing, riveting work…the audience's hearts break Broadwayworld
“Good supporting performance, in a portrayal so nasty it has to have been based on a real-life experience” Chicago Tribune
“The best performance is from Sara Oliva, who is also fun to watch as a neglectful nurse” New City Chicago
A particularly memorable turn by Sara Oliva… a showy role as a secretly female pope and a quiet present-day woman who gave everything to her workplace only to be passed over….that was where she ripped your heart out, as she embodied a contemporary woman who gave everything…” Orlando Sentinel
CLIPS
