Along Came A Moment In Time Starring Sydney Lemmon
Sydney was photographed and interviewed by Alison Engstrom; she was styled by Sarah Slutsky at Studio SES on location in New York’s West Village.
Sydney is wearing Claudia Li Fall 2020; earring by Young Frankk; rings by Mejuri; pumps by Manolo Blahnik
The West Village is such a haven for me, it’s so beautiful and has a romantic feeling. Then on top of that to have Jefferson Garden, this beautiful petite place to just walk around and feel miles away from the craziness, it was really nice. I love that garden because the part of Brooklyn that I lived in, for all of my time in New York, is right on the B/Q line. I would just get dumped there on West 4th Street any time I wanted to go to Moda Yoga or to feel like I was having a real New York day; maybe have a coffee at Sant Ambroeus to treat myself, so that was my quick escape to happiness. I always lived in Flatbush, proudly so, I love that part of Brooklyn. It’s been hit tremendously hard in this time by the pandemic. I had been away because I was working in Canada for the past six months and then I was not back in New York because of travel bans. The first time I went back was in the past month and it was really scary and hard to see how the city has been hit, but New Yorkers, God love them, they are so resilient, proud and very inspiring.
So many! I love this little jerk chicken place in Crown Heights called Peppa’s Jerk Chicken. It’s my favorite place in that area. There is also an incredible place called Cafe Tibet on Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park, I love this little place. That was my old stomping ground but I’m excited because I want to move to Manhattan when I eventually make my way back. I also love James and Olea in Fort Greene.
Yes, I was in Vancouver and actually production was able to sneak in their final day of principal photography in March. We were able to get the whole season shot and I am so grateful. From there, I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t want to fly, keep in mine, no one had any idea about this virus, where it lived or how it moved, so there was so much fear. So I decided to take the path of least resistance and stay put and hang out in Canada for a while, so I was in rural British Columbia for a bit and that felt really good. When the borders were closing, I had a state of the union with my family and they were like, you must return (laughs) so I took a very scary flight from Canada to the East Coast.
I was quite shy as a kid, so I would never say I was destined to be a performer (laughs). I was a watchful, polite, quiet kid and maybe that was because I was the first born—I have two younger brothers now. For the first four years of my life, it was just my mom and dad and hanging out with adults. I got to spend a lot of time with wonderfully creative people; at that time, we were living in Los Angeles and surrounded by artists. I was always the kid at the dinner party with the adults. It wasn’t until half-way through high school, because I had been so in love with sports as a younger kid, that there was this awesome opportunity at the school I went to. I attended a public school in Glastonbury, Connecticut and you could go to a magnet school called the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts but they had an audition process. I auditioned, I got in and I was so happy because I would go to regular school in the morning and then around noon, I’d go out to my car, leave the suburbs and drive into Hartford where I’d stay until 4pm. At that school I would get to do acting classes, dance classes, painting and poetry and that made me realize what happiness felt like. Math and science always made me feel tense; I didn’t feel good doing it, but then I would get to do these more creative classes and started to blossom in the direction that I would inevitably grow into. That was my foundation because I went on to pursue a college degree, a Bachelor’s in acting and then would go on to get my masters at Yale. Education for me has absolutely been the bedrock of my life in the arts. I only graduated from Yale two years ago at this point. So my proper professional career is just getting started. My life until this point has been learning.
I am really lucky; there are so many ways to crack into this industry—no way is better than the next. I applaud people who have been living on set and working since they were young. Oftentimes I wish, what if that was the way that I went, but it wasn’t and it’s not and that was never my path. In fact, I don’t think that would have been right for me. It took me a long time to come into myself. I am so lucky that I got to do that stumbling and learning in the safety and privacy of a creative laboratory that was the classroom.
I play guitar and I have for many, many years. This for me is more of a passion and a hobby and it’s kind of a for me thing. I come from a very musically inclined family; my dad is a classically trained pianist, my grandfather was a beautiful piano player. My younger brother Jonathan is an incredible musician, who is actually recording an EP right now—he’s also an actor. My mom is an artist so I have been blessed to be in this gene pool of creative doers. My happiest music times are when my brother Jonathan and I are playing with each other, because we absolutely have so much fun. Either I’ll be on the keyboard and he is on the guitar, because he is a bit better than I am, or, he’ll sing and I’ll do the harmony. A goal of mine for the future is to put something out together; we are not often in the same place at the same time, but when we are I am hoping to put something out. Now is a great time, we all have some extra time hanging about so maybe you have give me a little kick in the bum to get back at it.
It’s beautiful—I am really grateful that this time has brought into focus all of the things that count. Because we see, nothing is forever, and this time has sort of explicitly outlined that we are here on earth for small period of time; we gifted this moment and we are granted to do with it what we wish. I’ve been speaking to a lot of friends, before the pandemic hit, it was like this rat race and that time was only going faster and faster, speeding towards something. And then boom this thing hit and we were stalled and stopped, jarred in place. It was uncomfortable at first, but as we have all sort of stretched into it, it’s this gift to see things as they are, to feel things as they are and to say, my gosh, it’s a gift for time to slow down. I am exiting my 20s and I cannot say this time has been easy, and gosh on a global and political scale, it’s been incredibly difficult, huge awakenings, but to be able to have the privilege to stop for a second and to take inventory of your life up until this point, we never would have had that.
I had shot Succession, and I was in a hotel room in Barcelona for work for a small commercial thing that I was doing. I got the self-tape, but here I was in Barcelona and 100% alone and I needed to make a self-tape, so great (laughs). I recorded the other half of the lines on my cell phone and then I texted them to myself. I then set up my camera and I started acting with myself (laughs). I made this self-tape because I didn't have a single soul to do this with me, but I liked this material and it was the best I could do. I thought, this is the worst self-tape I have ever made! I thought, there was no way this was going to go anywhere. I got an email maybe two days later from the casting director, Laray Mayfield, who I love and she said, this is the worst self-tape I have ever seen but I do think you are right for this part. You need to tape it again (laughs). I was going to go back home to New York, so I resubmitted it, they gave me a second chance. I am happy they did because it ended up being such a rewarding show to work on.
Sydney is wearing a dress by Stine Goya; coat by Oscar de la Renta; pumps by Malone Souliers; earring by Woll Jewelry
Anna is really powerful and strong. She is a girl who started with nothing, in fact, less than nothing, she was raised in a very abusive household—physically and mentally—and she was just dealt a really hard hand. Throughout the process of her life, she found herself, found her chosen family, created a business and rose to the height of her industry. She’s a survivor and in my opinion, a genius. I love a strong, but historically broken character, I mean what’s better? I love her sense of humor, which is quite dry and that she is nothing like me. I have watched the first couple of episodes and people in my family were like, this isn’t you. That’s fun for me, I don’t want to be myself, I want to escape into something else.
I hope it’s a place where they can purge some of the fear they have been truly feeling in the world. People have fear in their bodies these days, I know at least I do. We are fearful of the political climate, we are fearful of the pandemic and where we are at with medicine. Maybe if they go and watch this show they can get rid of that and put it some place constructive. I am thrilled about the acting and the performances delivered.
I play tennis everyday. I love tennis! I went away with a couple of my Yalies—it was like a let’s all get tested and hang out together—the place we were staying had a tennis court. I had never picked up a racket before and in fact, all I had were memories of being ten years old and just hating tennis. I picked up a racket and now have become obsessed with it. There is a public court and I go every single morning and play doubles. It’s my joy these days. I am also doing a lot of cooking at home because I find it to be very therapeutic. I am putting down my technology and staying away from Instagram and phones. I am obsessed with talking about this with people, we need to get away from technology. Did you see The Social Dilemma? If there is one thing to encourage readers, it’s to go and watch it.
Sydney is wearing Claudia Li Fall 2020; shoes by Labucq; hat and belt stylist’s own; earrings by Four Eyes Ceramics
I am writing which is lovely—I am working on a screen play. Besides that, I am really engaged politically and most of my energy is going towards reaching voters, phone banking, encouraging people to check their registry, and making sure their voting plan is sorted. The system we are in doesn't want to make it easy for us. I am really all in with the political moment.
I do too and I also don’t think that encouraging people to vote is enough. I am casting my vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and that, in my opinion, is the only way that our country is going to heal and come together is with Joe Biden.
Sarah Slutsky was assisted by Gina Brase at Studio SES; makeup by Lisa Aharon using Tom Ford Beauty at The Wall Group; hair by Christopher Naselli using Drunk Elephant at The Wall Group. A very special thank you to this team!