She was born in 1987 and grew up surrounded by music and arts. Her parents are amateur dancers, her big brother is an opera singer, her grandmother dealt with art in New York and her grandfather is affiliated to the New York Philarmonic.
Sarah Hay, beyond Flesh and Bone
Sarah began her training lessons when she was three years old and during her teenage years she attended the American Ballet Theatre (the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School) and the School of American Ballet (New York City).
The ballet scene was not always gentle towards Sarah Hay, she did not came from a wealthy family so she was bullied at the ballet school and at the beginning of her professional dancing career, her teachers considered her to be overweight due to her size DD breasts. That was a big struggle for Sarah, she had to wear sports bra to hide them and was even suggested to get a breast reduction surgery.
Hay was tired of her “physical image” problems at the United States ballet companies, when she was 22 years old she decided to move out, to try across the ocean at the European ballet scene. At the Dresden based Semperoper ballet in Germany her figure did not matter, the director saw her as a talented ballerina and that was more than enough for him. She became the soloist.
Black Swan was Sarah’s first Hollywood project, she was a part of the film’s Corps De Ballet but her big debut was on the TV series Flesh and Bones (Starz Network). Over 1000 ballerinas auditioned for the part of Claire Robbins. Sarah sent footage of her dancing via email, which resulted in an invitation for an audition in New York. She got the part.
As a result of her appearance as ballet dancer Claire Robbins at the Starz mini-series Flesh and Bone; Sarah Hay got a Golden Globe Nomination, a Critics’ Choice Television Award and a Satellite Award.