Sabrina Imamura
Dancer & Actress
Sabrina Imamura is a Japanese-American Broadway dancer, actress, and model originally from Plymouth, MI, currently based in NYC.
Originally trained in classical ballet, she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2013 with a degree in dance. Hamilton was her first venture into musical theater. Since then, she’s been touring with Hamilton for 8 years and has been a part of every national tour. Currently, she understudies for the role of Peggy/Maria.
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This interview was edited for length and clarity. It took place on March 11, 2025.
Q: Tell me about your journey to being a dancer on Broadway.
SI: I’ve been dancing since I was 3 years old. I started in ballet then added on other genres as I got older (tap, modern, hip hop) but my first love was always ballet. Throughout high school, I did summer intensives with American Ballet Theater and Joffrey Ballet. I decided to pursue dance as a career because I didn’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t dancing. I went to the University of Michigan where I dual majored in dance and art history.
The U-M dance curriculum was a shift for me. It emphasized modern over classical ballet, which made me get more interested in contemporary ballet. ​After I graduated, I moved to New York and did the struggling artist thing. My goal was to get into a contemporary ballet company. Along the way, I was doing anything I could to make ends meet. I lived with my sister in New York and had so many jobs: bartender, hostess, greeter. I also modeled — my mom was a model. Having so many jobs taught me that nothing comes easy: if there’s something you really want, you’re going to have to work to get there. Going into the arts, I knew it was a rough field to go into. The second year I was in New York, I came really close to getting into my dream ballet company. When I didn’t get it, I thought: "I’m done, I’m quitting dance."
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After, my agent asked me if I wanted to try out Broadway. I had no musical theater background. I was like: “I can’t sing but sure, I’ll go wherever you send me.” I went to the Hamilton audition not thinking I’d book it. I just went to have fun. I got a callback, but a month passed and no news, so I forgot about it.
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But on Thanksgiving Day, my parents were visiting when I got a call from my agent. She told me, "Put me on speakerphone. You booked your first Broadway show. You’re going on the first national tour with Hamilton!" My mom started crying and I was in shock. Since then, I’ve been on every national tour with Hamilton as Woman 1 of the ensemble. Now, I'm a principal understudy for the role of Peggy/Maria and am a swing ensemble member.
Q: What keeps you going?
SI: What’s kept me going is learning to not be so hard on myself. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to always be booking things. Before I went on tour with Hamilton, there were moments where I fully intended on quitting and not dancing anymore. I didn’t quit but what I learned through that process is it’s okay to step away sometimes. Now, I take dance classes when I want to, not because I feel pressured to. It’s also been helpful for me to do other things outside of dance like playing piano or doing a photoshoot.
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Even after I booked Hamilton, it’s come with its own challenges. I struggled with comparing myself with my colleagues, many of whom studied musical theater in college then booked show after show on Broadway after doing Hamilton. I wasn’t a musical theater kid, yet I’d ask myself: "Why aren’t you booking that?" I had to learn not to put so much pressure on myself.
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Once you get a job like Hamilton where you have job security, it’s also easy to put pressure on yourself to always be financially stable. You start asking yourself: "Should I take the job because I want the money or because it satisfies me artistically?" Sometimes you take a job just because you need the money. There’s no shame in that.
But something that’s always been important to me whenever I go to an audition (whether it’s commercial or Broadway) is that the story it’s telling is either important or extremely artistic. I’m not a huge fan of dancing just for dancing’s sake. I was trained to make every movement have purpose and tell a story.
"Before I went on tour with Hamilton, there were moments where I fully intended on quitting and not dancing anymore. I didn’t quit but what I learned through that process is it’s okay to step away sometimes. Now, I take dance classes when I want to, not because I feel pressured to. It’s also been helpful for me to do other things outside of dance like playing piano or doing a photoshoot."
Q: What have you learned from Hamilton?
SI: Hamilton has taught me that two things can exist at once. I’m very grateful and happy to do the work that is Hamilton. But there are other times when I’m resentful of it because I feel very overworked. Two-day shows are insane. Sometimes you just get tired.
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When I first started Hamilton, I told myself I should always feel grateful because I had a stable job and health insurance. I put a lot of pressure on myself to always be there, to never call out, and to never make mistakes. I started having anxiety attacks every day on stage, which was very debilitating to go through.
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What I’ve learned is how to sustain and know my limits. To not sacrifice my peace for Hamilton or work in general.
Yes, we’re artists, but we’re also human. There’s a limit to how much you push yourself. If not, it can put you in dangerous territory of being burned out: not just physically, but also to the point where you no longer love your art.
Q: How do you define success?
SI: I think success has a lot to do with your personal happiness and contentment. If you’re content and happy with the work you do, that’s the biggest success you can have. Of course, booking an amazing job is exciting, but at the end of the day, a job is just a job. You’re not always going to have that job. But you’ll always have yourself. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.
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I can’t measure my success by what I’ve booked previously. That’s the past, and I need to focus on the present.
"What I’ve learned is how to sustain and know my limits...
Yes, we’re artists, but we’re also human. There’s a limit to how much you push yourself. If not, it can put you in dangerous territory of being burned out: not just physically, but also to the point where you no longer love your art."
Q: What does being an Asian-American artist mean to you?
SI: Growing up, I don’t remember seeing many Asians — either on screen or in my own life. So who I grew up being attracted to was who I saw on TV — people like Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt. Very European and white. It really does something to your psyche to not see anybody who looks like you and think I’m not as pretty as they are because I’m not white and don’t have blonde hair.
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I’m half Japanese, half Polish, but I honestly didn’t realize I was Asian growing up. Being from Plymouth, I went to a predominantly white school and my family didn’t have many Japanese holiday traditions. I got glimpses of Japanese culture through the Japanese food my parents would cook and when I'd visit my Japanese grandparents (although there was a language barrier since I don't speak Japanese).
It was only when I was older that I started thinking more about my Asian identity. When I was going in for Broadway auditions, most of the auditions I was sent to were Asian specific like The King & I or South Pacific.
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Now, I always clock the number of Asians in any audition room — usually, there’s only a few of us, but I’d like to see more. It’s really rewarding to hear from Hamilton fans who are grateful to see someone on stage who looks like them.
Q: What's your advice for aspiring artists?
SI: Give yourself a lot of grace because the industry is very hard. And just don’t give up. If it’s something you really want, even if you have people telling you you can’t do it, don’t listen to them. It doesn’t matter. You will get there when the time is right and the universe wants you to be there.