Sarah McCreanor

Sarah McCreanor (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as "Smac" and Hydraulic Press Girl, is an Australian actor, dancer, comedian, and content creator. in Brisbane, Australia. She began dance classes at 5, later developing an interest in slapstick humour.

Career

From 2012 to 2013, she starred in the How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular show, sharing her role of Astrid with American actor Gemma Nguyen. Premiering in Australia, the show toured across other countries and wrapped in Los Angeles, California. McCreanor decided to migrate to the city permanently. She has also frequently made photography sessions and owns production studios in downtown Los Angeles. She posted the first Hydraulic Press Girl video in December 2020 on TikTok with footage from the YouTube account Hydraulic Press Channel. In her words, Hydraulic Press Girl portrayed art as more of a "living fluid [...] than a static inert sort of object we admire at a distance."

Public image and reception

The viral Hydraulic Press Girl series has been regarded as the main contributor to her online fame. On TikTok, she had over 1.6 million followers by October 2021 and over 2.6 million by February 2024. In Meta Platforms' 2022 "Creators of Tomorrow", McCreanor was acknowledged for "Creative Excellence". The National Gallery of Victoria chose clips from the Hydraulic Press Girl series to be shown at its 2023-24 Triennial exhibition. The gallery's marketing team wrote that McCreanor's work had a "union of inconsequential violence and humour, irony and performance [that] culminate in a visceral response to the potential of the human body".

Billy Studios controversy

In a viral November 2022 TikTok video, McCreanor shared private messages from an unnamed influencer to the Instagram business account of a studio that McCreanor ran, Billy Studios. After McCreanor had allegedly rejected the influencer's request to make a photo session in the studio for free, the influencer sent voice notes criticising the studio for not knowing "how influencers work". The anonymous person reportedly spammed McCreanor and the studio's website with emails and complaints. Mara Leighton of Business Insider opined that the occurrence showed the "culture of entitlement" present in the influencer community.

Filmography

+ Television performances Year Title Role Notes 2019 So You Think You Can Dance Contestant Season 16 2022 Dancing with Myself Episode: "Open Those Pods"