Sara Sampaio Biography

Sara Pinto Sampaio (born 21 July 1991) is a Portuguese model best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel and working for Calzedonia, as well as her appearance in the 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, a first for a Portuguese supermodel, for which she won Rookie of the Year.

She has appeared in magazines such as GQ, Elle, Vogue, Glamour and Sports Illustrated. Since 2017, Sara is the Beauty Ambassador for Moroccanoil. She won Portuguese Golden Globes in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for Best Female Model.

As of November 2017, Sampaio is the 18th most popular top model on social media in the world, with a total of 10 million followers across social media. She is also the most popular on social media among the new Victoria's Secret Angels and the 4th most popular Victoria's Secret Angel, only after veteran models Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio and Candice Swanepoel. Sara Sampaio is currently ranked by Models.com as one of the "Top Sexiest Models" in the fashion industry.

Career

Sampaio was discovered at the age of 15, but was not allowed to compete in modeling competitions until the age of 16. At the age of 16, she won a hair modeling contest in Portugal called Cabelos Pantene 2007. After the contest, she had the chance to be in a commercial in Portugal. Off the success of the contest and commercial, she was signed to an agency, however due to her parents, she had to finish high school before becoming professional.

After completing high school, Sampaio attended the University of Lisbon. She attended part-time because she was not allowed to be homeschooled. While in Lisbon, she got a part-time job as an editor until she had the opportunity to go international. She had the chance to be in a commercial in Portugal.

Sampaio's dream was to work for Victoria's Secret. After her agency sent in headshots, she was asked to audition. However, she did not make it into the Fashion Show. She continued to pursue the runway and made her debut in the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, where she walked in one segment. During her sophomore performance in 2014, she walked in two segments. In 2015, she was chosen as one of the newest Angels for the 2015 runway, and in December of the same year, she walked for the brand for the first time as an Angel. On 24 October 2016, it was announced that Sara would be walking with the other Angels in the 2016 Fashion Show in Paris, France.

She has been featured prominently in television ads for Axe body spray in the United States. In 2012, she was chosen for the cover of the April edition of Portuguese Vogue and to be the face of the international advertising campaign for Calzedonia Mar, Summer 2012, which was photographed by Raphael Mazzucco in Greece and Jamaica. She was the face of Calzedonia again in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She also appeared in the Replay Fall/Winter 11/12 campaign, alongside Irina Shayk, in the Blumarine Fall/Winter 11/12 campaign, with Adriana Lima and in the Armani Fall/Winter 11/12 campaign. In 2013, she appeared in the first edition of the year of the Portuguese GQ, where she was presented as the "eighth wonder of the world". She appeared in Rosa Cha 2013 campaign alongside Barbara Palvin. She made her debut in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on 13 November 2013. She walked in the Pink segment. She walked the following year in two segments and in 2015, she walked in two segments, for the first year, as an angel. She has appeared in the 2014 and 2015 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition and won the "Rookie of the year" award in 2014. Sampaio has been on the cover of L'Officiel, Vogue, Marie Claire, Glamour, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Telva, etc. In 2015, Maxim honored the 20th anniversary of the brand Victoria's Secret and included Sampaio on the list "The 20 Most beautiful Angels of All time".

In 2016, Sampaio walked for: Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier, Balmain, Mugler, Emanuel Ungaro, Giambista Valli, Redemption, Miu Miu, Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs, Alberta Ferreti, Francesco Sconamiglio, Phillipp Plein, Moschino, Ermanno Scervino, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni and even closed Sportmax. In May she got her first cover in the United States, photographed by Gilles Bensimon to Maxim.

In 2017, Sampaio became the new Beauty Ambassador for the famous brand "Moroccanoil".

Filmography

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Billions	Prianca	Season 2 / Episode 3 - "Optimal Play"
2017	The Clapper	Herself	Film

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Role
2016	"Chainsaw"	Nick Jonas	Girlfriend
2017	"2U"	David Guetta ft. Justin Bieber	Herself (Victoria's Secret Angel)

Personal life

Sampaio grew up in the outskirts of Porto, Portugal, then moved to New York City to start her career. In interviews with Vogue, Sampaio talks about being photographed nude. She considers her modeling a form of artistic expression, and nudity empowering. Sara feels confident and said in the interview, "At the end of the day, we were born naked, and that's the way we are gonna go". She believes everyone should feel comfortable in their own skin no matter shape or size. For this reason, Sara has spoken out against skinny shaming, and mentioned in an interview that the amount of hate that her and other Victoria's Secret models experience is ridiculous. She says that "every body is different and every metabolism is different". The model was part of "The Perfect Body" VS campaign that was later changed to "A Body for Everybody".

Awards

• First place, Cabelos Pantene Contest 2007
• Best Female Model, Portuguese Golden Globes Fashion Awards 2011
• Best Female Model, Vogue Portugal Fashion Awards 2011
• Best Female Model, Portuguese Golden Globes Fashion Awards 2012
• Best Female Model, Vogue Portugal Fashion Awards 2012
• 2013 Revelation Model of the Year by Hola! magazine
• Best Female Model, Portuguese Golden Globes Fashion Awards 2014
• 2014 Rookie of the Year, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
• Best Female Model, Portuguese Golden Globes Fashion Awards 2015
• Best Female Model, Portuguese Golden Globes Fashion Awards 2016