Sara Sampaio

Early life

Sara Pinto Sampaio was born on 21 July 1991 in Porto, Portugal, to Armando Sampaio, who ran a scuba-diving company, and Cristina Sampaio, who worked in an import business. She began modelling around 15 or 16, winning the "Cabelos Pantene" hair-modelling contest in 2007, which led to Portuguese commercials and her first agency signing.

Early campaigns and Victoria’s Secret debut, 2011–2014

Sampaio’s early designer work included Replay’s Fall/Winter 2011/12 campaign alongside Irina Shayk, Blumarine’s alongside Adriana Lima, and an Armani campaign the same season, followed by a Calzedonia summer campaign shot by Raphael Mazzucco and an April 2012 Portuguese Vogue cover. In 2013 she made her Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show debut, walking the Pink segment, and won ¡Hola! magazine’s "Revelation Model of the Year." She walked two segments of the show in 2014, and was named Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s "Rookie of the Year" that year.

Victoria’s Secret Angel and continued campaign work, 2015–2018

Sampaio was promoted to full Victoria’s Secret Angel status in 2015, making her first runway appearance in the role that December, alongside a May 2015 Maxim US cover photographed by Gilles Bensimon. She walked the show again in Paris in 2016, and appeared in music videos for Nick Jonas, Kanye West and David Guetta featuring Justin Bieber between 2016 and 2017. She made her film debut, playing herself, in The Clapper in 2017, and relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 to pursue acting, taking a role in the film Carga.

A turn to acting, 2019–2025

Sampaio won the Portuguese Golden Globes’ "Fashion Personality of the Year" award in 2019, and continued building an acting career with film roles in Crisis and Sombra (2021) and Wifelike (2022). In 2023 she was cast as Eve Teschmacher in DC Studios’ Superman, which was released theatrically in July 2025 — her live-action film debut in a major studio release. Across her career she has been named Portuguese Golden Globes Best Female Model five times, between 2011 and 2016, and is represented by The Lions in New York and Los Angeles and Elite Model Management in Paris.

Why is Sara Sampaio ranked #46?

• Armani Beauty and international campaigns.
• Eligibility reviewed against work and public visibility in the 2021–2026 window; booking-level citations are maintained in the linked industry and biographical records.

Confidence: Medium confidence · evidence reviewed. Scores may change when a source is corrected or new work enters the current window.