For any actor, starring in a superhero movie would be a big deal but for Sara Sampaio it has been an especially long time coming. The Portuguese 32-year-old is best known as a model but growing up, that wasn’t the plan. “I didn’t even know models existed when I was younger,” she says. “Acting was always what I wanted to do… I was a very dramatic child!”
Hence why, in the last couple of years, she made the big decision to move to Los Angeles and take a step back from modelling to commit to acting classes and pursue her childhood dream. It turned out to be the right call: she is about to make waves with a role in James Gunn’s upcoming Superman as Eve Teschmacher, girlfriend to Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luther. The latest iteration of the classic character is played by David Corenswet, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and following Bazaar Arabia’s cover shoot, Sara is dashing back to set to continue filming. For now, she has to remain tightlipped about the project. “I’m not allowed to say much!” she says. “But the whole cast is incredible and it’s been a pleasure. I’ve been learning so much and everyone is so sweet.”
“I definitely feel the pressure because it’s such a big project and it’s my first big acting thing,” she says, “But at the same time, I’m just putting out my own version of [Eve] so hopefully people like it.” As a self-confessed fan of the genre, joining the revamped DC Universe is hugely exciting: “I’ve grown up watching superhero movies and every time there’s a new one, I always go and watch. Even as a kid I used to read a lot of comic books.”
Citing Angelina Jolie and Margot Robbie as her acting idols – “I’m obsessed” – Sara lights up when talking about her new career direction. “I’m definitely open to playing anything because I think that’s the beauty of acting – you can live so many different lives,” she says. “I’m definitely drawn more to comedy but I kind of want to do everything. I want to do action, I want to do romantic comedies, I want to do drama, I want to do sci-fi.”
While she admits that making the transition from modelling has been “kind of confusing at times”, she is more than aware that it is her modelling success that has allowed her to pursue a new path in Hollywood. “One supports the other,” she says. “I wouldn’t be able to focus on acting if I hadn’t had such an incredible career and such stability as a model”.
Growing up in Portugal’s second city, Porto, she had a “very normal” childhood by the beach but at 16, she won a modelling competition called Pantene Hair. She knew that previous winners had gone into acting and spied an opportunity but before she knew it, she was signed to a modelling agency and her career had taken off.
‘‘I think part of being human is comparing yourself to others’’
Starting out, she was often compared to Adriana Lima who she “looks up to a lot” and she followed in Lima’s footsteps to become a Victoria’s Secret Angel in 2015. “I made some of my best friends there,” she smiles. “We were a pretty tight group… Those shows are incredible. I look back now and my twenties were so chaotic – I wish I’d appreciated certain moments more.” What she has never taken for granted is the opportunity for travel that modelling has afforded her, with work taking her all over the globe, and all over the Middle East, including the UAE, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia: “All the beautiful places that I’ve got the opportunity to know and work in – that’s surreal. I wouldn’t be where I am today without modelling and I’m so grateful for that. I really just love visiting new places.”
Having modelled for over half her life, she has plenty of experience with the unique pressures that come with working in fashion. “There’s a specific look that they want models to have and even though they say that they are expanding their views, it never really changes much,” she says. “I think part of being a human is comparing yourself to others and that’s the thing that really sucks. I’ve definitely felt pressure, more when I was younger but even now.” Lately she has dyed her hair blonde for the first time and “the internet cannot stop telling me to go back to brunette. I’m like, ‘leave me alone!’… Why do you care? It’s my hair!”
“There’s a specific look that they want models to have and even though they say that they are expanding their views, it never really changes much”
What keeps her grounded is her family back in Porto and she concedes that the toughest part of her job is being away from them. “My brother sees my parents several times a week and I see them every few months,” she says. “That’s tough but it’s the life I chose and I wouldn’t change it for anything”. And thankfully, her job means she visits as often as possible: “If I’m working in Europe. I tend to pop in if I can for a few days… I’m very blessed that I have a family that no matter what happens, I can always go back to. They’re my support system.”
Sara is open about talking about some of her own struggles with anxiety, with depression and with trichotillomania, a compulsive desire to pull at one’s own hair. It is something she has experienced since she was a teenager and why she has some gaps in her eyebrows. Mental health is something that she believes should be talked about if it can help people. “It’s something that has to be daily work,” she says. “Going to therapy, lifestyle changes. There will always be times that will be better than others. I’ve been working a lot on myself these past few years. My depression is definitely a little better, my anxiety as well but you know, there’s ups and downs. I’m definitely in a good time in my life.”
Part of that is thanks to slowing down after modelling “non-stop” since she was 18. “Quarantine [during Covid] was actually the first time when I spent more than a few weeks in the same place. I was always just going, going, going, going, so when I had a minute to rest, I would just sleep. All of a sudden I had all this free time and I’m like “huh, I don’t have any hobbies!’ That’s one thing that I’ve been trying to work on…It’s still a work in progress! I’vebeen focusing on working out and taking care of myself. Also owning a house is a full time job. There’s always something breaking, someone that has to come and fix something…”
She has also found time to date. In March, she and her boyfriend Ray Nicholson made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Vanity Fair Oscars party. The pair have been together for around ten months and although both are more than familiar with being in the public eye – Ray is also an actor and his dad is none other than Hollywood royalty Jack Nicholson – they are careful about what they share. “He’s very private, I’m very private,” says Sampaio. “There’s always going to be interest from the public and we understand that. All we’ve got to do is just live our lives and show what we feel comfortable showing.”
That said, a scroll through her Instagram suggests the two are very happily loved up – hiking, holidaying and goofing around together. What Sara looks for in a partner has changed over the years, she says. “The older I get, what I look for most is a best friend. It’s someone that has the same interests as I do. It’s just when two people look at life the same way, it makes things easy. I just want a partner to love me, respect me. When you meet someone and things are just the way they’re supposed to be, you’re like ‘ah! This is why it didn’t work out with anyone else.’ It doesn’t mean everything is roses and rainbows and
sunshine but even when there’s adversity, the way you get through that is from a place of kindness.”
Although Superman will undoubtedly bring her a legion of new fans, Sara isn’t dwelling on the increased attention. “I’m not playing Superman!” she says. “I try not to think too much about that. Just live my life”. Instead, she is just enjoying finally being able to live out her dreams: “I think I just want to keep doing what I’m doing. I want to keep acting and evolving and be the best partner that I can be. And who knows, maybe start a family but it’s not in the immediate future!”
For now though, she hopes that Superman is just the beginning: “Hopefully I’ll book another movie and then another and another!” With such obvious dedication and love of her craft, you wouldn’t bet against her.
Photography by Daniella Midenge. Styling by Rafael Linares. Talent: Sara Sampaio with The Lions Management. Junior Fashion Editor: Imogene Legrand. Stylist: Rafael Linares with Art Department LA. Senior Producer: Steff Hawker. Production: Alexey Galetskiy with AGP NYC. Hair: Takuya Sugawara with Walter Schupfer Management. Make-Up: Leah Darcy with Infinity Creative Agency. Photographer’s Team: Kimberly Hunt, Artur Gubin & Fletcher Cowan. Styling Assistant: Trinity Louvan
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s April 2024 issue
