Sara Pinto Sampaio (born 21 July 1991) is a Portuguese model and actress. She is best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel, Giorgio Armani beauty ambassador and working for Calzedonia, as well as her appearance in the 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, a first for a Portuguese model.

She won Portuguese Golden Globes in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for Best Female Model.^[5][6]

Sampaio was first discovered at the age of 15, though she wasn't allowed to compete in modeling competitions until the age of 16. At 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 a professional.

After completing high school, Sampaio attended the University of Lisbon. She had the chance to be in a commercial in Portugal.^[7]

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.^[8]

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 in Jamaica. She was the face of Calzedonia again in 2013, 2014 and 2015.^[9] 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.^[10] On 13 November 2013, she made her debut in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2013. She walked in the Pink segment.^[11] 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.^[12] 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".^[13]

In 2016, Sampaio walked for: Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier, Balmain, Mugler, Emanuel Ungaro, Giambattista Valli, Redemption, Miu Miu, Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs, Alberta Ferretti, Francesco Scognamiglio, Philipp Plein, Moschino, Ermanno Scervino, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni and even closed Sportmax. In 2017, she walked for Tommy Hilfiger, Mugler, Redemption, Elie Saab, Peter Dundas, Prabal Gurung, Tory Burch, Zadig & Voltaire, and many others.

In May, she got her first cover in the United States, photographed by Gilles Bensimon to Maxim.^[14]

In 2017, Sampaio became the new Beauty Ambassador for the famous Israeli brand "Moroccanoil".^[15] That year she was face of campaigns for PINKO, Blumarine, Hogan, Tory Burch, Mackage and DUNDAS. She was in so many different covers and editorials during the year including Editorialist, Vogue Brasil and Vogue Turkey.

In 2018, Sara became one of the faces of 'Sì Passione' fragrance by Giorgio Armani. She was also featured on the cover of Harper's Bazaar Singapore, Madame Figaro, L'officiel, Vogue Mexico and Vogue Thailand.^[16]

Sampaio grew up in the outskirts of Porto, then moved to New York City to start her career. In interviews with Vogue, Sampaio talks about being photographed nude. She considers her modelling 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".^[17] However, she accused Lui magazine of sexual harassment and bullying her into posing nude for their cover when she requested that her contract stipulate a no nudity clause.^[18] She believes that everyone should feel comfortable in their own skins no matter their shapes or sizes. For this reason, Sara has spoken out against skinny shaming, and mentioned in an interview that the amount of hate that she 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".^[19]

Sampaio has stated on Instagram that she suffers from trichotillomania. She was praised by fans and the media for raising awareness of the little-known condition and has received many messages of support from fellow sufferers.^[20][21]