Sandra Milena Sampayo is an American actress, producer, and director with extensive experience in film, television, music, and theater for over 25 years. Being bilingual in English and Spanish and being able to communicate in French, Italian, and Portuguese, Sandra has established herself as an actress and producer, especially in documentaries and music-related works. She is relatively quiet when it comes to revealing information about her personal life.
Her efforts in production saw her get recognition through the 2013 documentary film 120 Days, which was directed by Ted Roach. The documentary is a portrayal of the immigrant Cortes family living illegally in the country, as their father Miguel comes face to face with a decision on whether he should voluntarily deport himself or try to go underground to be with his family within 120 days since he got his deportation order.
Sampayo played the role of the co-producer in the film that was well recognized in the immigration debate and won numerous festival awards such as the CINE Golden Eagle, Jury Award for Best Documentary from the Kansas International Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Charleston International Film Festival.
During this time, she was also the talent producer and producer for the MTV reality show, Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life (2013), which chronicled Kesha’s journey through one of the most difficult times in her career. In fact, this ties back to her personal life as Sampayo is married to Lagan Blue Sebert, who is not only the director and producer of music videos but also cinematographer, the half-brother of Kesha because his mother, the singer-songwriter Pebe Sebert, is Kesha’s mother.
She previously worked as an associate producer for the MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamérica in 2005 and as a producer and director for the 2008 film Busco Personas: The Faces of Colombia’s War. In more recent times, she was an executive producer for the short Rainbow: The Film in 2018 and produced live concert films such as Blackberry Smoke Homecoming: Live in Atlanta in 2019 and one from Staind in 2021.
Aside from being an actor, Sampayo also continues to act. She has been seen in films such as Black Box in 2014, several shorts, and in 2026, in the TV show 9-1-1: Nashville (as Monica) and the movie Buyback (as Mrs. Ramiro). In both filmmaking sides, there is a recurring theme of music-centric stories as well as social awareness, despite her being a private person.
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