Sara Drago
As an actor, you can dress up the least presentable parts of yourself and pretend they belong to the character
«Fame is essential: it opens doors that talent alone doesn’t always unlock. If the audience knows you, they take an interest in you, they seek you out»
Some actors burst onto the scene like comets—sudden, bright, seemingly born ready. And then there is Sara Drago, who prefers subterranean paths: hidden, persistent trajectories that build pressure until they finally surface with an energy you can’t ignore. Today all of Italy knows her as Lea Martelli, the sharpest (and most elegant) agent in Call My Agent – Italia, but her dazzling present is made of the same material as her beginnings: discipline, curiosity, and an almost artisanal seriousness in shaping characters that truly breathe. Brianza plays a part, of course, but only as a distant echo, a backdrop that doesn’t hold her back. What pushed her forward were Shakespeare, the Filodrammatici, rhythmic gymnastics with its devotion to movement, and then the theater—hard, uncompromising theater that teaches you not to indulge in illusions and to recognize an opening the moment it appears. When television arrived in 2022, Sara didn’t shed her skin; she added another one. The set became an emotional laboratory where fragility and irony coexist like two stubborn roommates. You see it most clearly in the upcoming third season: Lea, always decisive and always one step ahead, ventures into more intimate, vulnerable territory—and it’s there you understand how thin the line is between playing a character and growing alongside one. Success hasn’t turned her into a light-hungry performer, but rather into a professional who looks at the industry from the inside with almost sociological clarity: she knows the project overload, the pressure placed on bodies, the auditions that end in no, the yeses that change everything, the joy of sets where you can truly play. Today, Sara Drago seems to embody an idea of acting we had almost forgotten: someone who doesn’t just portray contemporaneity but questions it, inhabits it, and brings it back onstage without fear of showing the cracks. And it’s precisely through those cracks that her light shines.
In Call My Agent Italia, Lea handles stars, crises, and vanity better than a politician on the campaign trail. How much of that sharp-edged cynicism is really yours, and how much is pure performance?
SARA DRAGO
I have to laugh, because I was talking about this with my therapist just yesterday. Playing Lea is liberating for me: she’s not me—or at least I can pretend she isn’t—and through her I get to unleash all my “bitchiness,” let’s say it plainly, which is absolutely real. That’s the beauty of this job: you can dress up the least presentable parts of yourself and let them walk around the world under the guise of the character.
The series dismantles the myth of Italian cinema from the inside. What truth about our star system does no press release or agent ever dare to say?
SARA DRAGO
I’ve been in this system for too little time to speak with real authority. I could answer better about the theater than the star system. The first thing that comes to mind is that we forget stars are human beings: they poop, they get scared, they mess up, they get stuck, they can be unlikeable. Instead, the audience often expects a performative kind of humanity. The great thing about Call My Agent is that it allows stars to show themselves with self-irony, in all their normality.
Your favorite episode from the three seasons?
SARA DRAGO
The one with Stefano Accorsi. He had such a great time, and so did we. It’s an experience I’ll always carry with me.
Across the seasons we’ve seen Impacciatore, Muccino, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Claudio Santamaria—and in the latest, Sandrelli, Hunziker, Luca Argentero. Who truly threw you off on set—not artistically, but on a purely human level?
SARA DRAGO
Sabrina Impacciatore. With her there was no boundary between the person and the performance: when the camera rolled, she was exactly the same as one second before. That level of truth forces you to be even more truthful yourself. It’s a sweeping kind of energy—wonderful, but overwhelming. After five days you think, “Okay, I adore you, but can we have a moment of peace?” And meanwhile I had to contain her, guide her, channel her like Lea… and I experienced it both inside and outside the scene.
The theater was your home for years. What did it take from you that cinema is finally giving back?
SARA DRAGO
The possibility of being known. For an actor, that’s essential: if the audience knows who you are, they can look for you, become interested in your work. Call My Agent gave me that—more opportunities and also, I say this with some bitterness, more respect. It’s sad that it works this way, but in Italy fame opens doors that talent alone doesn’t always manage to unlock.
Is there a role you loved but the audience didn’t understand—or, conversely, a role the audience adored but you secretly wished you could rewrite from top to bottom?
SARA DRAGO
Probably Laura Angiulli’s film. When it came out, I was afraid it was too harsh, too “grey.” I thought it might feel heavy, like a slog. And instead the audience—even people I never expected, like my mother—loved it. Maybe because it touches areas of the female psyche that are usually hidden or stigmatized. It surprised me, in the best way.
You have a background in sports. Rhythmic gymnastics is total control of the body: how much control did you lose—or need to lose—to become a real actor rather than a perfect performer?
SARA DRAGO
A lot. I worked hard on my relationship with control, trying to keep the discipline of gymnastics—consistency, precision, the obsessive dedication to practice—while letting go of the rest. In gymnastics everything is codified; in acting you have to make room for chaos, for the wildest part of yourself. It’s still a live issue for me, but it’s a beautiful journey.
If the athlete Sara could see the actor Sara of today, would she say: “Well done” or “You could’ve pushed much further”?
SARA DRAGO
The gymnast inside me would say, “You can do more.” I call her the Svetlana of my inner apartment building. But next to her there’s a more loving voice that tells me, “I’m proud of you.” I need both.
If Lea Martelli were really your agent today, which part of your career would she toss out the window without a second thought?
SARA DRAGO
She’d probably stop me from performing in the kinds of venues the star system dismisses as “basements,” even though I love them. Because that’s where the soul is, in my opinion. But I’m not entirely sure—deep down, even Lea loves art.
What will 2026 bring for you?
SARA DRAGO
I was given Simon & the Stars’ horoscope as a gift, and it says to “hoist the sails.” So I will. I don’t know where I’m headed, but I’m sure I’ll find some unexpected, wonderful harbor along the way.
Interview: Germano D’Acquisto
Portraits: Niccolò Campita
Styling: Samanta Pardini
Shirt and sweater: Falconeri, Shorts and bra: Intimissimi, trousers: Stella Mc Carney
Special thanks to Brera Design Apartment
