Meet Sam Sagenkahn

What got me into acting?? Maybe seeing Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra” and pretending I was her on the funeral pyre. Or maybe seeing “The Sound of Music,” thinking I was one of the Von Trapp children. Or maybe my love happened when Aunt Jerry took me to NYC to see “The Me Nobody Knows” at the Orpheum Theatre starring a very young Irene Cara.

I performed in lots of high school productions and some in college. In high school, I wanted Tevye but got Motel. I was very heavy and I didn’t think we both should look like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, so I lost more than 30 pounds for the production. I didn’t do theatre in college until my junior year when a friend said that Strength withdrew from “Everyman” and they needed someone. Then my senior year, I was a forest ranger in “Little Mary Sunshine” – we were a helluva group of four Forest Rangers.

But following in my parent’s footsteps (Dad was a CPA and Mom was a nurse), I was pre-med in college with a major in Mathematics and Chemistry. Since I didn’t get into Medical School, I moved to NYC to get my MBA at NYU in Marketing and Accounting.

I was fortunate to spend my business career in the entertainment industry – Sesame Workshop, NBC and the Today Show, Circle in the Square, NYSCA, MTC (the year “Ain’t Misbehavin’” won the Tony), and the NYSF. For almost 20 years, I was the Project Director of the Today Show’s Toy Drive, raising more than $450 million in toys and gifts for children around the country.

Also, when I was at NBC, I got the job of a lifetime, especially for a theatre enthusiast. I managed NBC’s Corporate Contributions to Theatre. I traveled around the country evaluating and donating to non- profit theatres. Every day was better than the previous one.

When I am not acting, you can find me crying at commercials, playing the slots in AC (also sometimes crying), trying unsuccessfully to guess a color, immersed in a Sci-Fi novel, baking Peanut Butter Blossoms, going through Julia Child’s cookbooks or happily ordering and reheating take-out.

Now that I’m retired from Corporate Life, I get to pursue my acting full time. While I have had many opportunities and joyous experiences, I have also had a great many challenges. I am so very grateful to still be here to continue my journey. And when I live to be 100, it will still not be long enough.