Rising Stars: Meet Vince Sanchez-Sambrano of Los Angeles, California

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vince Sanchez-Sambrano

Vince, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Vince Sanchez-Sambrano is a Venezuelan born Production Designer, Art Director, Producer and Writer based out of Los Angeles, California, specializing in Film, Television and branded content.

Vince commenced his studies at the prestigious Arturo Michelena Art Academy in Valencia, Venezuela, and acquired over 8 years of experience in the theater industry, becoming a lead actor in several classic and contemporary plays, such as La Casa de Bernarda Alba (2004), Hamlet (2005), Romeo and Juliet (2005-2006), Rock para una Abuela Virgen (2006), El Día que Me Quieras (2010).

Later on, he began diving into his passion for filmmaking, participating as a Set Designer, Costume Designer and Assistant Director in theater and improved his career in the US with classes, workshops while experimenting on his own in the audiovisual field. Some of his recent work credits include Award-winning AJR’s Way Less Sad (2020), Award-winning short deMonica (2021), Tempus (2021), Sell/Buy/Date (2021), Award-winning short Death in Training (2023), Sisters by Water (2023), Disney+ 4Ever (2023), What She Doesn’t Know (2023), We’re Not Married? (2023) and more recently the reinterpretation of the Warner Brothers’ classic Rebel Without a Cause (2024) now available on Max.

Last year, the feature film “The Shadow of the Sun (La Sombra del Sol) where he was the Production Designer, was selected as Venezuela’s official entry for the International Film category at the 96th Academy Award.

As an immigrant and member of the LGBTQ+, Vince believes in the power of community and lifting one another in order to become one stronger and indivisible unit. In 2023, he volunteered as the leadman on the Youth Cinema Project’s (YCP) first ever short film powered by Amazon, an organization that focuses on closing the opportunity gap in the film industry by offering a platform for kids in underrepresented communities that would like to experience and work in the entertainment industry. He was back at it this year, but this time around he hosted a workshop on Production Design to the 2024 YCP Cohort. He has also produced and designed several films that are part of The LALIFF Inclusion Fellowship. Vince also runs the Dumbo Film Festival in Dumbo, New York City as Director of Programming and Event Manager with 3000+ submissions annually.

In 2022, Vince and 3 friends decided to become partners and created a boutique production supplies company called OnlyVans that targets small indie films and strives to be one less obstacle in the stressful process that working with budgetary constraints represents by offering products and services tailored to them.

More recently, Vince was the Production Designer on Rebel Without a Cause, reimagining one of the most iconic films ever made by Warner Brothers’ Studios Rebel Without a Cause celebrating the Studios’ 100th Anniversary.

Vince became a member of the Television Academy in 2023 and joined the Art Directors Guild (ADG), IATSE Local 800 in 2024. He’s also a member of the Venezuelan Film Academy.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I went to Engineering School, that’s my degree and up to about 12 years ago, it was my area of expertise. Changing careers in your mid twenties sounds like perfect timing but switching to a completely different field without having any connections whatsoever sounds borderline insane. However, who doesn’t love a good challenge? Thank goodness I had the experience from all those theater and art school years.

I was lucky enough to have my family’s support because otherwise I don’t know what could’ve happened. I was working in the oil and gas industry at the time, traveling the world doing just that but regardless of “doing good for myself”, something felt off and I was really struggling to feel happy, in fact, it was quite de opposite, I was miserable. I’ve always being involved with social causes and fighting for what I think it’s right so that helped me a lot by keeping me connected with my inner self, until it was too dangerous to continue to do so. As some of you may or may not know, there is a dictatorship going on back home and so at some point, I had to flee my country.

With the help of some family members both in Venezuela and in The US, I made it safely to Miami where my new life really started. I don’t have to tell you that it was really hard to start over in a new country, with a new language and being 2,000 miles from everything I knew and everyone I loved up until that moment. But, “a boy gotta do what a boy gotta do” and I just readjusted my sails and got working. I made it to New York City aka the Greatest City on Earth where I would spent the next 8 years of my life, working odd jobs and living my best new life, really. The path wasn’t always clear, but my goal was, so I just kept working and trusting the process. I worked in construction, in the hospitality industry, fashion and retail until I finally decided to quit my job and started volunteering at Film Festivals where I met a bunch of people who wanted to do the same things I wanted to do and some others that were already doing it. That’s how and when I met my first collaborators. My partner’s help was key, it still is, but now I get to call him my husband. I would be lost without him.

I started as a Production Assistant (PA) in small movie sets, then I became an additional PA in major sets where I would be what they called a “lockup PA” in the brutal NY and NJ winter until I eventually became a regular PA. I did that for a few years until one day, I met a young director at a Film Festival we were both volunteering at. He was “crewing up” for a short he was shooting but there was no payment involved but I did it anyway. I was hired at his Production Designer but I was the prop master, set decorator and dresser, PA and still photographer as well, sounds funny now and it was a lot of work but I wouldn’t trade it for the world, I learned so much and we not only became regular collaborators but really good friends to this day.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve always felt equally interested in science and art. Science represents my belief system and how my analytical mind works and Art is everything else. I can’t be one without the other so in a way, becoming a Production Designer just felt natural. When I was a child, I was awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious Arturo Michelena Academy of The Arts (Valencia, Venezuela) so I was exposed to the fine arts at a very early age. I always say that that very fact shaped the way I see and understand art forever but when my parents decided to move to a different state, I had to leave all that behind. We moved to a rather small town and it wasn’t until my teenage years when I would be in contact with the arts again but this time it would be through performing arts.

I started doing theater when I was in middle school. First, as a BG actor, then I moved up to be an understudy, then became a part of the regular cast until one day I asked my director to please teach me more about what goes down behind the curtains. That’s when my analytical mind took over, I loved learning about technical stuff and did just that for a few years. But I was also interested in doing scenery since I knew how to draw and do woodwork, so I did that as well. I did theater for 10 years and I LOVED IT. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t know how to do or wanted to do but, life happened and I finished college so I had to work and that’s how my theater days came to a halt.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
As you can see, the only constant in my life, has been change. So, being able to adapt and being flexible have been key to my owns survival, really. My years in that small town were so hard for me. I always felt like a shark in a fishbowl but as my mom would always say: “Live one day at a time. There’s a place and a time for everything… You just have to pay attention and take the opportunity when it presents itself”. Turns out that small town gave me everything, my two siblings, my best friends, my college degree, a whole skillset and, funny enough, my husband”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vincesanchez.us
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xenteven

Image Credits
I own the rights to all the previous photos except for the one by Steven Simione (GettyImages)