Actor / Director Profile

Elena Sahagun is of Mexican/French-Moroccan decent. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she attended UCLA were she combined acting and pre-med courses. While attending UCLA, on a dare Elena tried out with 3000 other hopefuls for a spot on the Los Angeles Raiders Cheerleading squad and made it. She cheered as a Raiderette for two seasons for the Los Angeles Raiders Football Team. She then decided her true passion was in acting.Elena Sahagun has appeared in 22 films and several television shows in the past 10 years. She has also won an Alma Award Winner in 1998 for Outstanding Actress in an Ensemble Cast for her portrayal in a PBS special entitled "Fotonovelas" directed by Carlos Avila. Elena made her first film debut as a young Villainess "Carmen" in 20th' Century Fox's Action/Thriller "Marked For Death" starring Steven Seagal. She also starred in "Stigmata 44" in which she plays a young mother who has a son possessed with the power to shoot "real" bullets out of his bare hand. This critically-acclaimed film deals with moral issues between parents and children, and has won 5 awards Worldwide, including Best Film at the Sweden's Children's Film Festival. She has also appeared in several national magazines one including "People Magazine En Espanol" worldwide. She sold her first project on her first pitch to "Showtime" that she created based on her life experience as an assistant to a major action star entitled "The Assistant." David Ward (two-time academy award winner writer) was hired by Showtime to write her dramedy based on her life.Aside from that project, she has also created a one-hour dramedy and has produced a pilot presentation entitled "Sideliners" inspired by her life when she was an NFL Cheerleader "Raiderette" with the Los Angeles Raiders. The dramedy is a sexy, bold intimate look at a few charismatic, and manic group of professional cheerleaders. Conceptually, it can be thought of as "Sex In the City" meets girl version of "Entourage" with the arena being professional cheerleading.