Biography

The five-lingual, ambitious German/Nicaraguan Luana Sandoval is known for American Idol Season 19.

She studied opera singing from 2012 until 2016 at the Saarland University of Music in Germany with Prof. Yaron Windmuller and Prof. Ruth Ziesak. In 2015 Luana performed her dance play Life of a Dancer at a theater in Trier, Germany for which she wrote the music, story and did the choreography.

Born on April 15, 1992 in Germany, Luana moved to New York on May 5, 2018. She trained with renowned choreographers Salim Gauwloos and Jose Gutierez, personal trainers Marlyn Ortiz and Nicole Winhoffer, acting coaches James Ciccone and Anthony Aibel, vocal coaches Katie Agresta and ILana Martin and songwriting mentors Judy Stakee and Peter Bliss. Luana joined the Lebanese dance company Afrah Events US and toured with them Nationwide and in Canada.

As a singer-songwriter Luana released her debut EP Love (2017), produced by Mark Roos followed by Fun House (2020), produced by Charles Pettiford who is known for The Roof is on Fire. She even wrote a song with Madonna's former percussionist and guitarist Miroca Paris whom she met during rehearsals for the Madame X tour. The song is called La Soledad. Luana performed throughout New York at Metropolitan Room, Zinc Bar, Drom, Don't Tell Mama, West End Lounge, Triad Theater and many more.

As actress Luana made her debut in the TV Mini Series The Last Fire (2018) followed by the short film Made of Money (2019) for which she also wrote the music score. It was screened at the Festival of Cinema NYC. She landed her first co-star role in the TV Series Snapped Season 31 Episode 5 as Susan Gigliotti (2022) and can be seen in Dolly Parton's movie "Mountain Magic Christmas" (2022).

In 2020 Luana starred in Episode 6 of the series Film Lab Presents in the PSAs "The Flu in the Time of COVID-19" and "Handwashing by Primadonnas in the Time of COVID-19" which aired on Crossings TV and Spectrum.

Furthermore she appeared as a belly dancer and bollywood dancer in the music videos Diamonds in the Sun by Donna De Lory and One Name by Selah for which she is nominated for a Josie Music Award for best performance in a music video.

When Luana Sandoval is not performing, she loves to work behind the scenes. This has led to film shoots, commercials and live shows with Bruce Willis with whom she spoke in German because he grew up in the same German State as Luana, Julia Stiles, Paris Hilton, Zuleyka Rivera and many more.

In December 2020 Luana moved to Nashville to take her career in music and film to the next level.

Luana is represented by her agent Adam Stair, CEO of The Stair Agency and manager Tammie Smith, CEO of Smith International Productions, Smith International Talent & Casting and publicist of SmithFlixx.