Sandra Nilsson Bio
Sandra Nilsson is a Swedish actress, glamour and fashion model. She was born on February 17, 1986, in Ystad, Sweden, and has also been credited as Sandra Nilson. Playboy named her its January 2008 Playmate at 21. Her appearance came in the 2000s, as Playboy's print tradition began to share space with an expanding online presence.
Nilsson has enhanced breasts, blue eyes and black hair. Her measurements are 35-26-35.
Sandra Nilsson entered professional modeling after turning down an opportunity she received at 14 because her parents considered her too young. Once old enough to pursue it seriously, she signed with an agency and moved to Malmö, building experience with Swedish brands and appearing as a contestant on Scandinavia’s Next Top Model. Beauty competitions soon widened her profile, with titles including Miss World Bikini Model, Miss EU, Miss Siren and Miss Hawaiian Tropic Sweden.
Representing Hawaiian Tropic took Nilsson well beyond Sweden, with international travel and appearances in advertising, commercials and billboards. She also worked with the Travel Channel and was ranked among Sweden’s most beautiful women in 2006. By then, a career that had begun in southern Sweden was giving her regular exposure across Europe and introducing her to the international fashion and entertainment circuit.
Playboy found Nilsson at the Cannes Film Festival, where Keith Hefner, Hugh Hefner’s brother, noticed her at a party and invited her to Los Angeles for a Playmate test. Hugh Hefner subsequently approved her centerfold, making Nilsson one of the relatively few Swedish models to become an American Playboy Playmate during that period. Her Playboy work also included the Playboy Video Playmate Calendar 2009, while television appearances included Howard Stern on Demand.
Nilsson later moved to New York to pursue further modeling and acting opportunities, but another important connection eventually brought her back into the European fashion world. Around 2010 she began a long-term relationship with Italian designer Roberto Cavalli. The couple remained together until Cavalli died in 2024, and Nilsson was at his side through periods of illness during his later years.
Their life together included a particularly strong connection to Nilsson’s native Sweden. In 2015 they acquired Stora Rullingen, a private island in Lake Mälaren, where the couple spent time away from the international fashion circuit. In 2023 Nilsson and Cavalli welcomed a son, Giorgio, named after Cavalli’s father. The child was the designer’s sixth and was born when Cavalli was 82, adding an unexpected family chapter to a relationship that lasted for well over a decade.
