If you’ve watched The Queen, The River, The Throne, then we are sure Sandra Stein is your favourite lawyer. Meet Shannon Esra who plays the fierce and ruthless Sandra Stein.
How Sandra Stein happened
Isidingo lovers will remember the steaming affair between Shona Ferguson and Shannon Esra. After the story line was written off, Shona Ferguson approached her for the Sandra Stein role. It’s been chocolates and roses ever since for viewers.
Career
On our list of things to get excited about is Shannon Esra’s new series that is premiering on the 28th of January on MNet, Lioness. Shannon will play the lead actress in the crime series. She plays Samantha, a woman who loses everything when she is framed for a fraud committed by her husband and before he dies.
“The show is set in 2012 and 2020. It was vital to the journey of the characters that we were able to shoot them in sequence, as blocks. 2012 is a time before jail and 2020 is post-eight-years of incarceration. It was imperative for me to remain “out-of-my-head” during the filming of the 2020 years. In the aging process of Sam, me and Amy, (my make-up artist and dear friend) decided to strip Sam down to her very core. We removed any and all sense of glamour and enhanced the rawness of her looks and really leaned into her having aged. In prison, Sam confronted some hard truths to survive, which invariably made her that much stronger. I didn’t look at myself in the mirror at all. I needed to avoid any semblance of self-consciousness or vulnerability (as the actor). It was the most liberating experience to allow myself to be “ugly”, to let go of my idea of “beauty” and immerse myself in Sam”she says. 
Personal life
Shannon posts often and fondly about her parents. The actress is unmarried but hasn’t been public about seeing anyone. She clearly guards her privacy jealously. Her favourites are food and her dog that she clearly loves dearly.
www.savannanews.com