Sam Trammell. Actor: True Blood. Tony Award-nominee Sam Trammell may be most widely recognized as "Sam Merlotte" in HBO's AFI award-winning series True Blood (2008), filmed in Trammell's native Louisiana. The Alan Ball-created fantasy drama set ratings records for the network over its seven year run. He co-starred in the feature film Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019). He starred opposite Chrissy Metz in Breakthrough - Zurück ins Leben...