Kat Sandoval is a character in the American network political drama series Madam Secretary (2014–2019). She is played by bi actor Sara Ramirez.
Kat is a whip-smart political operator and policy expert with a no-nonsense attitude and a tendency to sometimes let her temper get the better of her. She was the former Chief of Staff to the US Ambassador to the United Nations before being fired after allegedly throwing a chair at someone. The DC rumors actually underplayed her behavior. She threw a table at a US Senator!
We first encounter her when Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) sees Kat on a talk show promoting her new book about avocado farming, a career turn she pretends to be enthusiastic about but secretly finds dull. Their paths later cross, and Elizabeth, impressed with Kat’s knowledge, hires her as a policy advisor, where her keen instincts and quick-thinking ingenuity prove useful time and again. Kat goes on to become a core character throughout seasons four and five.
In season four episode 14, “Refuge”, Kat reveals that she is bi. In a later episode, Elizeth’s Chief of Staff Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus) remarks that he had assumed Kat was a lesbian based on her appearance (short hair, masculine clothes). Kat reasserts her bisexuality and notes also that she chooses to express herself in a gender-nonconforming way. While her own personal life is not deeply explored through its own storylines, throughout her time in the series, Sandoval carries herself as an openly and proudly bi woman and takes a particular interest in championing LGBT issues. Kat, along with Blake Moran, represents the bi characters on Madam Secretary.