Brazilian actresses
A tribute to the valiant Brazilian actresses.
Why IMDb does not consider necessary to put photos of Brazilian actresses on the site? Unfortunate!!!
WONDERFUL WOMEN, BUT ... WITHOUT FACE ... AND ONLY A SMALL BIOGRAPHY ...
Why IMDb does not consider necessary to put photos of Brazilian actresses on the site? Unfortunate!!!
WONDERFUL WOMEN, BUT ... WITHOUT FACE ... AND ONLY A SMALL BIOGRAPHY ...
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- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Dira Paes is one of the most awarded actresses in Brazilian Cinema and her curriculum has more than 35 feature films. She started her career in the overproduction of Embassy Pictures "The Emerald Forest" (Cannes film Festival), of the diretor John Boorman. At the cinema we can highlight movies such as "Baixio das Bestas" of Claudio Assis (Tiger Award-Rotterdan International Film Festival), "A Festa da Menina Morta" of Matheus Natchergale (Cannes Film Festival-Un Certain Regard) and one of the most seen brazilian movies "Two sons of Francisco" from Breno Silveira.
In total, Dira has 7 tv series, 7 novels and 37 feature films. Her career is based in a successful image and popularity in the main stream of Brazilian teledramaturgy even as in independent and authoral cinema.
Recently Dira played the protagonist of director Gabriel Mascaro new film. At beginings of 2018 she will start filming "Veneza", the first long of Miguel Falabella where she will act with Carmen Maura.
Dira is also know as one of the founders of the NGO Human Rights Movement (MHuD), which has developed a series of activities for peace and human rights. It looks specifically at the problems of slave labor, abuse of children and adolescents, issues of quilombolas, the environment and indigenous peoples.The most beautiful brazilian actress ...- Luiza Maranhão was born on 20 September 1940 in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Ganga Zumba (1963), Girl of Ipanema (1967) and The Turning Wind (1962).
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Sônia Braga was born June 8, 1950, in Maringá, Paraná State, Brazil, to a seamstress mother and a realtor father. She starred in the film adaptation of Jorge Amado's Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976), in the central role of Dona Flor. She earned American recognition and a Golden Globe nomination for performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), and was nominated for a second Golden Globe for her performance in Moon Over Parador (1988), where she played the part of Madonna Mendez.- Darlene Glória was born on 20 March 1943 in São João do Calçado, Espírito Santo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Feliz Natal (2008), All Nudity Shall Be Punished (1973) and Angels of the Sun (2006).
- Maria Della Costa was born on 1 January 1926 in Flores da Cunha, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Caminhos do Sul (1949), Estúpido Cupido (1976) and Inocência (1949). She was married to Sandro Polônio and Fernando De Barros. She died on 24 January 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Leila Diniz was born on 25 March 1945 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (1966), Corisco, O Diabo Loiro (1969) and Amor, Carnaval e Sonhos (1973). She was married to Ruy Guerra and Domingos de Oliveira. She died on 14 June 1972 in New Delhi, India.- Actress
Eliane Lage was born on 16 July 1928 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Caiçara (1950), Ângela (1951) and Sinhá Moça (1953). She was previously married to Tom Payne.- Actress
- Producer
Tereza Raquel was born on 10 March 1934 in Nilópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and producer, known for Que Rei Sou Eu? (1989), A Volta do Filho Pródigo (1978) and Amante Muito Louca (1973). She died on 2 April 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Cacilda Becker was born on 6 April 1921 in Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Luz dos Meus Olhos (1947), Floradas na Serra (1954) and Teatro Cacilda Becker (1953). She was married to Walmor Chagas and Tito Lívio Fleury Martins. She died on 14 June 1969 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Lilian Lemmertz was born on 15 June 1937 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Baila Comigo (1981), Love Lesson (1975) and Time and the Wind (1985). She was married to Lineu Dias. She died on 5 June 1986 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Cleyde Yáconis was born on 14 November 1923 in Pirassununga, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Torre de Babel (1998), Os inocentes (1974) and Paper Wedding Anniversary (2008). She was married to Stênio Garcia. She died on 15 April 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Geórgia Gomide was born on 17 August 1937 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Vereda Tropical (1984), O Tempo e o Vento (1967) and Teresa (1965). She died on 29 January 2011 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Adriana Prieto was born in 1950 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was an actress, known for Um Anjo Mau (1971), Ainda Agarro Esta Vizinha... (1974) and Uma Mulher Para Sábado (1970). She died on 23 December 1974 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Eliana Macedo was born on 21 September 1926 in Itaocara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and assistant director, known for Carnaval no Fogo (1949), Amei um Bicheiro (1953) and Nem Sansão Nem Dalila (1954). She was married to Renato Murce. She died on 18 June 1990 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Odete Lara was born on 17 April 1929 in São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress and writer, known for O Jogo da Vida e da Morte (1972), Antonio das Mortes (1969) and Lúcia McCartney, Uma Garota de Programa (1971). She was married to Oduvaldo Vianna Filho and Antonio Carlos da Fontoura. She died on 4 February 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Nathália Timberg was born on 5 August 1929 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for O Dono do Mundo (1991), Vendo ou Alugo (2013) and Santa Marta Fabril (1984).
- Actress
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rossana Ghessa was born on 24 January 1943 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. She is an actress and producer, known for Bebel, Garota Propaganda (1968), Ana Terra (1971) and O Vampiro de Copacabana (1976). She is married to Durval Garcia.- One of the most beautiful women in Brazil in the 1950s and 1960s, Ilka Soares' career began in 1947 in a Miss Brazil pageant promoted by 'O Globo' newspaper. There, she met Vittorio Cardineli and Ugo Lombardi, actress Bruna Lombardi's father, who invited her to audition for Iracema (1949), an adaptation of the novel of the same name by José de Alencar. After a successful screen test at 'Brasil Vita Filmes' studios, she got the leading role in what is now considered a lost film.
In the 50s, she starred in ten films for 'Atlântida Empresa Cinematográfica do Brasil' and 'Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz', two of the most prestigious Brazilian film studios at that time.
She started on TV in 1956 as a news anchor and variety show host, becoming popular on magazine covers as well as a professional model. Her 40-decade-long career in telenovelas began with O Cafona (1971). - Actress
- Director
- Writer
Helena Ignez was born on 23 May 1942 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She is an actress and director, known for Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit (2010), Canção de Baal (2007) and The Priest and the Girl (1966). She was previously married to Glauber Rocha and Rogério Sganzerla.- Eva Wilma Riefle was the daughter of Otto Riefle, and Luiza Carp, both new immigrants to São Paulo. Otto Riefle was a German metalworker born in Pforzheim, the Black Forest region near Stuttgart, Germany, who in 1929, aged 19, emigrated to Rio de Janeiro, to work at the Levy-Frank metalworking company, but was transferred the next year to São Paulo, where in 1933, during the city's Carnival, he met met Luiza. Luiza Carp was a pianist, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Jewish parents from Kiev, Ukraine., then a soviet socialist republic. Eva was conceived of their union, and the couple married shortly after, before she was born.
Eva Wilma had a daughter and a son with her first husband John Herbert: cinema director Vivian Buckup (b. 1956) and musician John Herbert Junior (b. 1958). Eva had five grandchildren: Miguel (b. 1986) and Mateus (b. 1990) by Vivian; and Gabriela (b. 1987), Francisco (b. 2000), and Vitorio (b. 2006) by John Herbert Junior. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Claudia Ohana was born on 6 February 1963 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for The Next Victim (1995), Mais Forte que o Mundo: A História de José Aldo (2016) and Aventuras de um Paraíba (1982). She was previously married to Ruy Guerra.- Dina Sfat was born on 28 October 1938 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for The Brazilwood Man (1982), Selva de Pedra (1972) and Eros, the God of Love (1981). She was married to Paulo José. She died on 20 March 1989 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Deborah Secco was born on 26 November 1979 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress and producer, known for Confessions of a Brazilian Call Girl (2011), Good Luck (2014) and America (2005). She has been married to Hugo Moura since 2015. They have one child. She was previously married to Roger Flores and Rogério Gomes.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Arlette Pinheiro Esteves da Silva was born on 16th October 1929 in Rio de Janeiro. She adopted the name "Fernanda" because she thought it sounded good. "Montenegro" came after her family doctor.
In late 40s she was translating and adapting famous theater plays to radio. She begun her artistic life in the theater with the play "Alegres Canções nas Montanhas" in 1950. Among her mates was Fernando Torres, who would soon become her husband. Next she use the married name Arlette Pinheiro Monteiro Torres. In the next years she worked with other great actors like Sérgio Britto, Cacilda Becker, Nathália Timberg, Cláudio Corrêa e Castro and Ítalo Rossi.
In the early 60s she moved to São Paulo where she worked on many theater plays and also stared working on television. Her first soap operas was "Pouco Amor Não é Amor". In 1964 she started working for cinema as well. Her first film was "A Falecida". In 1965 her daughter Fernanda Torres was born. She later also became a famous actress.
As time went by, more and more successful soap operas and plays came up and she received many prizes. She was later called "The First Lady of Brazilian Theater". In cinema, after some not very famous films, she worked on "Eles Não Usam Black-Tie" (1981), largely applauded by the critics.
Her success on television and theater continued, but her cinema career, although it never stopped, was largely unnoticed until 1997, when "O Que é Isso, Companheiro?", a nominee for the Oscar of Best Film in a Foreign Language, was released. In 1998 "Central do Brasil" enchanted the world. This film, another nominee for the Oscar, was the highest moment of Fernanda Montengro's cinema career, once she was a nominee for Best Actress. The Oscar was not given to her, but the actress got the Berlin prize. In 1999 she had another great achievement on TV, "O Auto da Compadecida", later cut to a film format and released in the movie theaters.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Carmen Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha on February 9, 1909, near Porto, Portugal, in the town of Marco de Canavezes. Not long after her birth her family moved to Brazil, where her father was involved in the produce business. The family settled in the then-capital city of Rio de Janeiro. ' After leaving school, Carmen got a job at a local store, and often began singing on the job. Before long she was discovered and got a singing job on a local radio station. She ultimately got a recording contract with RCA. By 1928 she was a genuine superstar in Brazil. As with other popular singers of the era, she eventually made her way into the film world. She made her debut in the Brazilian documentary A Voz do Carnaval (1933). Two years later she appeared in her first feature film, Alô, Alô, Brasil (1935).
However. it was Estudantes (1935) that seemed to solidify Carmen in the minds of the Brazilian movie audiences. Now they realized she could act as well as sing. Although there was three years between "Alo, Alo Carnaval" and Banana-da-Terra (1939), Carmen continued to churn out musical hits in Brazil. The latter film would be the last in her home country.
In late 1939 Carmen arrived, with much fanfare in the press, in New York City. She was now ready to capture Americans' hearts with her talent. She appeared in some musical revues on Broadway and, just as everyone thought, was a huge hit. In 1940 Carmen was signed to appear in the Twentieth Century-Fox production Down Argentine Way (1940), with Betty Grable and Don Ameche. The only complaint that critics had was the fact that Carmen was not on the screen enough.
In 1941 she was, again, teamed with Ameche in addition to Alice Faye in That Night in Rio (1941). The film was extremely popular with the theater patrons. Her unique songs went a long way in making her popular. It was after Week-End in Havana (1941) that American cartoon artists began to cash in on Carmen's ever-growing popularity. In the 1930s and 1940s cartoons were sometimes shown as a prelude to whatever feature film was showing. Sure enough, the cartoon version of Carmen came wriggling across the screen, complete with her trademark fruit hat and wide, toothy grin.
In 1942 Carmen starred in Springtime in the Rockies (1942) with Betty Grable and Cesar Romero, both of whom she had worked with before. It was shortly after this that America began adopting her style of dress as the latest fad. 1944 saw her in three films: Something for the Boys (1944), Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) and Greenwich Village (1944). The first two did well at the box-office, but the last one left a lot to be desired. It was her last busy year in film. Carmen made one film each in 1945, '46, '47 and '48. After that she didn't make a film for two years, until Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), a production for MGM. Once again didn't make a film for several years, returning with Scared Stiff (1953).
She did stay busy, singing on the nightclub circuit and appearing on the relatively new medium of television. However, "Scared Stiff" was her final performance on the silver screen. On August 4, 1955, she suffered a heart attack, although she didn't realize it at the time, during a video taping of The Jimmy Durante Show (1954). She went home after attending a party.
Early the next morning, on August 5, Carmen suffered a fatal heart attack. She was just 46 years old. Her body was flown to her adopted country of Brazil, where her death was declared a period of national mourning.Born in Portugal but a brazilian actress!- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Actress, singer, director, producer, musician and writer, Bibi Ferreira was considered the Grand Dame of Brazilian stage. She sang, acted, directed and produced during her 72 year career. Born Abigail Izquierdo Ferreira on June 1, 1922, in Rio de Janeiro, her father was actor Procópio Ferreira and her mother was Spanish ballerina Aída Izquierdo.
Bibi was first seen on stage at just 24 days old, replacing a doll in the play Manhãs de Sol (Sunny Mornings) by Oduvaldo Viana. As a young child Bibi traveled with her mother throughout Latin America as part of the Companhia Velasco troupe of Spanish revues. At age three she was already singing and dancing on stage, becoming known as "la niña de Velasco". Her professional stage debut was at age 18 in the Italian play La Locandiera by Carlo Goldoni. Five years later she started her own theater company, Companhia de Comédias Bibi Ferreira.
During the 1950s she took her company to Portugal and performed throughout the country for five years. In the 1960s and 1970s Bibi hosted several television shows, such as Brasil 60, Brasil 61, Bibi ao Vivo, Bibi Especial, Brasil 78, and Brasil 79, just to name a few. She was boldly innovative and helped in shaping the format of studio audience shows. She hosted the television show Curso de Alfabetização para Adultos (Literacy Course for Adults), which taught more than 30,000 people in Brazil. For this she was awarded "Best Communicator" at Tokyo's International Culture Festival. Bibi was featured in the first live satellite transmission to Brazil, a television broadcast of the 1972 Academy Awards. During the 1960s, Bibi brought Broadway's biggest musicals to Brazil including My Fair Lady, Hello, Dolly!, and Man of La Mancha.
In 1975 she debuted the iconic play Gota d'Água (A Drop of Water) by singer-songwriter Chico Buarque and Paulo Pontes. Another hallmark was 1983's Piaf-A Vida de uma Estrela da Canção (based on Piaf, written by British playwright Pam Gems), in which Bibi interpreted and sang Edith Piaf's famous repertoire. She performed Bibi Canta e Conta Piaf (Bibi Sings and Tells Piaf) in her shows. Her success in performing this work for more than 30 years all over the world has earned her the French government's highest artistic accolade, the Orde des Arts et des Lettres, twice (in 1985 and 2009). Bibi Canta e Conta Piaf was recorded at Teatro Maison de France in Rio de Janeiro in 2004 and released on DVD. Renowned French photographer Hughes Vassal, who captured Piaf's final years, heard Bibi perform and declared she was "the only artist capable of reliving the dramatic emotions of Edith Piaf."
During the 1990s, Bibi maintained a busy schedule of performances, singing such orchestral concerts as Bibi in Concert and Bibi in Concert II-Entertainer throughout Brazil and Europe. She was a highly praised director of concerts, operas, and plays. Many acclaimed Brazilian names performed under her direction, such as Maria Bethânia, Elizeth Cardoso, Clara Nunes, and Roberta Miranda. During a performances of Piaf-Uma Estrela da Canção, the Portuguese fado legend Amália Rodrigues saw Bibi and asked if she would portray Amália on stage. In 2001, at her 60th career anniversary celebration, Bibi performed Bibi Vive Amália (Bibi Lives Amália), singing the Portuguese fadista's greatest works. The production was an absolute triumph among critics and audiences alike in Brazil and Portugal. Bibi was the subject at Rio de Janeiro Carnival in 2003. She was honored by one of the samba schools, Unidos da Viradouro, where Brazilian artists paraded in her honor.
In 2004, she performed Bibi in Concert III-Pop. The play As Favas com os Escrúpulos, written by Juca de Oliveira and directed by Jô Soares, marked her return to spoken comedy after 54 years performing musicals. It performed to more than 300,000 people during its four year run. In 2010, she performed in De Pixinguinha a Noel, passando por Gardel (From Pixinguinha to Noel going through Gardel). She was featured alongside the renowned tango orchestra El Arranque at sold-out performances in Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. According to the Argentinean newspaper La Nación, Bibi "left the city teaching us how to sing the tango." She recorded the album Bibi Ferreira and Miguel Proença Tangos, containing the most treasured tangos from her childhood memories. In 2011, she recorded the album Bibi Ferreira Brasileira - uma suíte amorosa, in which she sang Brazilian popular music classics. In 2012 she recorded the album Bibi Ferreira-Natal em família (Bibi Ferreira-Christmas in Family), a collection of popular Christmas songs. Bibi Histórias e Canções (Bibi, Stories and Songs), was a celebration of her 72- year career and 90th birthday celebration, where she sang and shared stories highlighting her life and career. On April 14, 2013, she presented Bibi in Concert at Lincoln Center in New York.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Marília Pêra was born on 22 January 1943 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and producer, known for Pixote (1980), Central Station (1998) and Urban Snap-Shots (2008). She was married to Bruno Faria, Nelson Motta, Paulo Villaça, Agildo Ribeiro and Paulo Graça Mello. She died on 5 December 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Dercy Gonçalves was born on 23 June 1907 in Santa Maria Madalena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and writer, known for Cavalo Amarelo (1980), Oceano Atlantis (1993) and Caídos do Céu (1946). She was married to Danilo Bastos. She died on 19 July 2008 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Nair Bello was born on 28 April 1931 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Zorra Total (1999), Kubanacan (2003) and Torre de Babel (1998). She was married to Irineu Souza Francisco. She died on 17 April 2007 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Aurora Duarte was born on 17 April 1933 in Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. She was an actress and producer, known for Três Garimpeiros (1955), Uma Negra Chamada Tereza (1973) and Elite Devassa (1984). She died on 6 August 2020 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Consuelo Leandro was born on 27 May 1932 in Lorena, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Cambalacho (1986), Carnaval em Caxias (1954) and Mulheres à Vista (1959). She was married to Agildo Ribeiro. She died on 5 July 1999 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
She has a son named João (1975) with Daniel Filho. She has 4 grandchildren: Giulia (Alexandra's daughter), twins Valentina and João Paulo and Antônio (João children's). Her father's name is Marçal and he was a army officer. Her mother's name is Elza and she's a housewife. Betty is an only child. She lives in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro and she's Buddhist.
She's won awards as best actress for the movies A Estrela Sobe (1974), Anjos do Arrebalde (1987) and Romance da Empregada (1988). She's also a producer.- At the age of six she moved from Pelotas, a city in Brazil's extreme south, to São Paulo with her family. In 1950, she attended the University of São Paulo's (USP) 'School of Dramatic Art' and set up a theater group called 'Jovens Independentes' (Young Independents). She married for the first time at age of eighteen.
Her professional career began at São Paulo's TV Tupi (Brazil's first television station) in 1959, in the soap opera "Um Lugar ao Sol (1959)", directed by Dionísio Azevedo.
In 1962 she starred in the classic film The Given Word (1962) ('O Pagador de Promessas'), the only Brazilian film to win the 'Palme d'Or' at the Cannes Film Festival in France, and the first South American film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 1963, alongside Tarcísio Meira, she had her first starring role in Brazil's first daily live television soap opera, 2-5499 Ocupado (1963), broadcast by TV Excelsior, now extinct. From this soap opera on, the two actors began appearing together as a successful working and married couple in over fifteen TV productions.
She is considered one of the main Brazilian actresses, as she has played several outstanding characters during her career on TV, films, and in theater, including the role of 'Doris' in the Brazilian production of Bernard Slade's romantic comedy play 'Same Time, Next Year'. - Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Vera Fischer was born on 27 November 1951 in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil. She is an actress and producer, known for The Clone (2001), Intimidade (1975) and Love Strange Love (1982). She was previously married to Felipe Camargo and Perry Salles.- Rita Cléos was born on 29 September 1931 in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil. She was an actress, known for A Gata (1964), O Cara Suja (1965) and Macumba na Alta (1958). She died on 21 May 1988 in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
- Maria Antonietta Farias Portocarrero was born in Rio de Janeiro on August 23, 1922. Her father, Hermenegildo Portocarrero (1894-1959), was a military man and maths teacher with a lifelong interest in show business. A close friend of the great Brazilian actor Procópio Ferreira, he was acquainted with actors, singers and musicians, and for a time was the director of Radio Nacional, the chief radio station in Rio, then capital of Brazil. Tônia had two older brothers, both military men and teachers. At a very early age, she took an interest in dancing and in sports, eventually graduating as a physical education teacher.
In 1940 she married the artist Carlos Thiré, who was already creating the comic books for which he is now recognized as a major name of the early years of comics in Brazil. The young couple's only child, the actor, director and drama teacher Cecil Thiré was born on May 28, 1943. In early 1947, she was invited to appear as one of the schoolgirls in Querida Susana (1947) (aka "Querida Suzana") (literally, "Darling Suzana"), directed by Alberto Pieralisi and starring Anselmo Duarte, who was soon to become the biggest leading man in Brazilian films. In her film debut, she had nothing to do but smile. At her insistence, however, she was given one line. When the film was completed, they asked her how she should be credited. She had no idea. Maria Antonietta Portocarrero surely didn't sound like an actress' name. She was having singing lessons at the time and told her teacher about it. The woman thought for a moment and said, "From 'Antonietta' we take 'Tônia.' By breaking the surname in two and keeping the second half, we get 'Carrero.' Your name is going to be Tônia Carrero." And so it was. For her family and closest friends, however, she has always been Mariinha, the nickname given to her when she was born.
Shortly after the making of "Querida Suzana", Thiré got a scholarship and went to Paris to study art with the famous French painter André Lothe (1885-1962). Tônia accompanied him and, once there, enrolled in an acting course named "Education par les Jeux Dramatiques", directed by the famous actor-director Jean-Louis Barrault. As she likes to recall, half of her classmates were horrified to have among them someone so cheerful and healthy in direct contrast to the somber atmosphere of those post-war years. The other half loved her precisely for that.
In December of 1947, the Thirés came back to Brazil and Tônia started looking for work. In 1948 she was invited by 'Fernando de Barros' to play the sister of his wife Maria Della Costa in his first film as a director, Caminhos do Sul (1949) (lit. "Paths of the South"). When the film was released, in late 1949, the two actresses were praised for their beauty, presence, and adroit acting. Fernando then cast Tônia as the lead in Quando a Noite Acaba (1950) (lit. "When the Night Is Over"), made in 1949, right after "Caminhos do Sul." The story was set in Rio and the film was released in that city first. To the director's great annoyance, when it was later shown in São Paulo the title was changed to "Perdida pela Paixão" (lit. "Lost by Passion"), which, besides being misleading, has often caused the two titles to appear in the filmographies of cast and crew as two different films.
Whatever the title, the film did well and Tônia's performance was hailed as a great accomplishment for its lack of pretense and its amazing blend of intensity and restraint, audiences being very impressed by her awesome death scene at the end. She got the admiration of critics and audiences alike for being a stunningly beautiful woman who didn't rest on that, one critic (Décio Vieira Ottoni) going as far as calling her performance "the best by any actress ever seen in Brazilian films so far."
December 13, 1949 became a historical date for the Brazilian theater. On that day, at Rio's Teatro Copacabana, Tônia Carrero and a young lawyer named Paulo Autran made their joint stage debut in "Um Deus Dormiu Lá em Casa", a comedy by the Brazilian author Guilherme Figueiredo, based on the Greek myth of Amphitryon. In the years to come, Tônia and Paulo would turn into household names for their work, together and separately, in films, on the stage, and on TV. 1949 marked the beginning of a legendary partnership that lasted until 2004 when they were seen acting together for the last time in the TV mini-series One Heart (2004) (lit. "One Heart"), as an elderly couple dining at the restaurant where the young actors and directors who were starting a new phase of the Brazilian theater in São Paulo gathered every night, in the late 1940s, the inside joke being that two of the young actors they saw at a nearby table and talked about were ... Tônia Carrero and Paulo Autran!
The creation of the Vera Cruz film company in late 1949 attracted a great number of actors and Tônia was no exception. In 1952 she was seen in the studio's most lavish production, Tico-Tico no Fubá (1952), about the life of that song's composer, Zequinha de Abreu, played by Anselmo Duarte. Tônia was Branca, the circus ballerina the composer falls in love with. The film represented Brazil in the Cannes Film Festival and, like the composer whose life it portrayed, audiences all over fell in love with the beautiful woman who rode a horse with so much skill and enchanted the whole town where the circus stayed for a while, until finding out that she too had fallen in love with the composer. The director was Adolfo Celi, an Italian actor who had come to Brazil in 1948 and in time became one of the country's most influential directors and drama teachers. During the making of the film, in 1951, they fell in love and decided to stay together. That was the end of Tônia's marriage to Carlos Thiré and Adolfo Celi's relationship with the first lady of the Brazilian theater, the celebrated actress Cacilda Becker.
Soon after the enormous success of "Tico Tico no Fubá," Tônia was seen in Fernando de Barros' Appassionata (1952), a somewhat turgid melodrama in which she played a pianist who is loved by Anselmo Duarte. The film did well in spite of mixed reviews and among all her films remains the one in which, beautifully photographed by British cinematographer Ray Sturgess, she looks more stunning. Her last film for Vera Cruz was É Proibido Beijar (1954) (lit. "Kissing Forbidden"). A light comedy directed by Ugo Lombardi, in which for the third time in a row she acted with Zbigniew Ziembinski, the father-figure of the modern Brazilian theater, the film looks dated today, its biggest asset being once again Tônia's striking beauty.
As it was being made, in 1953, pre-production began for the studio's most ambitious project, a film version of "Ana Terra", one of the segments of Érico Veríssimo's monumental epic novel "O Tempo e o Vento" ("Time and the Wind"). Tônia was to star and Celi to direct. Alas, the film was not to be. Vera Cruz collapsed, its contract players, directors, and technicians disbanded, and all that remains today are the beautiful photographic studies suggesting that Ana Terra could have been Tônia's most emblematic film role. In retrospect, Tônia's greatest moment at Vera Cruz remains the scene in "Tico Tico no Fubá" in which, as the circus caravan moves away from the small town where she had met the composer, she and Ziembinski are seen at the coachman's seat of the leading wagon, talking about how life makes you leave things behind, and how hard it can be to make choices.
With the end of hers and Celi's Vera Cruz tenure, they decided to settle in Rio, where, along with Paulo Autran, they founded the famous Tônia-Celi-Autran theater company. From 1956 to 1961, Celi directed, Tônia and Paulo starred, and some of the best actors of the day joined the cast in carefully selected plays by Shakespeare, Goldoni, Lillian Hellman, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pirandello, George Axelrod, Françoise Sagan, and Brazilian authors such as Osman Lins. The company's success was immense, to the point of extending a tour of the southern states of Brazil to Buenos Aires, where Argentinian audiences didn't seem to mind seeing "Othello" in Portuguese.
However, the theatergoers' gain was the moviegoers' loss. Her Vera Cruz days behind her, Tônia turned down an offer to make films in Italy (she dreaded the idea of being away from her son) and became essentially a stage actress. In 1955 she was seen on the screen once more, opposite Arturo de Córdova in Mãos Sangrentas (1955) (released in the US as "The Violent and the Damned"), a prison melodrama made the year before at another studio by the Argentinian director Carlos Hugo Christensen, and then went on a film hiatus of six years, during which she kept a hectic schedule of theater and TV work.
In 1960, during the company's exceptionally successful Buenos Aires season, she was invited by the illustrious director and actor Lautaro Murúa to play his wife in his own film Alias Gardelito (1961). She completed her scenes in four days at neck breaking speed so as to be able to come back to Rio where she was being expected to fulfill a theater engagement. She couldn't possibly know then that, following its release in 1961, the film she had no idea she would be making when she arrived to Buenos Aires would become a classic of the Argentinian cinema, the big irony being that, since it was never released in Brazil and this was before the VHS/DVD era, she has never seen it.
For a while it looked as if the early 1960s would be the beginning of a new phase of her work as a film actress. Early in 1961, almost back to back, she made two films, both released in 1962. First, Carnival of Crime (1962), a Brazilian-American-Argentinian co-production directed by George Cahan and starring the internationally famous French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont (released in the US in 1964 as "Carnival of Crime", the film is available on DVD). Then, Esse Rio Que Eu Amo (1962) (lit. "My Beloved Rio"), an episode film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen, in which she played an unfaithful woman in the modern version of a story by Brazil's greatest writer, Machado de Assis.
In 1962, when "Esse Rio que Eu Amo" was released, her delicate performance and great beauty at 38 so much impressed the European producers of Copacabana Palace (1962), about to start shooting in Rio, that they offered her the juicy part of the elegant wife of a jewel thief who acted in the famous hotel of the title. Released the same year it was made, this Italian-French co-production directed by Steno (also known as Stefano Vanzina), and starring the popular Italian actor Walter Chiari, became something of a cult movie of its kind. In 1979, when Adolfo Celi came to Rio to direct her in the theater for the first time after the break-up of their marriage in 1962, he jokingly told Tônia that he had never really stopped seeing her, for every other time he turned on the TV in his Rome home, there she was in "Copacabana Palace."
In 1963 Celi had gone back to Italy, where he became an amazingly active actor in international films, his best remembered role being Emilio Largo, the villain who defies James Bond in Thunderball (1965). In 1964 Tônia married the engineer César Thedim (1930-2000), who was to have a brief career as a film producer. They separated in 1977, and she didn't marry again. Like Paulo Autran, after the end of Tônia-Celi-Autran, she founded a new theater company and went on producing and acting in plays by world-wide famous authors like Ibsen (her Nora in "A Doll's House", in which she was directed by her son, Cecil Thiré, and for which she won an award, stands as one of her stage performances people remember more fondly), Feydeau, Somerset Maugham, and Tennessee Williams, as well as Brazilian authors such as Domingos de Oliveira.
In 1967, during the military regime ("the years of lead") when censorship made life hell for those whose work had to do with theater, cinema, music, and literature, she read a play named "Navalha na Carne" (lit. "Razor in the Flesh"), by a brilliant young Brazilian author named Plínio Marcos, and decided to do it. It told the story of an aging prostitute living with her pimp in the shabby pension of a poor and dangerous neighborhood where she walked the streets every night. She can hardly get clients anymore, the pimp gets mad at her, they go through a ghastly night during which he beats her, takes all her money, humiliates her, and leaves her to her fate. Alone, she cries like hell, than pulls herself together, sits down and very calmly eats a sandwich as the curtain comes down. The play was banned by the censors and couldn't be performed anywhere in Brazil. But Tônia fought for it so ferociously and with so much intelligence that the authorities ended up thinking it wiser not to go against a woman the whole country adored, and she was granted permission to do it.
At the peak of her beauty and charm, Tônia gained weight, stopped having her hair done, developed a heavy walk and a clumsy way to move around, learned how to speak with a most ungracious croaky voice, and, under the clever direction of Fauzi Arap, came up with a performance that has become part of the history of the Brazilian theater, for which she became the first actress to win the prestigious Molière Award by unanimous vote. People went to the theater and for a moment their minds boggled. It took them a while to realize that the woman on the stage really was Tônia Carrero. Needless to say, there was a standing ovation every night.
However, when two years later the play was filmed by Braz Chediak and she was invited to repeat on screen her most famous stage role, she turned it down. As she explained, she had done the play for more than a year, all over Brazil, and it was a marvelous experience. But now she was through with it and had even done another play (Frank D. Gilroy's "The Subject Was Roses", in which she played her own son's mother). Along with the suicidal woman in Terence Rattigan's "The Deep Blue Sea", the prostitute in Plínio Marcos' play had been one of the two most straining roles she had ever played. While acting in both she felt she was using up her emotional energy. Playing the prostitute had been immensely rewarding, but she didn't want to go through it again. She suggested Glauce Rocha, one of Brazil's most gifted actresses, whom she admired and was personally very fond of. Her suggestion was accepted and "Navalha na Carne" became one of the last film credits in Glauce Rocha's sadly short career.
In late 1968 Tônia gave a fine performance as the lead in Hugo Kusnet's Tempo de Violência (1969) (lit. "Time of Violence"), a vigorous film about the risk in politically deranged times of thinking that if you mind your own business you will stay out of trouble. The film got good reviews and did well with the public. The same year it was released, Tônia appeared as an elegant 19th century French courtesan in Sangue do Meu Sangue (1969) (lit. "My Own Blood"), a TV series, or rather a "novela" (the Portuguese word to define a genre that flourished in Brazil in the 1960s and doesn't quite have an equivalent in English speaking countries, the best way to describe it being, "Imagine a mini-series, with daily episodes like all mini-series, but lasting from six to eight months").
It was the beginning of the great phase of her career as a TV actress. In 1970 she did something very few actresses in the world (if any at all) must have done. At the same time as she appeared every night on the stage as Lady MacBeth with Paulo Autran in the title role, she played the lead in Pigmalião 70 (1970), her first "novela" for TV Globo, Brazil's biggest TV studio. Such was her success in it, that all over Brazil, hairdressers had a hard time trying to make room for all the women who wanted to get a "Dona Cristina cut" (her character's name). After a number of Globo "novelas" she became tired of the hoopla and asked to be released from her contract. She decided to concentrate on her work in the theater, which was always phenomenally successful, and eventually make a film, like Mário Carneiro's Gordos e Magros (1976) (lit. "The Fat Ones and the Thin Ones"), made in early 1976 and released in 1977, in which she played the mother of her lifelong friend Carlos Kroeber. Alas, the film got bad reviews and did poorly with audiences.
She did accept to make other things for TV, like specials, or single episodes of shows like "Aplauso" (not to be confused with the 1978 Spanish series of the same title), in which a different repertory play was adapted for TV every week. But she would only make another "novela" in 1980, when author Gilberto Braga invited her to what would become one of his biggest hits, Água Viva (1980) (lit. "Jelly Fish"). At 57 she looked more beautiful than the young stars around her. As an eccentric millionairess who had a bolder, more outgoing attitude to life than people half her age, she won the hearts of a whole new generation who had heard about her but was seeing her for the first time. As a tribute to her, towards the end Braga wrote a highly dramatic scene in which, following a depressive bout triggered by the mysterious death of a dear friend, she took a whole bottle of sleeping pills and, as she played again and again an old recording of a famous French song, went on a long monologue explaining to the people she had loved and lost why she had decided to join them.
When the scene was aired, even her most unabashed fans were taken aback by how intimately and with how much intensity the actress they loved so much could relate to the camera. For some of them the scene brought back memories of her doing Jean Cocteau's "The Human Voice" live on TV, in the 1950s, directed by Adolfo Celi, with whom, she has always been very proud to say, she learned her craft.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were a sad time for the Brazilian film industry. A time of uncertainty when it became extremely difficult to raise money for any kind of project, to the point when (in 1990-91) production practically stopped. For actors, much as they all relished the idea of making films, it became the sort of thing you jump at if it comes your way, but you never count on. With Tônia it wasn't any different. With no film projects in view, at the peak of her prestige as one of the leading figures of the Brazilian theater, she enjoyed very long runs in Rio and São Paulo, as well as touring other Brazilian cities in plays such as Marguerite Duras' "L'Amante Anglaise" (once again with Paulo Autran), John Murrell's "Memoir" (as Sarah Bernhardt, with her son Cecil), William Luce's "Zelda" (as Zelda Fitzgerald), Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance," Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," and "As Atrizes" ("The Actresses") by the Brazilian actor and author Juca de Oliveira.
In 1986 she appeared in "Quartett," a strange play by German author Rainer Muller, in which she played Merteuil, the vicious aristocrat of the famous classic "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," as seen many years after the events of that novel. Alone in her mansion, she talked to the ghost of her former lover Valmont (played by Sérgio Britto), in what turned out to be a tragicomic comment on modern life. Under the brilliant direction of Gerald Thomas, she came up with what was hailed as the top of her achievements as a stage actress, for which, once again she was given a Molière Award, now in the honorary category.
By now the Vera Cruz film company ("The Brazilian Hollywood") had become a legend and she was constantly asked if she didn't miss making films. She certainly did and in 1987 gladly took the chance to start again by making three films in a row. Early in the year, she joined a large number of stars (including Paulo Autran, if not with her in the same scene) who played cameo roles in Fogo e Paixão (1988) (lit "Fire and Passion"), co-directed by Marcio Kogan and Isay Weinfeld. Released in 1988, it turned out to be a fascinating film in which the big joke was to see her as a beggar after the endless series of rich, sophisticated women audiences had grown accustomed to see her play, especially on TV. Next she played the male lead's mother in Ruy Guerra's Fábula de la Bella Palomera (1988) (aka "A Bela Palomera"), a Brazilian-Spanish co-production released in 1988.
As soon as it was finished, she filmed Sonhos de Menina Moça (1988) (aka "Best Wishes"), as the matriarch of a large and rich family. An ambitious project by director Tereza Trautman, when it was generally released in 1988 after a round of international festivals, the film was poorly received and hasn't been seen much, the general line being that there were too many script problems. Late in 1988 Tônia played the grandmother telling the story in O Gato de Botas Extraterrestre (1990) (lit. "The Extraterrestrial Puss in Boots"), released in 1990. Directed by Wilson Rodrigues, this well-done film for children was her last in 16 years.
As active as ever in the theater, in 2002 she celebrated her 80th birthday on the stage, in Rio, as the old lady in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's famous play, "The Visit." During the curtain call of the first performance for the general public, after a long standing ovation, having read in the press that it was her very special birthday, the whole audience broke into a warm "Happy Birthday." Being in the cast, the author of this biography was on the stage with the others, and like them has not forgotten the expression of gratitude in the faces of the people who paid her such a spontaneous tribute. She had become what they would like to be at her age. She was a star all right, a very big one, but she was their own, tangible star, and they loved her for that.
In 2004, along with several other people who had known or worked with him, she filmed a series of interviews for Vinicius (2005), a documentary by Miguel Faria Jr. about one of her dearest friends, the poet and composer Vinicius de Moraes. Released in 2005, it turned out to be a wonderful film, getting rave reviews and setting a new box office record for a documentary. While it was still making the rounds, in 2006, Tônia worked for the first time with the young and enormously talented director Laís Bodanzky, who cast her as the old lady who comes with her lifelong companion (wonderfully played by the great Leonardo Villar) to the ballroom of the title in Chega de Saudade (2007).
Among a great number of characters (beautifully played by an impeccable cast), the events of one single evening concentrate on three couples: one very young, one middle-aged, and one elderly. When the film was generally released in 2008 (after a preview in 2007 at the Brasília Film Festival) it became a huge success. Lots of people told they had come back to see it again shortly after the first time, their favorite moment being the scene towards the end, in which, out of jealousy, the cranky old man played by Leo Villar decides to leave without saying goodbye. From the top of the stairs, Tônia stops him calling it a shame to leave like that, not simply because of the bad manners, but especially because of the defeat attitude in life.
He asks her what she expects from him. Her stern face dissolving into a beautiful smile, she says, "Dance with me!" He goes back and they dance. In a long arc shot, as the camera shows the entire cast watching them, it becomes possible to see how moved they all are to witness this absolutely magical moment. Then the camera cuts to Tônia and Leo Villar, as she kisses him saying, "I love you- I love you-"
When the film was released, perhaps because of having done it so many times while watching these two live on the stage, at the peak of their big scene audiences often burst into a very loud applause. At 84, Tônia Carrero, the film actress, had made the best film of her entire career. Just before it was released, in 2007, she made her last stage appearance to date in a play by the Russian author Alexei Arbuzov known in America as "Do You Do Somersaults?" and in England as "Old World." With her on the stage was the much loved actor Mauro Mendonça. The director was none other than her own grandson Carlos Thiré (aka Carlos Artur Thiré), whose sister, 'Luisa Thiré', and younger brother, Miguel Thiré, are also actors. While Tônia's youngest grandson, João Thiré, is pursuing a career in music, her great-grandson Vitor Thiré (Luisa's son) has already made his acting debut in the TV series "Filhos do Carnaval."
Also in 2007, a year tainted by sadness with the death of Paulo Autran, a theater was named after her in Rio, not long after she had been decorated by the Brazilian government (she had already been decorated by the French government, who made her a "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" for making some of the best French playwrights well-known in Brazil). Then, in 2008, during the ceremony of the prestigious Shell Theater Award she was given a Life Achievement Award, presented to her by her good friend, the cartoonist Chico Caruso, and received a thunderous standing ovation that didn't seem to finish, from an audience of actors, directors, playwrights, producers, designers, journalists and friends who had loved her for longer than they could remember.
But the biggest tribute came every night from the audience that had come to see her on the stage in "Um Barco para o Sonho" (the Arbuzov play). At the end of scene four, she told the doctor played by Mauro Mendonça that, being a circus artist, she had once made a film in Moscow. He wanted to know more about it and she described the one scene she had in the film as being a routine with a horse. Impressed by the passionate way she talked about it, to her big surprise, he invited her out to dinner. The lights went out, circus music started playing, and there she was, at 28, more beautiful than ever, riding her horse around the arena, in a clip from "Tico Tico no Fubá." Those who had seen the film were always very moved. Those who hadn't marveled at her beauty and, like with all movie stars, the way the camera seemed to be caressing her. Invariably, they all burst into applause to the woman who had given so much of herself for both theater and films to be something Brazilians can be so immensely proud of. - Renée is the daughter of a Frenchman and a native of Alagoas, a Brazilian State. Her paternal great-grandfather was an entrepreneur in the industrial sector, and the family owned a car factory in Montrouge, a city on the outskirts of Paris. Her paternal grandmother was from a circus family and worked as an actress and acrobat.
In 1913, three years after arriving in Brazil, her great aunts, sisters of her paternal grandmother, founded the Great Circus Nerino, where at the early age of only five months old, she debuted on stage, playing the role of baby Jesus, in the Christmas show. The Circus turned out to be the place where he would spend her vacations, and, eventually, inspire her to become an actress. In 1964 the circus closed.
At the age of sixteen, she moved to São Paulo, in search of personal and financial independence. It was there that, after a successful audition, and some acting classes with Russian instructor Eugenio Kusnet, she debuted in film, in the leading role of director Antunes Filho's Compasso de Espera (1969).
In 1972 she was hired by Rede Globo, Brazil's largest TV production network, as a contract player and moved to Rio de Janeiro. Her career achieved new heights as she played a variety of roles in successful telenovelas for the next three decades.
In the early 90s, she decided to continue her studies and attended Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ). From this point on, she limited herself to only a few special appearances so as not to hinder her studies and, in 1998, after completing her undergraduate degree in History, she began to dedicate herself exclusively to her work as a historian and to academic life. - Henriqueta Brieba was born on 31 July 1901 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She was an actress, known for O Rei da Vela (1983), Guerra dos Sexos (1983) and Samba em Brasília (1961). She died on 18 September 1995 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.Born in Spain but a brazilian actress!!!
- Geny Prado was born on 14 July 1918 in São Manuel, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for O Velho, o Menino E o Burro (1975), Golias Contra o Homem das Bolinhas (1969) and Jeca Tatu (1959). She died on 17 April 1998 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Analú Prestes was born on 9 August 1952 in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Hidden Memories (2024), Sparkling Girls (2012) and Starting Over Again (2009).
- Isaura Bruno was born on 23 June 1916 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for O Direito de Nascer (1964), Luar do Sertão (1949) and Simon the One-Eyed (1952). She died on 2 May 1977 in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Norma Bengell was born on 21 February 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and director, known for Planet of the Vampires (1965), Eternamente Pagú (1987) and The Murdered House (1971). She was married to Gabriele Tinti. She died on 9 October 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
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Camila Manhães Sampaio (born 14 June 1977), known professionally as Camila Pitanga, is a Brazilian actress and former model. She is internationally renowned for her roles in film and television. In film, she is known for her roles in Quilombo, Caramuru: A Invenção do Brasil, Redeemer, I'd Receive the Worst News from Your Beautiful Lips, Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury, among others. In television, she is known for her roles in Paraíso Tropical, Cama DE Gato, Lado a Lado, Babilônia, and Velho Chico.- Míriam Pires was born on 20 April 1927 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Summer Showers (1978), Meus Filhos, Minha Vida (1984) and Tocaia Grande (1995). She died on 7 September 2004 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Flora Geny was born on 19 April 1929 in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. She was an actress, known for A Outra Face de Anita (1964), TV de Vanguarda (1952) and As Solteiras (1964). She was married to Dionísio Azevedo. She died on 22 December 1991 in São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
- Irma Álvarez was born on 21 November 1933 in Salligueló, Argentina. She was an actress, known for Pai Herói (1979), Encontro com a Morte (1965) and Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (1966). She died on 8 January 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Lola Brah was born on 7 July 1920 in Vyatka, RSFSR [now Kirov, Russia]. She was an actress, known for Pensionato das Vigaristas (1977), Grande Teatro Tupi (1951) and A Noite das Fêmeas (1976). She died on 14 July 1981 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.Born in Russia, but a brazilian actress!
- Tânia Alves was born on 12 September 1953 in Bonito de Santa Fé, Paraíba, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Bloody Destiny (1982), Cabaret Mineiro (1980) and O Olho Mágico do Amor (1982).
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Marieta Severo was born on 2 November 1946 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress and writer, known for Big Family (2001), A Dona da História (2004) and Verdades Secretas (2015). She was previously married to Aderbal Freire Filho, Chico Buarque and Carlos Vergara.- Actress
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Kate Lyra was born on 3 July 1949 in Ray, Arizona, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for A Causa Secreta (1994), Kickboxer 3: The Art of War (1992) and A Extorsão (1975). She was previously married to Magda Botafogo and Carlos Lyra.Born in the USA, but a brazilian actress!- Actress
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Christiane Torloni was born on 18 February 1957 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress and casting director, known for Looks and Essence (2011), Cara & Coroa (1995) and Chico Xavier (2010).- Actress
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- Music Department
Glória Pires was born on 23 August 1963 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress and writer, known for Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (2009), Irrational Heart (2011) and O Dono do Mundo (1991). She has been married to Orlando Morais since 1987. They have three children. She was previously married to Fábio Jr..- Mel Lisboa, a Brazilian actress, uses the accumulation of experiences in cinema, TV, and other media platforms to experience great stories and Increasingly development as an artist.
The actress has filmed 2 films in 2022: "It was the Whispers that Killed me" directed by Arthur Tuoto and "Atena" directed by Thiago Grecco. She is currently recording the soap opera "Cara e Coragem" with general direction by Adriano Melo and artistic direction by Natália Grimberg, at Rede Globo, the largest Brazilian TV channel.
Mel Lisboa debuted as an actress in 2001, starring in the miniseries "Presença de Anita", on Globo TV. In 2002, she participated in the soap opera "Desejos de Mulher", as Gabriela. The following year, she acted in the soap opera "Como Uma Onda", as Lenita Paiva, a rich and spoiled girl, and in 2007 in the soap opera "Sete Pecados" as Carla, a young woman of humble origin and extremely ambitious with her dubious personality, all on Rede Globo.
Already on TV Record, in 2015, she the role of Henutmire, in the first phase of the soap opera "Os Dez Mandamentos", and starred in the miniseries "Sansão e Dalila", in the role of Dalila, a seductive woman of dubious character and in the soap opera " Mortal sin".
The series, she debuted in 2018 "Pacto de Sangue" with the character Gringa, on the Space and Netflix channel. In 2019, she gave life to Rita Lee, the greatest Brazilian pop singer in the series "Elis: Viver É Melhor que Sonhar", a miniseries for Rede Globo directed by Hugo Prata, "A vida Secreta dos Pessoas" a Brazilian original series from HBO Latin America, created by Bruna Lombardi and directed by Kim Riccelli and Carlos Alberto Riccelli, and also that year, he made his first streaming work in the Netflix series "Coisa Mais Linda", as Thereza, directed by Caio Ortiz, Hugo Prata and Julia Rezende. She also acted in the film "Magal and the ants" directed by Michael Ruman and Newton Cannito. - Marly Marley was born on 5 April 1938 in Três Lagos, Mato Grosso, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Chega de Saudade (2007), O Puritano da Rua Augusta (1965) and Casinha Pequenina (1963). She was married to Ary Toledo. She died on 10 January 2014 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Lana Bitencourt was born on 5 February 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Matemática Zero, Amor Dez (1960), Jeca Tatu (1959) and Esse Rio Que Eu Amo (1962).- Actress
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Regina Duarte was born on 5 February 1947 in Franca, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress and writer, known for Irmãos Coragem (1970), Roque Santeiro (1985) and Never Too Old to Meow (2014). She has been married to Eduardo Lippincott since 2000. She was previously married to Del Rangel, Daniel Filho and Marcos Flávio Cunha Franco.- Irene Ravache was born on 6 August 1944 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Amores Possíveis (2001), Passione (2010) and Depois Daquele Baile (2005). She has been married to Edson Paes Melo Filho since 1971. They have one child.
- Patrícia França was born on 28 September 1971 in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Orfeu (1999), Renascer (1993) and Tieta of Agreste (1996). She has been married to Wagner Pontes since 2008. They have one child. She was previously married to Paulo Lins and Ilya São Paulo.
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Aracy Balabanian was born on 22 February 1940 in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. She was an actress, known for The Next Victim (1995), Rainha da Sucata (1990) and Nino, o Italianinho (1969). She died on 7 August 2023 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Anecy Rocha was born on 26 October 1942 in Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil. She was an actress, known for A Lira do Delírio (1978), O Amuleto de Ogum (1974) and As Amorosas (1968). She was married to Walter Lima Jr.. She died on 26 March 1977 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
- Zilka Salaberry was born on 31 May 1917 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (1977), A Ponte dos Suspiros (1969) and Que Rei Sou Eu? (1989). She was married to Mário Salaberry. She died on 10 March 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Patricia Pillar was born on 11 January 1964 in Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil. She is an actress and producer, known for The Favorite (2008), The King of the Cattle (1996) and Zuzu Angel (2006). She was previously married to Ciro Gomes and Zé Renato.- Norah Fontes was born on 17 August 1910 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She was an actress, known for O Corcunda de Notre Dame (1957), TV de Vanguarda (1952) and Quase no Céu (1949). She was married to Dário Cardoso and Armando Mota. She died on 9 October 1996 in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
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Joana Fomm was born on 14 September 1939 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. She is an actress and writer, known for Tieta (1989), A Vida Provisória (1968) and Césio 137 - O Pesadelo de Goiânia (1990).- Actress
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Alice Braga Moraes born April 15, 1983 is a Brazilian actress. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, most notably as Angélica in 2002's highly acclaimed City of God and as Karina in 2005's Lower City. She came to international prominence after appearing opposite Will Smith in I Am Legend (2007) and has since become a familiar face in Hollywood, appearing in films such as Repo Men and Predators (both 2010), The Rite (2011) and Elysium (2013).- Actress
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A sensual, versatile legend of arthouse and grindhouse Italian cinema, Florinda Bolkan was born Florinda Soares Bulcão in Uruburetama, Ceará, Brazil, as the youngest of three children from a Brazilian father and an Indios mother. Her father, diplomat José Pedro Soares Bulcão, died when she was 14, and she began working as a secretary to support her family while attending school and learning English and French. Eventually, she began working as a flight inspector for Varig. In 1967, she visited Rome and was introduced by producer Marina Cicogna (who would become her lover over the next 21 years) to Luchino Visconti, who finally persuaded her to pursue modelling and acting. She quickly landed supporting roles in Crime Thief (1969), Candy (1968) (in which she played a sister to Ringo Starr) and Visconti's The Damned (1969). By this time, Florinda had chosen to use "Bolkan" as her last name, believing it to have more international appeal. Despite eventually becoming fluent in the language, she was usually dubbed in Italian due to her thick accent.
Upon beginning her new career, Bolkan quickly received acclaim as an upcoming talent: for her performance in Love Circle (1969), she shared the Golden Plate prize from the David di Donatello Awards alongside Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting. She would win two more David di Donatellos (for Best Actress) during her career, for The Anonymous Venetian (1970) and Cari genitori (1973). Bolkan appeared in two highbrow Italian films that were of considerable importance on an international scale: Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) (winner of the 1970 Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Picture) and the penultimate work of Vittorio De Sica, A Brief Vacation (1973). She also appeared in several lower-budget genre films throughout her prime, including Machine Gun McCain (1969), Detective Belli (1969), A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)_, Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), The Master Touch (1972), Flavia, the Heretic (1974), Footprints on the Moon (1975), The Last House on the Beach (1978) and Collector's Item (1985). Aside from a few international productions, such as The Last Valley (1971), Royal Flash (1975), The Day That Shook the World (1975) and Some Girls (1988), Bolkan rarely worked outside of Italy. By the late 1980s, she had largely left cinema in favour of television and stage productions (such as The Word (1978) and La piovra (1984)), although Eu Não Conhecia Tururu (2000) - her only film as actor, writer, producer and director - received favourable coverage in her home country.
By 2006, Bolkan had retired from acting, and now owns and operates the Villa Voltarina in Bracciano. Her other endeavours aside from acting have included serving as a judge in the 1976 Miss Universe pageant, real estate work, publishing a gourmet cookbook and supporting Italian and Brazilian children in financial need.- Marisa Prado was born on 26 December 1930 in Araçatuba, São Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for The Bandit (1953), María de la O (1959) and Terra É Sempre Terra (1951). She was married to Fernando De Barros. She died on 12 February 1982 in Cairo, Egypt.
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Vanja Orico was born on 15 November 1929 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and writer, known for O Segredo da Rosa (1974), Lampiao, King of the Badlands (1964) and The Bandit (1953). She was married to André Rosenthal. She died on 28 January 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Bruna Lombardi was born on 1 August 1952 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress and writer, known for O Signo da Cidade (2007), Roda de Fogo (1986) and Amor em Sampa (2016). She has been married to Carlos Alberto Riccelli since 1994. They have one child.- Cacilda Lanuza was born on 1 September 1935 in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Case of the Naves Brothers (1967), Chão Bruto (1958) and Song of the Sea (1953). She died on 17 June 2018 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Marlene França was born on 5 August 1943 in Uauá, Bahia, Brazil. She was an actress and director, known for Crueldade Mortal (1976), Frei Tito (1985) and Mulheres da Terra (1986). She was married to Milton Amaral and Matarazzo. She died on 23 September 2011 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.- Elizabeth Savalla was born on 23 November 1954 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Trail of Lies (2013), Gabriela (1975) and A Padroeira (2001). She was previously married to Marcelo Picchi.
- Silvia Bandeira was born on 15 February 1950 in Genève, Switzerland. She is an actress, known for Bar Esperanza (1983), Roda de Fogo (1986) and Rainha da Sucata (1990).
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Denise Dumont is considered the typical girl from Rio de Janeiro. Born in the state of Ceará, Brazil, in a family of artists, she is the only daughter of musician Humberto Teixeira with pianist Margarida Polis Teixeira. Her father Humberto, known as "Doctor Baião", died in 1979, was co-author of the famous popular song "Asa Branca, and is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers ever, inventor of a new rhythm: the "Baião". Denise began her career in the soap-opera O Semideus (1973), in 1973, a Globo TV production. Considered in the end of 1970s one of the most beautiful and talented actress of her generation, she posed for Brazilian Playboy in 1980. Then, she was one of the biggest sex symbols of Brazil. Her main success on television was soaps "Marrom Glcé" (1979), Marina (1980), when she played the title role, and "Voltei pra Vce" (1983). On the big screen, she was the actress in leading roles in Terror e Êxtase (1979), Filhos e Amantes (1982) and Rio Babilonia (1983). In 1985, she began her international career. Appeared in Hector Babenco's Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985). In 1987, she was chosen by Woody Allen to play a parody of the Brazilian bombshell, singer Carmen Miranda, in Radio Days (1987), singing "Tico-tico no Fubá", a Miranda's great hit. Settled since the end of 1980s in New York, Denise has two children: Diogo (27) with Brazilian actor Claudio Marzo, and Anna Bella Chapman-Smith (16), with British writer Matthew Chapman, great-grandson of Charles Darwin.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Lucélia Santos was born on 20 May 1957 in Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress and producer, known for Engraçadinha (1981), Carmem (1987) and Luz del Fuego (1982).- Lídia Brondi was born on 29 October 1959 in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Espelho Mágico (1977), Final Feliz (1982) and Tieta (1989). She has been married to Cássio Gabus Mendes since 1990. She was previously married to Ricardo Waddington.
- Renata Sorrah was born on 21 February 1947 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Her Own Destiny (2004), Madame Satã (2002) and Assim na Terra Como no Céu (1970). She was previously married to Euclydes Marinho, Marcos Paulo and Carlos Vereza.
- Beatriz Segall was born on 25 July 1926 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Vale Tudo (1988), Desmundo (2002) and The Clone (2001). She was married to Mauricio Segall. She died on 5 September 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- Kate Hansen was born on 13 August 1952 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Os Apóstolos de Judas (1976), O Resto É Silêncio (1981) and A Volta do Regresso (2007).
- Selma Egrei was born on 16 March 1949 in São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Velho Chico (2016), Chega de Saudade (2007) and The Way He Looks (2014).
- Eva Todor was born on 9 November 1919 in Budapest, Hungary. She was an actress, known for Locomotivas (1977), The Thorn and the Rose (2000) and Xuxa in Abracadabra (2003). She was married to Paulo Nolding and Luís Iglesias. She died on 10 December 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Laura Cardoso was born on 13 September 1927 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Através da Janela (2000), Terra Estrangeira (1995) and Os Apóstolos de Judas (1976). She was previously married to Fernando Baleroni.
- Lala Deheinzelin was born on 26 October 1958 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Vale Tudo (1988), Festa (1989) and Eros, the God of Love (1981).
- Maria Cláudia was born on 9 October 1949 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Terras do Sem-Fim (1981), Plumas & Paetês (1980) and Selva de Pedra (1972). She was previously married to Luiz Carlos Maciel.
- Thelma Reston was born on 6 July 1939 in Piracanjuba, Goiás, Brazil. She was an actress, known for The Seven Kittens (1980), Kubanacan (2003) and Mandacaru (1997). She died on 20 December 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Dorothée Marie Bouvyer was born on 17 December 1951 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for O Último Êxtase (1973), O Guarani (1979) and O Rei da Noite (1975).
- Akemi Aoki is known for Eros, the God of Love (1981).
- Monique Lafond was born on 9 February 1954 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Enigma para Demônios (1975), Que Rei Sou Eu? (1989) and Secrets.
- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Patrícia Scalvi was born on 11 November 1954 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress and assistant director, known for Diana, Eva: Two Strange Women (1981), Ninfas Diabólicas (1978) and Tara - Prazeres Proibidos (1979).- Nicole Puzzi was born on 17 May 1958 in Floraí, Paraná, Brazil. She is an actress.
- Sueli Aoki was born on 25 September 1955 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Black Beetle (1983), Fugitivas Insaciáveis (1978) and Pensionato das Vigaristas (1977).
- Actress
- Producer
Ingra Lyberato was born on 21 September 1966 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She is an actress and producer, known for Valsa para Bruno Stein (2007), Dois Córregos: Verdades Submersas no Tempo (1999) and O Cangaceiro (1997). She was previously married to Duca Leindecker and Jayme Monjardim.- Elaine Cristina was born on 13 May 1950 in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Planet of the Pantanal (1990), Como Salvar Meu Casamento (1979) and O Profeta (1977). She is married to Flávio Galvão. They have one child.
- Actress
- Writer
Sandra Barsotti was born on 25 April 1951 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress and writer, known for The Buzz (1985), Confissões de Uma Viúva Moça (1976) and O Marido Virgem (1974).- Ana Paula Arósio was born on 16 July 1975 in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Pages of Life (2006), So Hard to Forget (2010) and Hilda Hurricane (1998). She has been married to Henrique Pinheiro since 16 July 2010.
- Nicette Bruno was born on 7 January 1933 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Éramos Seis (1977), The Big Catch (2017) and Como Salvar Meu Casamento (1979). She was married to Paulo Goulart. She died on 20 December 2020 in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.
- Magalhães began her career on Tupi Broadcasting's radio and TV in 1954, playing small roles and background acting, eventually getting her big break and greater roles and prominent characters. All of this way before the era of videotaping.
Moving to the state to Bahia, after her first marriage in 1960, she did not abandon her craft and joined the theatrical group 'A Barca', formed by former students of a drama school and under the direction of Luís Carlos Maciel, and appeared in great classics on the local station TV Itapoan. Invited by [Glauber Rocha,] himself, she also got a role on the now classic Black God, White Devil (1964), a landmark of Brazil's 'New Cinema' movement, shot in Monte Santo, Bahia.
In 1964 she returned to Rio de Janeiro and gave birth to her only son. The following year, she was back to work when she was invited by Nathália Timberg, one of the great Brazilian stage actresses, to perform in Nelson Rodrigues's 'Vestido de Noiva', directed by Sérgio Cardoso and staged at the Municipal Theater.
In 1966 she was invited by Walter Clark, Globo TV's newly appointed executive producer, to play a romantic role in one of the network' first telenovelas, and in which she would meet actor and future husband Carlos Alberto.
In 1970, the couple went to work for Tupi TV in São Paulo, taking roles in another telenovela. With the end of their marriage the following year, Magalhães returned to Rio and to Globo TV, where she would mostly work for the rest of her career.
At the age of 50, and because of the huge success of her character on Roque Santeiro (1985), she posed nude for a photo spread on one of most popular men's magazine of the time.
She died at 80, leaving the legacy of a six-decade-long career on TV, theatre, and films. - Mayara Magri was born on 2 May 1962 in Mogi Guaçu, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for The Next Victim (1983), Roda de Fogo (1986) and Éramos Seis (1994). She was previously married to Herval Rossano.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Luiza Tomé was born on 10 May 1961 in Itapipoca, Ceará, Brazil. She is an actress, known for A Indomada (1997), Corpo a Corpo (1984) and Sunshine (2007). She has been married to Adriano Facchini since 1994. They have three children.- Actress
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- Soundtrack
Cláudia Abreu was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 12th 1970. Her parents, Regina Abreu and Helcio Varella, divorced when she was only 4 months old. When she was 10, she began acting in the Tablado theater. She began acting in soap operas when she was 16, after she was invited to act in the series "Hipertensão" (1986) . Cláudia acted in many Brazilian soaps like "Fera Radical" (1988), "Anos Rebeldes" (1992), "Pátria Minha" (1994) and "Força de Um Desejo"(1999). After portraying her first villain, Laura Prudente da Costa, in the successful Brazilian series "Celebridade" (2003), Cláudia got her first protagonist role in the series "Belíssima" (2005).
She also participated in various movies, like "Tieta do Agreste" (1996), "Ed Mort" (1997), "Guerra de Canudos" (1997) and "Homem do Ano, O" (2003).
When she was 26, Cláudia married director José Henrique Fonseca. The couple has a daughter named Maria.
When she has free time, she enjoys staying at home with her family, eating and studying philosophy.