Brazilian Actors

Laura Cardoso was born on 13 September 1927 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Através da Janela (2000), Foreign Land (1995) and Os Apóstolos de Judas (1976). She was previously married to Fernando Baleroni.

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 (1989) (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.

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.

José Wilker de Almeida was born on 20th August 1947 in Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil. He worked as a speaker in a radio there but he later moved to Recife where he started worked in the theatre as a member of "Movimento de Cultura Popular (MPC)". The group not only brought culture to people but also reading, writing and political lessons. During the military repression, however, MPC was made illegal and Wilker moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he started working in cinema. His first film as "A Falecida", starred by Fernanda Montenegro.

In Rio Wilker kept on working in theatre. In 1968 he wrote his own play, "O Trágico Acidente que Destronou Teresa". His next move as a playwright was "A China é Azul", in 1972. In this year he starred "Os Inconfidentes", a movie by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade. Still in 1972 he worked on his first TV series, "O Bofe".

Between 1976 and 1985 he didn't work in theatre, but played important roles in cinema and TV. "Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos" (1976), based on Jorge Amado's novel, is a recordist on Brazilian cinema box office. "Xica da Silva" (1976), "Bye Bye Brasil (1979)", "Bonitinha Mas Ordinária" (based on Nelson Rodrigues' text, 1981), and "O Homem da Capa Preta" (1986) were blockbusters too. His works for TV were very successful too.

In 1989 he worked on two then famous films: "Doida Demais" and "Dias Melhores Virão". In 1992 he was on "Medicine Man", directed by John McTiernan and starred by Sean Connery. In the next five years Wilker worked almost exclusively for Tv. However, in 1996, a compilation of his reviews on cinema was released in a book, "Como Deixar um Relógio Emocionado". In 1997 he came back to the Seventh Art with "O Pequeno Dicionário Amoroso" and "A Guerra de Canudos", where he was the protagonist and producer.

Wilker carried on his acclaimed TV career but in 2000 he worked on Villa Lobos, Uma Vida de Paixões". In 2002 he was on "Dead in the Water" starred by Henry Thomas. He then had three films in a role: "O Homem do Ano" (2003) and "Maria, Mãe de Deus" (2003) and "Redentor" (2004). In 2003 he was elected president of Rio Filmes, a cinema company in Brazil.

José Pereira de Abreu Júnior is a Brazilian actor.Born in the city of Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, in the state of São Paulo, at the age of fourteen he moved to the state's capital, São Paulo city, working as a lab assistant and office-boy for a law firm.

In 1967, while studying law at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, he began his theatrical career at the Teatro da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, with the play Morte e Vida Severina by João Cabral de Melo Neto and Chico Buarque.

A year later, he was starring in movies, but his career came to a quick halt because of his political activism. Abreu was arrested during a meeting of the União Nacional dos Estudantes, belonged to the Ação Popular and gave logistical support to the Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares, a leftist group that fought against the military regime. He also joined the hippie movement during that time, in contrast with his militaristic actions.

Forced into exile in Europe in 1968, he returned in 1974 to live in Pelotas, state of Rio Grande do Sul, his wife's homeland. They both taught at the federal university in that city, but soon moved to Porto Alegre, where he produced musicals and starred in children's plays. With his wife, he produced the first staging of the musical Os Saltimbancos in that state.

Then, after the success of the movie A Intrusa (The Intruder) (1979), filmed in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, he started work as an actor in TV Globo's soap-operas.

In 2006 he partnered with director Luiz Arthur Nunes to create Fala, Zé!, a theatrical monologue in which he critically reflects on his generation, crossing biography and fiction.

In 2011 he played Milton in the soap-opera Insensato Coração; in 2012, the character Nilo in Avenida Brasil; in 2013, the character Ernest in Joia Rara; and in 2015 the villain Gibson Stewart in A Regra do Jogo.

Stênio Garcia was born on 28 April 1933 in Mimoso do Sul, Espírito Santo, Brazil. He is an actor and assistant director, known for The Clone (2001), Me You Them (2000) and O Dono do Mundo (1991). He has been married to Marilene Saade since 9 May 2009. He was previously married to Cleyde Yáconis and Clarice Piovesan.

Tony Ramos was born on 25 August 1948 in Arapongas, Paraná, Brazil. He is an actor, known for Cabocla (2004), Se Eu Fosse Você (2006) and Torre de Babel (1998). He has been married to Lidiane Ramos since 17 September 1969. They have two children.

Milton Gonçalves was born on 9 December 1933 in Monte Santo, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was an actor and director, known for Carandiru (2003), A Rainha Diaba (1974) and À Sombra dos Laranjais (1977). He was married to Oda Gonçalves. He died on 30 May 2022 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Gianfrancesco Guarnieri was born on 6 August 1934 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for Secrets of Sand (1973), The Hour and Turn of Augusto Matraga (1965) and They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981). He was married to Vanya Sant'anna and Cecilia Thompson. He died on 22 July 2006 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Antônio Fagundes was born on 18 April 1949 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is an actor and producer, known for Two Faces (2007), O Dono do Mundo (1991) and Port of Miracles (2001). He was previously married to Mara Carvalho and Clarisse Abujamra.

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 Celebrity (2003).

Marjorie Estiano was born on 8 March 1982 in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Under Pressure (2017), Pages of Life (2006) and Good Manners (2017).

Lázaro Ramos was born on 1 November 1978 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He is an actor and director, known for Executive Order (2020), The Man Who Copied (2003) and Mister Brau (2015). He has been married to Taís Araújo since 9 June 2011. They have two children.

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.

Taís Araújo was born on 25 November 1978 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Sparkling Girls (2012), Xica da Silva (1996) and Snakes & Lizards (2006). She has been married to Lázaro Ramos since 9 June 2011. They have two children.

Nanda Costa was born on 24 September 1986 in Parati, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress, known for Stolen Dreams (2009), The Big Catch (2017) and Monster Hunter (2020).

Known throughout Brazil for her outstanding roles in soap operas, the actress and model Juliana Paes began her artistic journey in 1998, with a small role as an extra in "Malhação". Her first character came soon after, in 2000, when she played the maid "Ritinha" in the soap opera "Laços de Família". After that, her career as an actress took off, which gave Juliana many notable roles in several successful soap operas on Rede Globo, such as "Celebridade" (2003), "América" (2005), "Caminho das Índias" (2009), "Gabriela" (2012), "Totalmente Demais" (2015), "A Força do Querer" (2017), "A Dona do Pedaço" (2019) and many others.

Juliana also collects roles in major productions, such as "Mais Uma Vez Amor" (2005), "Amor Por Acaso" (2010), "A Despedida" (2015), "Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos" (2017) e "Predestinado - Arigó e o Espírito de Dr. Fritz" (2022), which will be released in September. However, the actress' presence on the big screen isn't limited to Brazilian cinema. Juliana also has a career in dubbing, giving her voice to characters in the animations "Kung Fu Panda (2008)", "Kung Fu Panda: Holiday" (2010), "Happy Family" (2017) and "The Croods: A New Age" (2021).

Juliana played the character "Maria Marruá" in the first part of the remake of "Pantanal", currently shown on Rede Globo.

Maitê Proença was born on 28 January 1958 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. She is an actress, known for A Hora Mágica (1999), 16060 (1995) and Jogo da Vida (1981).

Malu Mader was born on 12 September 1966 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an actress and director, known for Celebrity (2003), O Dono do Mundo (1991) and Contratempo (2008). She has been married to Tony Bellotto since 1989. They have two children.

Murilo Benício was born on 13 July 1972 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is an actor and director, known for O Beijo no Asfalto (2018), The Clone (2001) and Brazil Avenue (2012). He was previously married to Débora Falabella and Alessandra Negrini.

Moura was born in Salvador, a city located in Northeast Region of Brazil, but grew up in the small town of Rodelas, Bahia. His mother, Alderiva, was a housewife, and his father, José Moura, was a Sergeant in the Brazilian Air Force. At the age of 13, he moved with his family to Salvador, Bahia.

Besides his acting career, Moura is a lyricist and the vocalist of a band named Sua Mãe ("Your Mum"). In 2012, he guest performed as lead vocalist for some Legião Urbana tribute shows, featuring surviving members Marcelo Bonfá and Dado Villa-Lobos.

Rodrigo Santoro is a world-renown actor who starred alongside Academy Award Winner Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jeffrey Wright in the hit HBO series "Westworld," created by Jonah Nolan and produced by J.J. Abrams. Rodrigo played the male lead in the Hulu series "Reprisal" for producer Warren Littlefield. Subsequently, he appeared in the feature "Project Power" for Netflix in mid-August 2020, opposite Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon Levitt. He also appeared in the Netflix foreign language film "Seven Slaves" for director Alex Moratto. In 2018, he appeared at Sundance for a film he starred in and produced to critical acclaim, titled "Un Traductor." His list of credits includes a lead role opposite Benicio Del Toro in Steven Soderbergh's "Che," "Love Actually," "Focus" opposite Will Smith and Margot Robbie, "300: Rise of an Empire" opposite Eva Green, "Rio 2," "The Last Stand" opposite Forrest Whitaker, "What to Expect When You're Expecting" opposite Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez, "Hemingway and Gelhorn" for HBO opposite Nicole Kidman, "The 33" opposite Juliette Binoche, "Jane got a Gun" opposite Natalie Portman, and the Brazilian film "Heleno," chronicling the true-life story of the most notorious and successful Brazilian soccer player, Heleno de Frietas.

Rodrigo received the Ischia award for International Contribution at the 2008 Ischia Global Film Festival in Italy. He has also won a total of eight Best Actor awards, including the first-ever award for Best Actor from the Brazilian Academy of Arts and Film for his portrayal of a young man forced into a mental institution by his parents in "Brainstorm," by director Lais Bodansky.

Rodrigo Lombardi was born on 15 October 1976 in São Paulo, Brazil. He is an actor, known for Verdades Secretas (2015), Edge of Desire (2017) and Caminho das Índias (2009).

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.

Leandro Hassum was born on 26 September 1973 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is an actor and director, known for Xuxa and the Mystery of the Little Ugly Princess (2009), Divertics (2013) and Zorra Total (1999). He has been married to Karina Hassum since 1998. They have one child.