Fernanda Montenegro

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Arlete Pinheiro Esteves da Silva, known as Fernanda Montenegro, (born October 16, 1929 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is an Academy Award-nominated Brazilian actress. She is known for her frequent appearances on Brazilian television. She made her film debut in Pecado Mortal in 1970.

In 1998 she starred in Central do Brasil (Central Station), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the first Brazilian (and Latin American) actress to receive such an honor (Mexican star Salma Hayek in 2002 and Colombian starlet Catalina Sandino Moreno in 2004 soon followed).

Following her much publicized international breakthrough, Montenegro has maintained her status as Brazil's prime actress in a host of critically-acclaimed films such as Casa de Areia, as well as starring in high-profile soap operas including Terra Esperança, in which she played the mysterious matriarch, and Belíssima, this time essaying the role of the villain, Bia Falcão.

Montenegro is the mother of actress Fernanda Torres and of director Cláudio Torres. She has been married to actor Fernando Torres since 1954.