Fernanda Montenegro

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Fernanda Montenegro

Fernanda Montenegro speaking at the Senate of Brazil.
Birth name Arlete Pinheiro Esteves da Silva
Born October 16, 1929 (age 77)
Flag of Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Years active 1940-present
Spouse(s) Fernando Torres
Official site [1]
Notable roles Tránsito Ariza in Love in the Time of Cholera
Dona Maria/Áurea in The House of Sand
Dora in Central Station

Fernanda Montenegro (born October 16, 1929) is an Academy Award-nominated Brazilian film, stage and television actress.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Fernanda Montenegro was born as Arlete Pinheiro Esteves da Silva on October 16, 1929 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The actress has stated that she adopted the name Fernanda because she thought it sounded good, and that Montenegro came after the name of her family doctor.

[edit] Career

In late 1940s Montenegro was adapting famous theatre plays to radio. She begun her artistic life in the theatre with the play Alegres Canções nas Montanhas (Happy Songs on the Mountain) in 1950. Among her mates was Fernando Torres, who would soon become her husband. In the next years she worked with other acclaimed actors like Sergio Britto, Cacilda Becker, Nathália Timberg, Cláudio Correa e Castro and Ítalo Rossi.

In the early 1960s Montenegro moved to São Paulo where she worked on many theatre plays and also stared working on television. Her first telenovela was Pouco Amor Não é Amor (A Few Love Isn't Love). In 1964 she started working for cinema as well. Her first film was A Falecida (The Dead Woman). In 1965 her daughter Fernanda Torres was born.

As time went by, more successful roles on telenovelas and plays came up and Montenegro received many prizes. She later received the title of The First Lady of Brazilian Theatre. In films, after some unsuccessful films, she worked on Eles Não Usam Black-Tie (They Don't Wear Black-Tie) in 1981, in a performance which was largely applauded by film critics.

Montenegro's success on television and theater continued, but her cinema career, although it never stopped, was largely unnoticed until 1997, when Four Days in September, a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, was released.

In 1998 Montenegro starred in Central Station in a role for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Montenegro became the first Brazilian and Latin American actress to receive such honors. The actress would lost the award to Gwyneth Paltrow, but would receive the Award for Best Actress in the Berlin International Film Festival.

One year after Montenegro enjoyed the Academy Award nomination success she starred on the television mini-series, O Auto da Compadecida, which was later cut to a film format and released in the movie theatres - where it become very successful.

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 telenovelas such as Esperança and Belíssima.

[edit] Personal life

Montenegro has been married to Fernando Torres since 1954. They had two children: the Cannes Film Festival awarded actress Fernanda Torres and the film director Cláudio Torres.

[edit] Selected work

[edit] Films

[edit] Television

  • Pouco Amor Não É Amor (1963) (telenovela)
  • A Morta Sem Espelho (1963) (telenovela)
  • Sonho de Amor (1964) (telenovela)
  • Vitória (1964) (telenovela)
  • Calúnia (1966) (telenovela)
  • Redenção (1966) (telenovela)
  • A Muralha (1968) (telenovela)
  • Sangue do Meu Sangue (1969) (telenovela)
  • Cara a Cara (1979) (telenovela)
  • Baila Comigo (1981) (telenovela)
  • Brilhante (1981) (telenovela)
  • Guerra dos Sexos (1983) (telenovela)
  • Cambalacho (1986) (telenovela)
  • Rainha da Sucata (1990) (telenovela)
  • Riacho Doce (1990) (mini-series)
  • O Dono do Mundo (1991) (telenovela)
  • Renascer (1993) (telenovela)
  • O Mapa da Mina (1993) (telenovela)
  • Incidente em Antares (1994) (mini-series)
  • Zazá (1997) (telenovela)
  • O Auto da Compadecida (1999) (mini-series)
  • As Filhas da Mãe (2001) (telenovela)
  • Pastores da Noite (2002) (mini-series)
  • Esperança (2002) (telenovela)
  • Hoje É Dia de Maria (2005) (mini-series)
  • Hoje É Dia de Maria 2 (2005) (mini-series)
  • Belissima (2006) (telenovela)

[edit] Awards and nominations

Awards:

Nominations:

[edit] Trivia

  • Montenegro is the first Brazilian, and Latin American, actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.
  • Is considered the great dame of Brazilian television and theater
  • Refused an invitation of the Brazilian president to be the Minister of Culture in the mid-1980s. She answered that she would be more useful to her country by acting.

[edit] Quotes

  • "My English is not good but my soul is better".
  • "I'm the Old Lady from Ipanema".
  • "In Brazil, I have a career. In America, I have an accent."

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/e/r/Fernanda_Montenegro_f31f.html"