The Most Famous

ACTORS from Brazil

This page contains a list of the greatest Brazilian Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 79 of which were born in Brazil. This makes Brazil the birth place of the 19th most number of Actors behind Poland, and Ireland.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Brazilian Actors of all time. This list of famous Brazilian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Brazilian Actors.

1. Fernanda Montenegro (b. 1929)

With an HPI of 71.61, Fernanda Montenegro is the most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.

Arlette Pinheiro Esteves Torres ONM (née da Silva; born 16 October 1929), known by her stage name Fernanda Montenegro ([feɦˈnɐ̃dɐ mõtʃiˈnegɾu]), is a Brazilian actress. Considered by many as the greatest Brazilian actress of all time, she is often referred to as the grande dame of Brazilian theater, cinema, and performing arts. For her work in Central Station (1998), she has become the first Brazilian and first Latin American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the first actress nominated for an Academy Award for a performance in a Portuguese language film. Her daughter was also nominated in 2025. In addition, for her performance in Sweet Mother (2014), she has become the first Brazilian to win the Emmy Award for Best Actress. Among the various national and international awards she has received in a career spanning more than sixty years, she was awarded in 1999 her country's highest civilian honor, the National Order of Merit, "in recognition of her outstanding work in the Brazilian performing arts," delivered by then-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. In addition to having been awarded the Molière Prize five times, Fernanda Montenegro is a three-time recipient of the Governor Award of the State of São Paulo. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival 1998 for her performance as "Dora" in Central Station by Walter Salles, a role which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama in 1999, among other distinctions. On television, she was the first actress hired by TV Tupi, in 1951, where she starred in teletheater shows under the direction of Fernando Torres, Sérgio Britto and Flávio Rangel. She made her debut in telenovelas in 1954 with A Muralha on RecordTV, where she appeared in other productions as well. She has done work in most of Brazil's main broadcasters, such as Band, TV Cultura, RecordTV, and TV Globo (where she remains since 1981), in addition to the defunct TV Excelsior, TV Rio and TV Tupi. In 2014, she was voted the 15th most influential celebrity in Brazil by Forbes magazine. During the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Fernanda read the poem "A Flor e a Náusea" by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, dubbed in English by Judi Dench. On 4 November 2021, she was elected to occupy the Chair number 17 at the Brazilian Academy of Letters, in succession to Affonso Arinos de Mello Franco. In November 2024, she was recognized by Guinness World Records for achieving the biggest audience in a Philosophy lecture, with over 15,000 people attending an event on 18 August 2024 at the Ibirapuera Park, where Montenegro read La Cérémonie des Adieux by Simone de Beauvoir.

2. Sônia Braga (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 67.74, Sônia Braga is the 2nd most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Sônia Maria Campos Braga (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈsonjɐ maˈɾi.ɐ ˈkɐ̃puz ˈbɾaɡɐ]; born 8 June 1950) is a Brazilian actress. She is known in the English-speaking world for her Golden Globe Award–nominated performances in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) and Moon over Parador (1988). She also received a BAFTA Award nomination in 1981 for Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (first released in 1976). For the 1994 television film The Burning Season, she was nominated for an Emmy Award and a third Golden Globe Award. Her other television and film credits include The Cosby Show (1986), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Rookie (1990), Angel Eyes (2001), Sex and the City (2001), American Family (2002), Alias (2005), Aquarius (2016), Bacurau (2019), and Fatima (2020). In 2020, The New York Times ranked her #24 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.

3. Xuxa (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 67.56, Xuxa is the 3rd most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( SHOO-shə, Brazilian Portuguese: [maˈɾi.ɐ dɐ ˈɡɾasɐ ˈʃuʃɐ mẽneˈɡɛw]; born Maria da Graça Meneghel on 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian TV host, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "The Queen of Children", Xuxa built the largest Latin and South American children's entertainment empire. In the early 1990s, she presented television programs in Brazil, Argentina, Spain and the United States simultaneously, reaching around 20 million viewers daily. According to different sources, the singer's sales range between 30 and 50 million copies. However, in 2025, the record label Som Livre, with which the artist recorded almost all of her albums, gave her an award for 28 million copies sold in her career and 10 billion streams to date. Her net worth was estimated at US$100 million in the early 1990s. Also successful as a businesswoman, she has the highest net worth of any Brazilian female entertainer, estimated at US$400 million.

4. Florinda Bolkan (b. 1941)

With an HPI of 66.45, Florinda Bolkan is the 4th most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Florinda Bolkan (born Florinda Soares Bulcão; 15 February 1941) is a retired Brazilian actress and model.

5. Fernanda Torres (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 63.62, Fernanda Torres is the 5th most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Fernanda Pinheiro Monteiro Torres (Brazilian Portuguese: [feʁˈnɐ̃dɐ ˈtoʁis]; born 15 September 1965) is a Brazilian actress and writer, known for both her comedic and dramatic roles. Born in Rio de Janeiro to actors Fernando Torres and Fernanda Montenegro, she has received numerous awards, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Love Me Forever or Never (1986). For her internationally acclaimed performance as Eunice Paiva in the drama film I'm Still Here (2024), Torres became the first Brazilian, South American and Portuguese-speaking actor to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, and also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second Brazilian actress, after her mother, to be nominated in this category. She is also a writer, and her debut novel, The End, sold over 200,000 copies in Brazil, was translated into seven other languages and was adapted into a miniseries.

6. Rubens de Falco (1931 - 2008)

With an HPI of 62.71, Rubens de Falco is the 6th most famous Brazilian Actor. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Rubens de Falco da Costa (October 19, 1931 – February 22, 2008) was a Brazilian actor best known for his work in telenovelas, specifically his portrayal as a slave owner in the 1976 telenovela, Escrava Isaura (The Slave Isaura) and the 1986 telenovela Sinhá Moça (Little Missy).

7. Lucélia Santos (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 62.70, Lucélia Santos is the 7th most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Maria Lucélia dos Santos (born 20 May 1957) is a Brazilian actress, director and producer. She received international acclaim for her leading role in the 1976 Rede Globo telenovela Isaura, The Slave Girl, broadcast in over 80 countries.

8. Jennifer O'Neill (b. 1948)

With an HPI of 62.11, Jennifer O'Neill is the 8th most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American author, model, and former actress. Born in Brazil, and moving to the United States as an infant, she first came to prominence as a teenaged model, and for her spokesperson work for CoverGirl cosmetics, which began in 1963 and spanned three decades. She made her feature-film debut in the comedy film For Love of Ivy (1968), followed by a lead role in Howard Hawks's Western film Rio Lobo (1970). O'Neill's breakthrough role came in Robert Mulligan's period drama Summer of '42 (1971), in which she portrayed the wife of an army serviceman during World War II, who becomes the subject of a teenaged boy's romantic attraction. The same year, she starred in Otto Preminger's Such Good Friends. In the mid-1970s, O'Neill appeared in several Italian films, including Luchino Visconti's final feature, The Innocent (1976), and Lucio Fulci's giallo horror film The Psychic (1977). She later starred in David Cronenberg's cult horror film Scanners (1981), and in the short-lived television series Cover Up (1984–1985). In 1988, O'Neill became a born-again Christian, and inspired by her feelings of regret over having an abortion at age 22, became active in the anti-abortion movement. She has since authored several books, including a memoir, Surviving Myself (1999), in which she detailed her career, marriages, experiences with anxiety and postpartum depression, and her religious faith. O'Neill founded the Hope and Healing at Hillenglade Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee, an equine-assisted therapy foundation that specializes in treating war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since the 1990s, O'Neill has occasionally appeared in film and television, including roles in the independent film Doonby (2013) and the Rachel Scott biopic I'm Not Ashamed (2016).

9. Vera Fischer (b. 1951)

With an HPI of 61.95, Vera Fischer is the 9th most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Vera Fischer (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvɛɾa ˈfiʃeʁ]; born 27 November 1951) is a Brazilian actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Brazil 1969 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1969 where she placed Top 15.

10. Véra Clouzot (1913 - 1960)

With an HPI of 61.29, Véra Clouzot is the 10th most famous Brazilian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Véra Gibson-Amado, known professionally as Véra Clouzot, (30 December 1913 – 15 December 1960) was a Brazilian-French film actress and screenwriter. She is known for playing Linda in The Wages of Fear (1953), Christina Delassalle in Les Diaboliques (1955), and Lucie in Les Espions (1957). Clouzot also co-wrote the screenplay for La Vérité (1960). Her husband, director Henri-Georges Clouzot, named his production company after her, Véra Films.

People

Pantheon has 79 people classified as Brazilian actors born between 1913 and 2000. Of these 79, 68 (86.08%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Brazilian actors include Fernanda Montenegro, Sônia Braga, and Xuxa. The most famous deceased Brazilian actors include Rubens de Falco, Véra Clouzot, and Jandira Martini. As of April 2024, 79 new Brazilian actors have been added to Pantheon including Fernanda Montenegro, Sônia Braga, and Xuxa.