Arlette Pinheiro Esteves Torres (néeda Silva; born 16 October 1929), known by her stage nameFernanda Montenegro (Brazilian Portuguese:[feʁˈnɐ̃dɐmõtʃiˈneɡɾu]), is a Brazilian actress. Considered by many as the greatest Brazilian actress of all time, she is often referred to as thegrande dame of Brazilian theater, cinema, and performing arts.[2][3] For her work inCentral Station (1998), she became the first Brazilian and first Latin American to be nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress, as well as the first actress nominated for anAcademy Award for a performance in aPortuguese language film.Her daughter was also nominated in 2025.[4][5][6][7][8] In addition, for her performance inSweet Mother (2014), she has become the first Brazilian to win theEmmy Award forBest Actress.[9]
Fernanda Montenegro was born as Arlette Pinheiro Esteves da Silva, the daughter of Vitório Esteves da Silva, a mechanic ofPortuguese origin, and Carmen Nieddu Pinheiro Esteves da Silva, a housewife, daughter ofItalians from the island ofSardinia.[20][21]
In the late 1940s, Montenegro was adapting famous theatre plays to radio. She began her artistic life in the theatre with the playAlegres Canções nas Montanhas (Happy Songs on the Mountain) in 1950. Among her fellow actors wasFernando Torres, who would soon become her husband. She subsequently worked with other acclaimed actors like Sérgio Britto,Cacilda Becker, Nathalia Timberg, Cláudio Correa e Castro and Ítalo Rossi.In 1951 she became a TV pioneer in Brazil, working forRio de Janeiro'sTV Tupi – the second TV station of South America. She appeared in several plays on TV between 1951 and 1970.
Moving toSão Paulo in the early 1960s, Montenegro initially worked solely on theatre. In 1963 she took her first role in atelenovelaPouco Amor Não é Amor. A succession of notable telenovela's roles followed, mainly her performances in the ensemble pieceA Muralha (1968), based on the novel by celebrated Brazilian author Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, andSangue do Meu Sangue (1969), a memorable melodrama engraved in Brazilian pop culture, whose stellar cast featured not only Montenegro, but other theatre's stars likeSérgio Britto, Cláudio Correa e Castro,Francisco Cuoco,Nicette Bruno andTônia Carrero.
Throughout the 1970s Montenegro moved away from television, rather focusing on her theatre and film career. Still, a televised performance in Euripides’ classic playMedea, in 1973, was lauded by reviewers. It was only in the very late 1970s that Montenegro would once again engage in a substantial television effort, withCara a Cara (1979), for which she won the Best Actress in Television Award by theSão Paulo Association of Art Critics.
The 1980s marked Montenegro's return to television in full force. She appeared in telenovelas such asBaila Comigo (1981),Brilhante (1982) andCambalacho (1986), and struck a massive hit withGuerra dos Sexos (1983), a light-hearted comedy about the constant bickering men and women experience in different stages of romantic relationships. In the latter, Montenegro once again left a significant impression in Brazilian pop culture, starring in a now-immortalized food fight scene, oppositePaulo Autran. Throughout this decade, Montenegro won her second and third Best Actress in Television Awards, by theSão Paulo Association of Art Critics, for her work inBrilhante andGuerra dos Sexos.
The early 1990s proved once again to be a time of success in television for Montenegro, as she took on roles in two other smash hits, the popular primetime telenovelasRainha da Sucata (1990) andO Dono do Mundo (1991), both Brazilian pop culture favorites. Years later, she once again gained artistic distinction, appearing on the critically acclaimed mini-seriesIncidente em Antares (1994), an adaptation of the book by one of Brazilian Literature's greatest novelists,Érico Veríssimo.
In 1997, Montenegro's string of critical and audience triumphs came to an abrupt halt as her portrayal of the lead role in the telenovelaZazá, a much anticipated return to comedy, couldn't live up to either reviewers' or the viewing public's expectations. After a series of changes in attempt to salvage it from absolute failure, still facing overall rejection, the show was cut short and quickly wrapped. Despite its being a considerable letdown, "Zazá" was soon eclipsed by the monumental success Montenegro's film career witnessed with the release ofCentral Station.
In spite of a successful minor appearance asMary (mother of Jesus) in the mini-seriesO Auto da Compadecida (1999), later re-cut into a theatrical film (internationally known asA Dog's Will), Montenegro's television career struggled in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2001, another attempt was made in telenovela comedy withAs Filhas da Mãe, which covered the backstage of Brazilian Fashion Industry. Short of a celebrated scene, early on, which featured Montenegro's character winning anOscar, the telenovela was, once more, a flop. Lackluster ratings and overall negative reviews led to its swift cancellation. Nevertheless, Montenegro still managed to be nominated as Best Actress in the Contigo Awards, which laureates excellence in Brazilian telenovelas.[22]
The following year, Montenegro shifted towards primetime drama, opting for a minor role in the first stage of the telenovelaEsperança (2002). Although Montenegro herself earned positive reviews, "Esperança" was a major failure, generally panned by critics and despised by audiences, setting a record for an all-time low in ratings for a primetime telenovela televised byTV Globo, the broadcasting channel of Brazil's most powerful telecommunications conglomerate. Due to Montenegro's continued success in film, as well as her status as one of the most cherished artists and personalities in Brazil, these disappointments tended to be minimized, often regarded as minor blots in an extended résumé of significant successes.
Montenegro returned to television's good graces in a supporting role as the exploitive stepmother of the lead character in the ensemble piece mini-seriesHoje É Dia de Maria (2005), a coming-of-age tale set in a fantasy world, positively reviewed for its inventiveness, its stunning art direction and overall production design, as well as its acting. Montenegro scored her second nomination as Best Actress in the Contigo Awards, while the mini-series garnered two nominations for theInternational Emmy Awards and won the Grand Prize of the Critics of theSão Paulo Association of Art Critics Award.[23][24]
The following year, Montenegro returned to primetime drama, taking on the female lead role inBelíssima (2006), which also offered a backstage view to Brazilian Fashion Industry, only in a much more earnest and cruel perspective than in her previous workAs Filhas da Mãe (2001). Starring as the shrewd calculating villainess, Bia Falcão, Montenegro was applauded by critics and audiences alike, delivering a solid, sophisticated performance while handling an unapologetic, uncharismatic character, whose story twist was pivotal to the development of the main plot. For this portrayal, Montenegro finally won her first Contigo Award for Best Actress, and also her fourth Best Actress in Television Award by theSão Paulo Association of Art Critics.[25]
Following her streak of well-received roles, Montenegro returned to television in 2008, taking a supporting role, as Dona Iraci, in the critically and publicly acclaimed primetime mini-SeriesQueridos Amigos, based on the book "Aos Amigos", byPortuguese novelistMaria Adelaide Amaral, an ensemble piece that tells a fictional reconstitution of personal experiences of Amaral and a group of close friends, set during a moment of political turbulence in the Brazilian transition from a military dictatorship to a democratic regime.
In 2012, Montenegro starred in the latest episode of the miniseriesAs Brasileiras as an actress without much talent named Mary Torres. Determined to make the success they have always dreamed, Mary ends vontando television to revive his career.[27]
InSweet Mother, she plays Dona Picucha, an 85-year-old widow who confronts life with good humor and who knows how to take advantage of all the difficulties she face. “‘Sweet Mother’ has one foot in reality and the other in fantasy. The reality of a country of youths where there are more and more old people and many doubts about how to deal with them. The fantasy of the comedy, the music, the poetry which become a believable reality. Picucha is 85 years old and still does not know what she wants to be when she grows up. I don't either,” Fernanda said.[28] Montenegro was awarded for her role, and became the first Brazilian actress to win anEmmy Award.[29] She would return to play the same character, now in theTV series of the same name, which was aired in 2014 byGlobo. She was again nominated for an Emmy in 2015, and the series was awarded Best Comedy at the43rd International Emmy Awards Gala.
In 2013, at age 85 years, Montenegro returns to television in the remake ofSaramandaia.[30]
In the same year, Montenegro had participated in the cast of the telenovelaBabilônia, written byGilberto Braga, in the role of Teresa, a homosexual lawyer who maintains a relationship with the characterNathalia Timberg, Estela.
The actress Fernanda Montenegro is awarded with the medal Euvaldo Lodi, celebrating the 70th anniversary of theConfederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI).
Montenegro's film career was launched in the mid-1960s. Her debut came in 1965, as Zulmira, in the movieA Falecida (internationally known asThe Death and released in the U.S. asThe Deceased). The film was a cinematic adaptation of the play, by the greatest of Brazilian dramatists,Nélson Rodrigues, and earned its female lead, amongst positive reviews, her first distinction as a film actress, as Montenegro won the Candango Trophy as Best Actress in the Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema.
Throughout the 1970s, Montenegro was featured in a series of other movies, but none seemed to match the degree of acclaim as her debut, until, in 1978, she starred as Elvira Barata, opposite Paulo Gracindo, inArnaldo Jabor'sTudo Bem (internationally known asEverything's Alright). The movie earned positive reviews, eventually winning the top prize at the Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema, taking the Candango Trophy for Best Film. Although receiving considerable appraisal, Montenegro's performance missed any major awards.
As her next big screen role, in 1981, Montenegro starred as Romana inEles Não Usam Black-Tie (internationally known asThey Don't Wear Black Tie), based on a play by the lateGianfrancesco Guarnieri, who was also her co-star in the movie. The movie proved to be a big domestic hit, earning Guarnieri the Award as Best Actor in Film by theSão Paulo Association of Art Critics, and, most significantly, a movie of international notice, landing major awards in film festivals all around the world, including the Grand Coral First Prize in theHavana Film Festival, as well as the Grand Jury Special Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize in theVenice Film Festival.
Focusing in television during the 1980s, Montenegro's film exposure was limited throughout the remaining of the decade, but she still participated in a minor role as Carlota, a religious practitioner ofUmbanda (a syncretic belief system very popular in Brazil), in 1985'sA Hora da Estrela (internationally known asHour of the Star), a movie that was lauded by critics both domestically – snatching six Candango Trophies in the Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema, including Best Film, Director, Actor (José Dumont) and Actress (Marcélia Cartaxo) and, internationally, earning the Grand Coral First Prize in the Havana Film Festival, as well as three major awards in the Berlin Film Festival: the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas Award, the OCIC Award and the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress (awarded to fellow co-star Marcélia Cartaxo).
Montenegro's film career hiatus would only be broken in 1994, emerging in a segment titled "Samba do Grande Amor" of the filmVeja Esta Canção (internationally known asRio's Love Song), which garnered its directorCarlos "Cacá" Diegues a Best Director Award in theHavana Film Festival. She then moved, in 1997, to a small appearance inO Que é Isso, Companheiro? (internationally known asFour Days in September), which starred American actorAlan Arkin and chronicled the kidnapping of American consulCharles Burke Elbrick by rebellious political activists who opposed the military dictatorship in Brazil, based on the memoirs of Brazilian politicianFernando Gabeira. The movie had significant international repercussion, welcoming nominations to the Golden Bear in theBerlin International Film Festival and to theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[31]
In 1998, Montenegro starred inCentral do Brasil (internationally known asCentral Station), as Dora, her most internationally famous and prestigious role. The movie fared well domestically, winning four awards by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics (including Best Film, Director and Actress in Film – Montenegro's first, after winning thrice for her television career), and achieved international acclaim unprecedented for any Brazilian film.Central Station debuted to undisputed praise in the Berlin Film Festival, eventually earning three of its major awards: The Golden Berlin Bear for Best Film, the Special Prize by the Ecumenical Jury and the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress for Montenegro.
Montenegro was honored on numerous occasions, earning additional Best Actress awards from the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, theNational Board of Review and theLos Angeles Film Critics Association, and others. She was also nominated for a Golden Satellite Award, for aGolden Globe and for theAcademy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a feat which gave Montenegro the distinction of being the first (Brazilian and) Latin American actress to be bestowed with such an honor by theAcademy. She is also the first person nominated for a performance in the Portuguese language.[34][35] In 2025, her own daughter,Fernanda Torres, accomplished that feat being the second Brazilian person to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for the movieI'm Still Here (2024) (also directed byCentral Station director,Walter Salles).[36]
Montenegro's follow-up toCentral Station marked her return to the work of Nélson Rodrigues, as she took on a supporting role in 1999's "Gêmeas", directed by her own son-in-law,Andrucha Waddington, and starred by her own daughter,Fernanda Torres. The film fared relatively well domestically, earning Torres a Candango Trophy for Best Actress in the Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema and a nomination for Best Actress in the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, but failed to gain any substantial recognition internationally. In 2000, the celebrated television mini-series "O Auto da Compadecida", in which Montenegro appeared as the Holy Mary, was re-cut into a film of same title (internationally known asA Dog's Will) and released to movie theaters to significantly appreciative domestic appraisal. It eventually won four awards at the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, including Best Director, Best Actor (Matheus Nachtergaele) and Best Screenplay (surprisingly, it lost the Best Picture award), but also failed to launch a noteworthy international career.
In 2004, Montenegro's film career was once again in full force. She returned to the Berlin Film Festival withO Outro Lado da Rua (internationally known asThe Other Side of the Street), which landed stellar reviews and garnered the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas Award. Montenegro herself was also honored, winning the Horizons Award in theSan Sebastian International Film Festival and the Best Actress Award in theTribeca Film Festival. Domestically, the film also fared well, landing six nominations to the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, with Montenegro winning the Best Actress award.[37][38]
The same year, she also took a supporting role inRedentor (internationally known asRedeemer), directed by her son, Cláudio Torres, and co-starred by her husbandFernando Torres.[39] The movie proved to be a smash hit domestically, earning rave reviews and scoring nine nominations in the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize (winning one for Best Director), but failed to produce an expressive splash internationally. Still in 2004, Montenegro once again landed a supporting role, playing Leocádia Prestes, mother of Brazilian communist leaderLuiz Carlos Prestes, and mother-in-law of Jewish-German socialist revolutionaryOlga Benário in the biopicOlga, based on the book by Brazilian biographer Fernando Morais. The movie was received with mixed reviews by critics, often praised for its technical merits (mainly its cinematography, make-up art, costume design and art direction) and panned for its narrative and directing choices. It still fared strongly in the box-office, though, and scored nine nominations in the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, earning three technical awards (Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Make-Up). "Olga" was also chosen, eventually, as the film to represent Brazil in the Oscar race in pursuit of a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not make it to the final five nominees.
Fernanda Montenegro during presentation of the playViver sem tempos mortos in 2012.
2005 saw Montenegro's return to lead, as she took on three different roles in the feminist epic sagaCasa de Areia (internationally known asThe House of Sand), opposite her own daughter, Fernanda Torres, with whom she alternated the same roles.[40] The movie had a strong display domestically, earning rave reviews and special distinction to Montenegro's performance. It garnered 12 nominations to the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize (including Best Actress for Montenegro), earning three technical awards (the same as "Olga").[41] The movie displayed the potential to develop an international career, as it earned two nominations to the Satellite Awards and earned an Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize in the Sundance Film Festival, but its campaign was crippled when Brazilian critics turned their support toCinema, Aspirinas e Urubus (internationally known asCinema, Aspirins and Vultures), choosing it to represent Brazil in the Oscar race.
In late 2006, Montenegro garnered attention for leading a movement of film artists and investors who firmly opposed a Congressional Bill that reduced federal incentives in cultural programmes, reallocating such funds to public investments in the fields of sports and leisure. On December 14, 2006, Montenegro directly addressed theBrazilian Senate, strongly criticizing the legislation and famously asserting "Culture is, above all, a social need. It is not a frivolity." For such deeds, as well as her overall career in film, Montenegro earned, in 2007, in the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, an Honorary Award, as a Latin American Character of the Culture. Also in 2007, Montenegro played Tránsito Ariza, inLove in the Time of Cholera, an adaptation of the novel by the winner of theNobel Prize of Literature,Gabriel García Marquez. Albeit a minor role, it marked Montenegro's first performance in an English language spoken feature.[citation needed]
In 2024, at 95 years old, Montenegro entered theGuinness World Record for the largest audience during a philosophical reading for her stage reading of French writer and feminist activistSimone de Beauvoir's autobiographyLa Cérémonie des adieux (Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre, 1981) atIbirapuera Park drawing an audience of 15,000 people.[44]
Regarding the adoption of a stage name, the actress has stated that she chose "Fernanda" simply because of its sonority, whilst "Montenegro" was the surname of her family's doctor.[citation needed]
"In Brazil, I have a career. In America, I have an accent."
"Culture is, above all, a social need. It is not a frivolity."
"I voteLula in the hopes of a Brazil with education, with health, in the defense of nature. I vote Lula in the hopes of a real care for science, for culture, for the culture of the arts. In the name of democracy, for president, Lula." (10/07/2022)[49]
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