The artistic career of Fernanda Montenegro has encompassed theater, television and feature film

Fernanda Montenegro (Tránsito Ariza)

The artistic career of Fernanda Montenegro has encompassed theater, television and feature film. Her very first stage performance took place in 1950 in the play “Alegres Canções nas Montanhas,” with Fernando Torres. Her relationship with Torres resulted in a marriage which lasts to this day. The couple have two children, the actress Fernanda Torres and the theatrical designer, visual programmer and film director Cláudio Torres. It was in the 1950’s that Montenegro had her first contact with television, working in detective dramas.

Montenegro began working in feature films in 1964, when she acted in director Leon Hirszman’s adaptation of “A Falecida.” One of the most important was in They Don’t Wear Black-Tie (1980), also directed by Hirszman. Fernanda acted opposite Gianfrancesco Guarnieri and the film won the Golden Lion Award as best movie in the Venice Film Festival. For her participation in the movie Tudo Bem, directed by Arnaldo Jabor, she won her first international award as best actress at Italy’s Taormina Film Festival in 1980.

Montenegro received international acclaim for her performance in 1988’s Central Station, directed by Walter Salles, for which she was nominated as Best Actress for both an Oscar and Golden Globe, and won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. For the film O Outro Lado Da Rua, directed by Marcos Bernistein, she won the Best Actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Montenegro’s recent film credits include Traição (directed by Cláudio Torres, José Henrique Fonseca and Arthur Fontes), Redentor (directed by Cláudio Torres), Olga, (by Jayme Monjardim) and House of Sand (directed by Andrucha Waddington).