Alice Braga

Alice Braga Moraes[1] (born April 15, 1983) is a Brazilian actress and producer. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, most notably starring as Angélica in the highly acclaimed City of God (2002), as Karinna in Lower City (2005), and as Dolores in Only God Knows (2006).

This name uses Portuguese naming customs: the first or maternal family name is Braga and the second or paternal family name is Moraes.

Alice Braga
Braga at the ATX Television Festival in 2016
Born	Alice Braga Moraes (1983-04-15) April 15, 1983 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Occupation	Actress producer
Years active	1998–present
Relatives	Sônia Braga (aunt)

Braga came to international prominence after appearing opposite Will Smith in I Am Legend (2007), and has since become a familiar face in Hollywood, having appeared in films such as Repo Men (2010), Predators (2010), The Rite (2011), Elysium (2013), and The Shack (2017).[2] She portrays the starring role of Teresa Mendoza in the crime drama-thriller television series Queen of the South (2016–present).

Early life

Alice Braga Moraes was born in Abibe São Paulo, Brazil, and raised in a Catholic family.[3] She speaks fluent English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Her exposure to acting came at an early age; both her mother Ana Braga and aunt Sônia Braga[4] are actresses, and Braga often accompanied them to film sets. She began her career by appearing in school plays and commercials. Her first commercial was for yogurt when she was 8 years old. As a teenager, she began pursuing roles in television and movies.

Career

Braga made her acting debut in the Portuguese-language short film Trampolim (1998) and then returned to her schooling. Her breakthrough came when she was cast as Angélica in the critically acclaimed crime film City of God (2002), for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize. Afterward, she attended university while appearing in a pair of well-regarded South American films: Lower City (2005) and Only God Knows (2006). She also appeared in the popular Brazilian television program Carandiru, Outras Historias (2005).

Braga made her English-language debut with a starring role alongside Brendan Fraser, Mos Def, and Catalina Sandino Moreno in the crime thriller Journey to the End of Night (2006), which premiered at the 5th Annual Tribeca Film Festival. She received further recognition when was then cast opposite Will Smith in the blockbuster action thriller I Am Legend (2007). She subsequently had roles in the David Mamet-directed martial arts film Redbelt (2008), alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor,[5] the post-apocalyptic thriller Blindness (2008), alongside Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, and the crime drama Crossing Over (2009), alongside Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ashley Judd.[6]

Braga portrayed Beth in the science fiction film Repo Men (2010).[7] She starred as Isabelle in Nimród Antal's science fiction action film Predators (2010),[8] which was shot and produced by Troublemaker Studios and Robert Rodriguez.[9] Braga appeared as Frey Santiago in Neill Blomkamp's science fiction action film Elysium (2013), co-starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.[10] In 2014, she starred as Vania in the Brazilian jungle film The Ardor, as Olivia in the Argentine romance drama Latitudes, and as Alice Taylor in Kriv Stenders' action-thriller Kill Me Three Times.[11]

In 2016, Braga starred as Marisol Kingston in the western drama The Duel, alongside Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson. In 2017, she starred as Sophia in the Christian drama The Shack, alongside Octavia Spencer and Sam Worthington, based on the novel of the same name.

Since 2016, Braga has starred in the crime drama series Queen of the South, produced for USA Network, an adaptation of Arturo Perez-Reverte's best-selling novel La Reina del Sur. The series marked Braga's first lead American television role. She previously had small supporting roles in a non-English television series.[12]

Braga will next star as Cecilia Reyes in the superhero horror film The New Mutants, which set for release in 2020.[13] She will star as Maggie in the HBO drama miniseries We Are Who We Are, which was written and directed by filmmaker Luca Guadagnino.[14] Braga will also appear in the superhero action film The Suicide Squad, which is set for release in 2021.[15]

Personal life

In January 2020, Braga revealed she has been in a three year relationship with actress Bianca Comparato.[16][17]

Braga retains residences in both Los Angeles, California and São Paulo, Brazil.[18]

Filmography

Film

Braga at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Trampolim	Cláudia	Short film
2002	City of God	Angélica
2005	Lower City	Karina
2006	Only God Knows	Dolores
	Journey to the End of the Night	Monique
	Drained	Waitress
2007	The Milky Way	Júlia
	Rummikub	Daughter from São Paulo	Short film
	I Am Legend	Anna Montez
2008	Redbelt	Sondra Terry
	Blindness	Woman with Dark Glasses
2009	Crossing Over	Mireya Sanchez
	Cabeça a Prêmio	Elaine
2010	Repo Men	Beth
	Predators	Isabelle
	Predators: Moments of Extraction	Isabelle (voice)	Short film
2011	The Rite	Angelina Vargas
2012	On the Road	Terry / Bea Franco
	City of God – 10 Years Later	Herself
	Uma Vida Inteira	Woman	Short film
2013	Elysium	Frey Santiago
	Os Amigos	Júlia
2014	Muitos Homens Num Só	Eva
	Latitudes	Olivia	Also producer
	The Ardor	Vania
	Kill Me Three Times	Alice Taylor
2016	The Duel	Marisol Kingston
	Entre Idas E Vindas	Sandra
2017	The Shack	Sophia
2020	Eduardo & Mônica	Mônica
	The New Mutants	Cecilia Reyes	Completed
2021	The Suicide Squad	TBA	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Carandiru, Outras Histórias	Vânia	Episode: "Ezequiel, o Azarado"
2010	Superbonita	Host	Unknown episodes
2012	The Brazilians	Mirtes	Episode: "The Tameless from Ceará"
2014	A Mulher da Sua Vida	Roberta	Episode: "Roberta"
2016–present	Queen of the South	Teresa Mendoza	Lead role; also executive producer
2018	Samantha!	Symantha	2 episodes; also executive producer
2019	Sintonia	None	6 episodes; producer
2020	We Are Who We Are	Maggie	Main role

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2003	Cinema Brazil Grand Prize	Best Supporting Actress	City of God	Won	[19]
2005	Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival	Best Actress	Lower City	Won
2006	ACIE Awards			Won
	São Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards			Won
	SESC Film Festival	Audience Award Best Actress		Won
		Critics Award Best Actress		Won
	Verona Love Screens Film Festival	Best Acting Performance		Won
	Prêmio Contigo Cinema	Best Actress		Won
2007	Cinema Brazil Grand Prize			Won
2008	Black Reel Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Blindness	Nominated
	SESC Film Festival	Audience Award Best Actress	The Milky Way	Won
	Cinema Brazil Grand Prize	Best Supporting Actress	Drained	Nominated
2009			Blindness	Nominated
	Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival	Best Actress	Cabeça a Prêmio	Won
2010	Festival de Cinema de Punta del Este			Won
2011	Cinema Brazil Grand Prize			Nominated
2014	Cine PE	Best Actress	Muitos Homens Num Só	Won
2015	Cinema Brazil Grand Prize	Best Supporting Actress	Os Amigos	Nominated
2016		Best Actress	Muitos Homens Num Só	Nominated
2017		Best Supporting Actress	Entre Idas e Vidas	Nominated
	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Actress – Television	Queen of the South	Nominated
2018				Nominated
2019				Nominated

References

1. Archived April 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
2. IMDb. "Profile: Alice Braga". IMDb (Internet Movie Database). Retrieved January 5, 2018.
3. "Alice Braga & Colin O'Donoghue Talk Devils, Exorcisms & Sir Anthony Hopkins". Horror.com. January 24, 2011. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
4. Friedman, Roger (May 5, 2003). "Jimmy Fallon: Exiting Saturday Night Live?". Fox News. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
5. AskMen.com – Alice Braga Archived November 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
6. "Star Alice Braga On Special Effects, Adrien Brody's Muscle & Schwarzenegger's Cameo".
7. "The X-rays Continue With New Repo Men Poster". DreadCentral. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
8. "Alice Braga Talks Predators Rating and More". DreadCentral. Archived from the original on August 10, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
9. "Latest 'Predators' Chatter: Hulking Out and Varied Creatures". BloodyDisgusting. Archived from the original on March 13, 2010.
10. "Alice Braga Joins Neill Blomkamp's 'Elysium'". Slash Film. Archived from the original on July 25, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
11. "Interview: Alice Braga on Being A Female Action Star & 'Kill Me Three Times'". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
12. "USA's 'Queen of the South' Adaptation Finds Its Star (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
13. Kit, Borys (June 29, 2017). "Alice Braga Joins 'New Mutants' as Rosario Dawson Exits (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
14. Goldberg, Lesley (July 18, 2019). "Exclusive:Chloe Sevigny, Alice Braga, Kid Cudi to Star in HBO Drama From 'Call Me By Your Name' Director". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
15. Whitbrook, James (September 13, 2019). "Say Hello to the Very Disposable Stars of The Suicide Squad". io9. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
16. https://playcrazygame.com/2020/01/08/alice-braga-lives-long-distance-dating-with-actress-bianca-comparato/
17. https://celebcover.com/alice-braga-and-bianca-comparato-would-have-been-dating-for-three-years-says-newspaper/
18. LATAM Airlines Group. "Vamos/LATAM Alice Braga: de São Paulo a Hollywood" (in Portuguese). Retrieved September 24, 2019.
19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 17, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• Alice Braga on IMDb
• Interview with Alice Braga, star of 'Lower City' by Peter Fraser, Close-Up Film