(PEDRO PAULO) With a long and distinguished acting career that spans over 30 back to back years of artistic triumphs on stage, in motion pictures, and TV productions, Antonio Fagundes is one of the most important actors of his country. He's displayed his talent and versatility in an extensive gallery of characters, in more than 40 plays, 37 feature films, and a few dozen prime-time episodic TV dramas, miniseries, and specials.

Fagundes made his acting debut at the theater, joining Teatro Arena de São Paulo, at age 16. In 1981, he created the Companhia Estável de Repertório, with which he performed over the next 10 years to great acclaim. His extensive list of stage credits include Cyrano de Bergerac, Fragmentos de um Discurso Amoroso, A Morte Acidental de um Anarquista, Muro de Arrimo, Carmem com Filtro, Macbeth, and Oleanna, among several others.

On television, Mr. Fagundes' body of work can best be characterized as memorable, having starred in prime-time classic episodic TV dramas, such as Dancin' Days, Vale Tudo, O Dono do Mundo, Rainha da Sucata, Renascer, and O Rei do Gado, as well as the series Carga Pesada, one of the most popular TV shows of the '80s. Among his most recent TV work, Fagundes starred in the episodic dramas Por Amor and Labirinto.

Antonio Fagundes made his feature film debut in 1969, with A compadecida, directed by George Jonas. Since then, even having worked extensively on stage and on TV, he became one of the most sought-after film actors of the country, starring in almost 40 feature and/or short films, in a wide array of roles and genres.

He's one of those few actors who cannot divide his career in "before and after" the rebirth of Brazilian Cinema, simply because he never stopped acting in feature and short films. In the past two years alone, he starred in five movies: Geraldo Moraes' No Coração dos Deuses, Walter Hugo Khoury's Paixão Perdida, Zelito Viana's Villa-Lobos, and O Tronco, the fifth feature film directed by João Batista de Andrade. BOSSA NOVA is Mr. Fagundes' first collaboration with producers L.C.Barreto, after a long period of several frustrated attempts, which the actor defines as "a cat and mouse chase."