Sonia Braga's Story

Sonia Braga knows what it is like to have your education cut short. The Brazilian film star had to leave school at the age of 14 to help support her family. She a tireless advocate for the rights of girls to stay in school.

She got into acting as a teenager and by her early twenties, Braga was a major soap opera star in her native Brazil. In 1969, she starred in her first domestic film, and in 1977, she gained international screen stardom for her role in Bruno Barreto's Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.

With her growing popularity, it wasn't long before she was enlisted to act in the 1985 screen adaptation of the Manuel Puig novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman. Her performance as the seductive figment of William Hurt's film memory (as well as Raul Julia's girlfriend) gained her wide acclaim and solidified her stardom.

In 1988, Braga demonstrated her comedic side as the mistress of a dead Latin American dictator in Moon Over Parador and The Milagro Beanfield War. In 1990, Braga and frequent co-star Raul Julia were teamed together as German criminals in Clint Eastwood's The Rookie and again, in 1994, in the HBO biopic The Burning Season.

In the mid-1990s, Braga also returned to Brazil to produce and star in Tieta do Agreste/Tieta (1996), based a novel by Jorge Amado and directed by Carlos Diegues. She had to wait several years to see this project come to fruition but her superb leading performance was worth the wait.

Since the late 1990s, Braga has performed on the big screen as well as on TV. In 2001 she made an impression as Jennifer Lopez's mother in the film Angel Eyes. The same year, she also turned heads with her recurring role of Maria on the popular HBO series Sex in the City. She now has a recurring role on the PBS series, American Family.

Sonia recently finished filming the feature film Bride of the Sea in Mexico. This past year she completed a co-starring role in the feature film Testosterone to be released in late 2003, was seen in John Lequiziamo's Empire, and had a guest star appearance on the ABC-TV hit series The George Lopez Show.

Braga has received numerous nominations for her work including: In 1976 "Best Newcomer" for Donna Flor and Her Two Husbands from the BAFTA Film Awards; An Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in The Burning Season (1994); A 1989 Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in Moon Over Parador, and a 1986 Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress for Kiss of The Spider Woman.

Sonia holds children especially close to her heart and is a great advocate for their right to an education, as well as their right to food and shelter. "Too
often, we, in the first world, look at education as separate from basic necessities like having enough to eat and having a decent place to sleep. We can't educate children properly who go hungry most of the time and wander the streets in search of a safe place to sleep."