Wagner Moura made historical past Thursday morning when he was nominated for an Academy Award within the class for actor in a number one function for his efficiency in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2025 movie “The Secret Agent.”
This historic nomination makes Moura the primary Brazilian actor nominated for an Oscar on this area.
Within the movie, Moura performs Armando, a former professor pressured into hiding whereas making an attempt to guard his younger son throughout Brazil’s army dictatorship through the Nineteen Seventies.
Ought to he win on the March 15 ceremony, Moura would turn into the primary Brazilian to win an Oscar in an appearing class.
Moura is the third Brazilian nationwide to be nominated for an appearing Oscar, becoming a member of the mother-daughter duo of Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres — each of whom had been nominated for actress in a number one function.
Montenegro grew to become the primary Brazilian nominated within the class for her function as Isadora “Dora” Teixeira within the 1998 Walter Salles movie “Central Station.” The award finally went to Gwyneth Paltrow for her efficiency in “Shakespeare in Love.”
Torres obtained her Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Eunice Paiva in 2024’s “I’m Still Here,” which was additionally directed by Salles. The Oscar that 12 months was awarded to Mikey Madison for her work in “Anora.”
“The Secret Agent” star has already made historical past twice throughout this awards cycle.
He gained the Golden Globe for lead actor in a movement image drama earlier this month for the political thriller, turning into the second Brazilian and first Brazilian man to take house a Globes appearing prize, after Torres’ win final 12 months for “I’m Still Here.”
The 49-year-old actor additionally earned the actor prize finally 12 months’s Cannes Movie Competition, making him the primary Brazilian performer to win that honor.
Moura’s nomination comes a 12 months after “I’m Still Here” grew to become the primary absolutely Brazilian manufacturing to win an Academy Award with its win within the worldwide function class.
The 1959 movie “Black Orpheus” — which retold the parable of Orpheus and Eurydice within the context of Fifties Rio de Janeiro and featured a largely Brazilian forged — gained the worldwide function award on the thirty second Academy Awards because the French submission and was helmed by French director Marcel Camus.
“The Secret Agent” represented a cinematic homecoming for the “Civil War” star after not starring in a Brazilian movie for over a decade, he informed The Occasions final 12 months. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s oppressive right-wing administration, the COVID-19 pandemic and commitments overseas prevented him from taking up a significant appearing job in his house nation and in his native language.
Mendonça Filho informed The Occasions that he initially anxious if Moura — after so a few years working away from Brazil — would convey a number of the “Where’s my trailer?” perspective folks assume exists in Hollywood. “He didn’t,” the director mentioned. “He’s intelligent enough to adapt to each project.”
Whilst his profession has been formed by politically charged initiatives, Moura has been cautious to not let that component outline him.
“I don’t want to be the Che Guevara of film,” Moura mentioned. “I gravitate towards things that are political, but I like being an actor more than anything else.”
