Portuguese Language Blog

Rodrigo was born on August 22, 1975 in Petrópolis, a mountain town north of Rio de Janeiro. The son of an engineer and an artist of Italian descent, he grew up in Rio and went to PUC-Rio to study journalism. After he graduated, he spent a year in Globo TV’s Actor’s Workshop, and began his career in Brazilian soap operas.

He began his career in film in 2001, when he starred in “Bicho de Sete Cabeças,” a Brazilian movie about a young man sent to a psychiatric hospital after his parents discovered he smoked marijuana. He starred in “Abril Despedaçado” a year later, which was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the Golden Globes.

In 2003, Rodrigo also appeared in the award-winning film “Carandiru,” about a São Paulo prison. He moved on to Hollywood films by appearing in “Charlie’s Angels” and “Love Actually.” He later appeared on “Lost” and in the film “300.”

Most recently, he co-starred as Raul Castro in Steven Soderbergh’s two-part film about Che Guevara, David Mamet’s “Redbelt,” and the Brazilian film “Os Desafinados.”

Rodrigo’s upcoming movies include “I Love You Phillip Morris,” with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, and “The Post Grad Survival Guide” with Alexis Bledel and Carol Burnett.

Rodrigo still lives in Rio de Janeiro, where he enjoys spending time outside and playing sports.

Fernando Meirelles was born on November 5, 1955 in the city of São Paulo. The child of a doctor, he had the opportunity to travel and to be exposed to different cultures. He attended the University of São Paulo and majored in architecture, but began experimenting with film.

When he graduated, he joined with friends to create a production company, called Olhar Eletronico, which produced TV shows. When the company closed, he began working as an ad director, and became a partner in O2 Filmes, one of the largest ad companies in Brazil.

But Meirelles’ big break came in 2002, when he decided to adapt the book “City of God” into a movie, which became an international hit and earned him an Oscar nomination as best director. In 2005, he directed “The Constant Gardener,” a film starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, which received several Golden Globe nominations and four Oscar nominations. He most recently directed “Blindness,” released in 2008, which stars Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, and was featured at the Cannes Film Festival. Meirelles also produced several popular Brazilian films including “Cidade dos Homens” in 2007 and “O ano que meus pais sairam de ferias” in 2006.

He’s currently working as executive producer on “Extraordinary Garbage,” a film about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, which is currently in post-production.

Continuing with the video learning series in Portuguese, we’re going to take a look at some videos today to help practice listening comprehension.

In this week’s three part series, we’re going to learn about Machado de Assis (1839-1908), one of Brazil’s most acclaimed writers.