Short Bio

Lázaro Ramos is an actor, director, and novelist. For over 30 years, he has been acclaimed for roles in more than 35 films and two dozen television series to his credit. Internationally known for his electric roles in Madame Satã by Karim Aïnouz, Héctor Babenco’s Carandiru, and The Violin Teacher by Sérgio Machado, he was nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Actor in 2006 for “Snakes & Lizards.” Ramos is also known for his commitment to humanitarian causes, leading the fight to end racial
and economic injustice in the world. He has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2009.

About Lázaro

Lázaro Ramos was born on November 1, 1978, in Salvador, Bahia. He is an actor, presenter, producer, director and author. Over the last 30 years, he has received more than 70 awards and has performed about one hundred roles in the cinema, theater and television, and has published nine books. In 2017 and 2021, he was elected one of the most influential Afrodescendants in the world by MIPAD (Most Influential People of African Descent) and received his award at the UN headquarters in New York.

Cinema

His career in cinema includes more than 35 films. One of his most successful movies was the acclaimed “Madame Satã” (2002) and other titles such as “Carandiru” (2003), “The Man Who Copied” (2003), “Lower City” (2005) and “The Violin Teacher” (2015) — shown in more than 20 countries including Canada, Italy, Spain, Greece, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Japan — “In Dog’s World” (2016) and “Beijo no Asfalto” (2018), for which he received the Best Actor award at the International Filmmaker Festival in New York.

Television

On television, he has played several memorable characters. For the Brazilian soap opera “Snakes & Lizards” (2006) he was nominated for an International Emmy Award for best actor. He also starred in the soap operas “Duas Caras” (2007) and “Side by Side” (2012), both awarded the Emmy for best soap opera. He starred in the four-season TV series “Mr. Brau,” from 2015 to 2018. The series established itself as a landmark in Brazilian television, with positive reviews all around the world in renowned papers, including The Guardian.

Theater

Back in his home state, Ramos began his acting career in Bando de Teatro Olodum, a legendary theater company in Brazil. Since then, he has acted in about 40 theater plays. Since 2015 he has directed, acted and produced the play “The Mountaintop,” where he plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Director

Recently, with Executive Order, Ramos debuted as a fiction director, and considers it a milestone in post-pandemic Brazilian cinema. The movie spent 28 consecutive weeks in the box office. During its run at the SXSW festival, it earned enthusiastic reviews — the Los Angeles Times said that “Lázaro Ramos’ first feature film is a searing and frightening fiction and firmly tackles the complex plight of Afro Latinos,” while LA Weekly said that it is “The single most impassioned, inventive, intelligently designed and invigorating feature film of the year.” Ramos is currently preparing for the release of “An Unforgettable Year” — his second immersion in directing. It is expected to première in the second half of the year on Prime Video.

Other Projects

Lázaro became one of the bestselling book writers in Brazil with the adult bestseller “Na Minha Pele” (2017), also released in the Latin market, in Spanish. In recent years, he has been doing literature for teenagers and children, with six bestselling books released. As a TV presenter, Lázaro hosted the show “Espelho” for 17 years on cable TV, and on the Rede Globo TV channel, he presented three shows: “Fantástico,” “Lazinho com Você” and “Os Melhores Anos de Nossas Vidas”.

Honors

Over his career, Ramos was declared by The New York Times as one of the best actors on the 2004 Oscar list of nominees, and received a letter from President Barack Obama congratulating and recognizing him as an Influential Personality. Recognitions around the world include the Toulouse Festival in France in 2007, the Maputo International Film Festival, in Mozambique, and the Lima Film Festival in 2016, in Peru, all exclusively dedicated to revisiting and paying tribute to his career.

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