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Producer · Actor

1981-04-26 · São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil · Female

67 series in the catalog

Mariana Ximenes do Prado Nuzzi (Brazilian Portuguese: [maɾiˈɐnɐ ʃiˈmɛnis]; born 26 April 1981) is a Brazilian actress. Her first role was in the telenovela Fascinação in 1998 where she portrayed the role of Emília Gouveia. In the same year she played the role of Ruth Stern in the film Caminho dos Sonhos. In 2000, she played in Uga-Uga portraying "Bionda". This role rise to prominence as she became widely known in Brazil and internationally. Later in 2001, she offered her services in the Portuguese voice over translation in the Canadian/Chinese animated series Braceface, for the character Sharon Spitz. She later played the protagonist in Cobras & Lagartos in 2006 and Lara in A Favorita, later in 2008. In 2010, she portrayed her first villainous role in the critically acclaimed telenovela Passione. Since 2010 she has appeared in several telenovelas, television series, films and theatre performances.

Mariana Ximenes has also earned several accolades throughout her acting career such as: Melhores do Ano, Grande Otelo, Troféu Impresa, Festival de Gramado, Festival do Recife, Prêmio Contigo among others.

Early life

Mariana Ximenes do Prado Nuzzi was born in São Paulo on 26 April 1981 and grew up in Vila Mariana, a neighborhood in São Paulo. She is the daughter of speech therapist Fátima Ximenes do Prado, of Dutch descent, and lawyer José Nuzzi Neto, who is of Italian descent from Apulia.

Mariana dreamed to be an actress since her childhood. At age 6, she appeared in a school play as Cinderella. She began acting in amateur theater, insisting to her parents invest in her career as an actress, even participating in various advertising campaigns. Her first acting lessons were in Teatro Escola Célia Helena, and at age 12, she had already appeared in more than 200 commercials. She attended Colégio Marista Arquidiocesano, where she studied from 3rd grade till her 3rd year of high school.

Career

1994–01: Fascinação, Uga-Uga and A Padroeira

When she was seventeen, in 1998, Mariana debuted on television in the telenovela Fascinação of SBT in 1998, where she played the character Emília, her first major television role. In the same year, she joined Rede Globo and began working in her (Rede Globo) productions. She appeared in the episode "Dupla Traição" in the series Você Decide and in the film Caminho dos Sonhos portraying the character Ruth Stern. She also participated in the pilot of the series Sandy & Junior portraying the character Vicky.

In 1999, she played Celi Montana in Andando nas Nuvens. She also made a cameo appearance in the telenovela Força de um Desejo playing Ângela, in 2000.

Mariana played the character Bionda, which yielded great success for her career.

In 2001, she appeared in Brava Gente in the episode, "A Sonata", playing the character Luciana. She first performed in the Portuguese voice over translation for the character Sharon Spitz in the Canadian/Chinese animated series Braceface. She later did some ads for Fox Kids Brazil and she also played Izabel de Avelar in A Padroeira. That same year, she also starred in her second film, Dias de Nietzsche em Turim, playing Júlia Fino.

2002–06: A Casa das Sete Mulheres, Chocolate com Pimenta and Cobras & Lagartos

In 2002, Mariana Ximenes made a guest appearance in the comedy series Os Normais, in "A Turma do Didi" as Glorinha and Brava Gente in episode "Arioswaldo e o Lobisomem" as Branca Luz, alongside Suzana Vieira and Ângelo Antônio. Earlier that year, she had starred in her third film O Invasor, which earned her the award for Best Supporting Actress at the Festival do Recife, Passista Trophy, Grande Prêmio BR do Cinema Brasileiro and Cinema Brazil Grand Prize.

The following year, she played the character Rosário in A Casa das Sete Mulheres. She won the award for Best romantic couple along with Thiago Fragoso earning her a Contigo Award for her character that became popular among viewers, although her character died at the end of the miniseries. During this period, Mariana made a special participation in the program Zorra Total and A Grande Família. Her next role was in a telenovela perhaps one of her most prominent in her entire career. She played Ana, the main protagonist, also known as Aninha, in Chocolate com Pimenta that earned her media attention due to its success thanks to her portrayal in the telenovela. Mariana also starred in films such as O Homem do Ano and Uma Estrela Pra Ioiô (2003). In 2004, she also participated in the special Histórias de Cama & Mesa.

In 2005, she was cast the critically acclaimed telenovela América as the rebellious Raíssa. Her role, was well received by critics: Sérgio Ripardo said that, "América would be remembered in the future because of Mariana Ximenes and Cléo Pires, due to the popularity of their characters" and Folha Online said, "The character Raíssa overshadowed the main character in the plot, Sol", played by Deborah Secco. This year, she also starred in one more film Gaijin - Ama-me Como Sou portraying Weronika Muller. She participated in her second Portuguese voice over translation in the movie Chicken Little, where he voiced the character Hebe Marreca, known as Pata Ugly. Also in 2005, she made a cameo in Casseta & Planeta playing the character Raíssa. In 2006, Mariana was cast as Lílian Gonçalves in the miniseries JK. In Cobras & Lagartos, she portrayed the character Bel, that was initially for Giovanna Antonelli. In the plot, her character is a violinist who inherits 49% of her deceased uncle, Omar (Francisco Cuoco), who owns a fictitious company called Luxus.

2007–10: A Favorita and Passione

After Cobras & Lagartos, she made a cameo appearance in Paraíso Tropical as Sônia, a journalist who becomes the new girlfriend of the character Mateus, played by Gustavo Leão. Originally, Gilberto Braga had cast her to play the character Bebel, but she later turned down the offer thus Camila Pitanga taking over the role. The following year, Mariana played the heroine, Lara Fontini, in A Favorita, one of the main characters of the plot. The look of her character became a hit among Brazilians. She was invited to be the presenter of the program Superbonita channel GNT, where she spoke about pin-ups. She also made a cameo as herself in the documentary Episódio Especial and as herself in the documentary Despertar das Amazonas.

In 2010, Mariana Ximenes was cast to play Clara Medeiros in the telenovela Passione, her first villain role in her acting career. It is based on Bette Davis' characters. In order to compose the character as well as some other villains in Brazilian telenovelas, such as Nazaré of Renata Sorrah and Maria de Fátima of Glória Pires, some changes were also made on her visual appearance to liven the character, making her hair longer and dressing in bolder outfits.

The actress Mariana Ximenes topped the poll site in Caras magazine as the greatest villain in telenovela history. The critical Flávio Ricco said "Mariana Ximenes as Clara did one of her best work in television". She won in Troféu Imprensa Awards for Best Alctress for her portrayal of the character, and was also nominated in some other awards. The journalist Fabíola Reipert said, "Mariana Ximenes can show her talent, because she is in the main cast of the telenovela, even with only 29 years". The character Clara was also compared to Bia Falcão, Fernanda Montenegro's character in Belíssima.

Furthermore, Mariana returned to theater, starring in the play Os Altruístas, directed by Guilherme Weber, after nine years of not performing on stage.

2011–present: As Brasileiras, Guerra dos Sexos and movies

In 2011, Due to the success of her character in Passione, Rede Globo decided to keep her away from the small screen for some time. She produced the film Um Homem Só by herself in addition to starring in the film. In May 2012, she was part of the cast of the series As Brasileiras in the episode "A Adormecida de Foz do Iguaçu", playing the seductive character Liliane. She made her…