If actress Regina Duarte is the "girlfriend of Brazil", Sonia Braga is and will always the eternal "Gabriela", who yesterday turns 70 years old. It shone in Brazilian cinema in "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" (1976), an absolute success in Brazil, remaining for three decades as the most watched Brazilian film in theaters (over ten million viewers), a film that elevated the Brazil to the first world of international cinema, after the country winning the Palme d'Or in Cannes (1962) with "Keeper of Promises - the given word", a film by Anselmo Duarte.
Others relevant national titles in her career includes "A Dama do Lotação" (1978, directed by Neville D"Almeida), "A Moreninha" (1970, directed by Glauco Mirko Laurelli), "O Casal" (1975, directed by Daniel Filho) and "Eu Te Amo" (1981, directed by Arnaldo Jabor). Before the TV series "Gabriela" (1975), Sonia had acted in other series at the Globo Network.
In the seventies, she appeared as a hippie ("Irmãos Coragem, 1970) and as a emotionally confused girl (Selva de Pedra, 1972) until the explosion with the title character of the television adaptation of the novel "Gabriela, Cravo e Canela", written by Jorge Amado, a landmark of Brazilian TV that becamed her in a television big star and revolutionized her image - it's important to say that!
"Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands", also an adaptation of a book written by Jorge Amado transformed Sonia in an international star - in the Baftas she was nominated as most outstanding newcomer and the film had a Hollywood version, " Kiss Me Goodbye" (1982, directed by Robert Mulligan) with Jeff Bridges, James Caan and Sally Field, who was at the height of her success with the Oscar received for "Norma Rae" (1979, directed by Martin Ritt). Later, Sally and Sonia would act together in the series "Brothers and Sisters" (2006-2011).
Courageous, in the middle of eighties, she left Globo TV and migrated to the USA after the success and Oscar nominations earned by "The Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985, by Hector Babenco). In Hollywood she appeared in "The Milagro Beanfield War" (1988, directed by Robert Redford), "The Burning Season" (1994, directed by John Frankenheimer) and "Moon Over Parador" (1988, directed by Paul Mazursky), besides shining in six episodes of "Sex and the City" (1998 -2004), when she played a lesbian envolved with Miranda (Kim Cattrall). In the USA, recognized for her talent, she was nominated three times for the Golden Globe (once for "Kiss of the Spider Woman") and once for the Emmy for "The Burning Season".
