بیوگرافی
He was the son of Laurindo Dionísio and Maria Assunção Martins Viana. His parents separated when he was three years old, and his sister was two. His father moved to Angola, while his mother worked as a dressmaker in Lisbon, supporting the family with financial assistance from his grandmother. He studied at Machado de Castro Industrial School.
At 13, his drawings began appearing in "O Senhor Doutor," "Pim Pam Pum" (children's supplements in the leading national newspapers "O Século" and "Diário de Notícias"), and "O Papagaio," the only weekly children's paper at the time. He was offered an apprenticeship as a photo-offset printer at Casa Bertrand e Irmãos, a bookshop and printing house. Before completing the mandatory one-year training, his drawing skills were so advanced that he earned a full salary and was given additional drawing jobs for press advertising.
From his bedroom window in a working-class neighborhood, he witnessed violent knife attacks by members of the Legião Portuguesa, a pro-government group with Nazi-like tendencies, targeting leftist demonstrators. Secretly, he began reading the clandestine communist newspaper "Avante!" His uncle, José Viana, a viola player, and Tavares Belo, a young musician and composer lodging at his grandmother's pension, encouraged his passion for music. He started playing the viola himself, demonstrating such talent that he could compose by ear and found success with a friend in the nightclub band "Os Loucos do Ritmo." Later, he joined various amateur bands as a singer, including the Orquestra Ibérica, touring Lisbon nightclubs. Although he earned more from a single night of cabaret than a month as a printer, he always regarded his day job as his true work. Deeply aware of social and political issues, he expressed this through humorous drawings and dark, neo-realist paintings.
In 1947, he was among many neo-realists exhibiting at the II General Exhibit of Plastic Arts, organized by MUD (Democratic Unitarian Movement) at the prestigious Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes. During the event, the secret police raided the gallery, confiscating his work along with seventeen others. His first oil painting was later acquired by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is now part of its contemporary art collection.
He worked as a publicist for Sonoro Films, a Lisbon-based production and distribution company, and became head of Gong and two other advertising agencies while continuing to create artwork for the humorous newspaper "Os Ridículos." After World War II, he worked as a scenic artist for several revue companies and acted in amateur dramatic groups under his real name, Viana Dionísio, collaborating with distinguished actors like António Pedro and Jacinto Ramos.
In 1947, he turned professional as an actor after studying at the Lisbon Conservatory. Following harsh criticism of his debut in Labiche's Parapluie d'Italie, he adopted the stage name José Viana, after his uncle. In December 1951, he replaced Estevão Amarante, who died during a successful company tour. He later joined various theatrical companies touring Brazil—where he married vaudeville actress Juju Batista—and Portuguese African colonies, eventually settling in Angola. There, he continued his artistic pursuits, exhibiting his work in Luanda, Lobito, and Benguela.
In 1957, he returned to Portugal to work in television, gaining recognition for his instant charcoal sketches on the program "Riscos e Gatafunhos." The national broadcaster RTP frequently invited him to reprise some of his best stage characters. On "TV Clube," he performed "Fado de uma nota só," a parody of the Brazilian "Samba de uma nota só," bidding farewell to his last small banknote, portrayed a homeless character in "Vagabundo de Lisboa," and a popular ferryboat sailor in "Zé Cacilheiro." On "Melodias de Sempre," he played mostly comedic roles, such as a simple soldier in "Fado do 31," a romantic hardworking mountain farmer in the operetta "Romance na Serra," a traditional Catholic in "Senhora de Matosinhos," and a railway station guard in "Quem tem boca vai a Roma." His talents extended to writing for the theatre ("Mulheres à Vista," 1959) and stage directing ("Elas São o Espectáculo," 1963), where he met and later married Dora Leal, a young starlet. From then until the 1974 democratic revolution, he worked actively in theatre, focusing on satirical political jokes and vaudeville sketches, all under the scrutiny of official censorship. After 1974, alongside other politically conscious comedians, he wrote and performed in several comedies and vaudeville shows. However, as political tensions in Portugal intensified, it became increasingly difficult to entertain audiences with the same humor, and by 1987 he returned to painting.
His film appearances were notable, including roles in "O Recado" (1972), "A Fuga" (1978), "A Ilha" (1990), and short dramatic works such as "O Relojoeiro" (1998, TV). He had one daughter, Maria Viana, a blues singer, with his first wife, and two daughters with his second wife, Raquel Maria and Madalena Leal, both involved in theatre.
On June 10, 1997, José Viana was awarded the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique, Portugal's highest national honor for cultural merit, by the President of the Republic in recognition of his 50-year career in the arts.
