Biographie
Latorraca, son of a crooner and a chorus line dancer who both worked in casinos and godson of renowned actor Grande Otelo, was raised in an artistic atmosphere. Sadly, two years after his birth, a presidential decree shut down the casinos, causing his family to lose their primary source of income.
He started acting early, making a cameo in a radio soap opera at age six. He later participated in student theater and landed his first professional role in 1964, around age twenty, in Plínio Marcos’s play 'Reportagem de Um Tempo Mau.' However, the play was banned by Federal Censorship after just one performance at the Arena Theater.
After acting in three plays with a university group, he enrolled in the School of Dramatic Art in São Paulo, where he studied theater history, body expression, diction, and interpretation for three years under notable instructors such as directors Zbigniew Ziembinski and Antunes Filho. To support himself, he worked part-time at a bank and a women’s clothing store. He also appeared in several plays during this time. Actress Marília Pêra was his graduation godmother.
In the late 1960s, he began appearing on television in small roles, and by the early 1970s, he was involved in several significant theatrical productions. In 1974, Rede Globo, Brazil’s largest TV network, hired him as a contract actor, and he secured his first major role in the telenovela Escalada (1975). Over the next 40 years, his TV career thrived with both dramatic and comedic roles.
In 1986, alongside Marco Nanini, he starred in Marília Pêra’s production of 'The Mystery of Irma Vep,' which became a major box office hit and the longest-running play in Brazil’s history. Written by Charles Ludlam, the play features two actors portraying eight characters of both genders, undergoing approximately 35 costume changes throughout the two-hour performance.
In September 2017, just before the São Paulo premiere of the musical 'Vamp,' he announced his retirement from acting in television, theater, and film after that show. Nonetheless, he went on to make two more notable TV appearances, reprising his famous comedic characters 'Barbosa' (from TV Pirata (1988)) and 'Count Vlad' (from Vamp (1991)).
