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- author,
- To roll, From BBC News Brasil in São Paulo
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Reading time: 5 minutes
Until the age of 72, Tânia Maria had never seen a film in the cinema.
A resident of Santo Antônio da Cobra, a village of less than a thousand inhabitants in Parelhas, in the semi-arid region of Rio Grande do Norte, she spent her days working as an artisan and seamstress.
“I only thought about sewing. I didn’t think about anything else,” he says.
Today, at 78 years old, she is cited by the international press as a possible candidate for the Oscars.
The New York Times newspaper highlighted her performance as one of the best of 2025, and trade magazines such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter began including her in betting lists for the Best Supporting Actress category.
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Tânia’s performance, marked by naturalness and everyday strength, has been described by critics as “magnetic” and “natural talent”. “I never imagined becoming an actress. Never,” she said in an interview with BBC News Brasil.
Entering the cinema happened by chance. In 2018, the Nightjara film by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles which premiered the following year, was in the Seridó region looking for local extras. Casting producer Renata Roberta entered Tânia’s house.
“I was sewing and I heard conversations in the dining room. When I arrived and said ‘good evening’, she ‘this is the one I needed’ and asked me if I would agree to be an extra. Earning R$50 every day, I thought it was really good,” he remembers.
After the success of Nightjarother invitations arrived. Today, she has six films to her credit, all started after the age of 70.
‘Who is it?’
Before the cinema, Tânia Maria had never seen an entire film or gone to the cinema. Contact with television was also minimal.
When she was told that she would be playing alongside Wagner Moura, for example, her spontaneous reaction was to ask the question: “Who is that?”
The only soap opera he remembers watching was Father heropresented in 1979, more than four decades earlier. “I’ve been in love with Tony Ramos ever since.”
Information about the military dictatorship was also limited to her, as she lived most of her life in Santo Antônio da Cobra. “There was no electricity, no television, I didn’t even know what a dictatorship was,” he said.
In The secret agenther character, Dona Sebastiana, welcomes persecuted politicians and acts as a point of support in a Brazil marked by repression.
“My father was a farmer, he didn’t know anything either. I know we only listened to the radio, but we didn’t know anything. The dictatorship here went unnoticed.”
At the age of 27, in 1975, she decided to become a single mother in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, which made the seamstress subject to strong stigma.
“I was discriminated against a lot. People didn’t care about a single mother, she was a woman with no future, right? But I wanted to be a mother.”
During this period, she was working as a health advisor in a UBS (Basic Health Unit) when she became pregnant. A petition was even organized in the city, demanding his departure from office.
“A big boss wrote a petition to get me out,” he remembers. “I went to city hall and resigned. It broke down.”
She raised her daughter alone, supporting the household with her sewing work, without the support of the child’s father. Today, she lives surrounded by her family – daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter and son-in-law – who are closely following this unexpected turn in her life.
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In Natal, his family attended the premiere of The secret agentthe first time for many in a cinema.
“They reserved a VIP room for my family. When I saw all my family in the audience, with my t-shirts, I cried. It was to say thank you, I didn’t say thank you, I cried. Then, I was applauded because I cried. It’s very moving.”
About the character of Dona Sebastiana, who has enchanted viewers all over Brazil, she says: “It’s me.”
“Whoever passes in front of me, I welcome him. If he needs help, I will help him. If he needs some advice, I will give it to him too.”
“The actress’s life is better”
This year, the New York Times highlighted the presence of Tânia Maria on stage. A critic included the Brazilian in the list of best performances of 2025 and drew attention to a specific detail: the naturalness with which she smokes in front of the camera.
A smoker for more than 60 years, Tânia decided to quit smoking precisely after international recognition began to require travel and long journeys. She even turned down an invitation to go to the Cannes Film Festival in France because she couldn’t stand the hours of flying without smoking.
“I was smoking three packs a day. That means I couldn’t take the cigarette out of my mouth, right,” he says. “The doctor who accompanied me told me: ‘you can go, I’ll accompany you, but you will panic if you spend at least two hours without smoking on the plane’. So I didn’t go, I gave up.”
The decision was made in May, with one objective: to not let any more opportunities pass by. Including the Oscar. Her passport ready, the actress is now waiting for her American visa to travel.
“My dream now is to go to the Oscars. I have that in mind. I want to go, I will.”
“While her career is just beginning at the age of 78, Tânia Maria rejects age limitations. “Age has no validity. I’m not old,” she said. “I’m easy to memorize, I’m not deaf. I just have a little difficulty walking, but holding my hand makes it better.”
Far from retiring, she is in the casting of Yellow cakea science fiction film directed by Tiago Melo which will have its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival, Netherlands, in January 2026.
She will also be in the detective series Delegatescheduled for 2026 on Canal Brasil, where he plays a “naughty” character who flirts with the protagonist played by Johnny Massaro.
Despite her international projection, Tânia maintains simple habits and continues to live in Santo Antônio da Cobra. The main difference is that sewing, once at the center of her daily life, has been put aside to make way for filming and traveling. “The life of an actress is better.”
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