Wagner Moura

Wagner Moura (birthname: Wagner Maniçoba de Moura) is one of a handful of Brazilian actors whose rise to stardom coincided with the growing prominence of his country’s cinema on the international scene. After debuting in supporting roles in the American-backed rom-com, Woman on Top (2000), directed by Fina Torres and starring Penelope Cruz, as well as Walter Salles’ drama, Behind the Sun (2001), Aluizio Abranches’ drama The Three Marias (2002), Moura had his first starring feature role in filmmaker Carlos Diegues’ comedy-drama, God is Brazilian (2003).

Moura was cast in a supporting role by director/producer Jose Henrique Fonseca in the crime drama, The Man of the Year (2003), which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Moura co-starred in the ensemble of filmmaker Hector Babenco’s brutal prison drama based on actual events in 1992, Carandiru (2003), with Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos and Rodrigo Santoro, and was released by Sony Pictures Classics and was Brazil’s official Oscar submission.

Wagner Moura co-starred with Claudia Abreu in director Vicente Amorim’s family road movie, The Middle of the World (2003), which enjoyed a strong festival run (Toronto, New Directors/New Films, Rotterdam, San Sebastian, San Francisco) and was released in the U.S. by Film Movement. Moura further propelled himself as one of the faces of new Brazilian cinema as co-star with Lazaro Ramos and Alice Braga in writer-director Sergio Machado’s drama, Lower City (2005), which premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

Moura continued his string of lead roles including in writer-director Monique Gardenberg’s drama, Ó Paí, Ó (2007), which grossed $3.2 million globally, the Jorge Furtado comedy Saneamento Básico (2007), and then in his breakthrough starring role in filmmaker Jose Padilha’s intense urban police drama, Elite Squad (2007), winning Berlin film festival’s Golden Bear before becoming a Brazilian box-office hit ($14 million) and receiving a release by Universal Pictures, and then resumed his role in Padilha’s sequel, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010), which became Brazil’s top-grossing hit on record and grossed $63 million globally. Moura then starred in the Brazilian crime drama, VIPs (2010), which won best picture in its premiere at the Rio Film Festival.

Wagner Moura further demonstrated his range as the lead in filmmaker Claudio Torres’ sci-fi comedy, The Man from the Future (2011), co-starring Alinne Moraes, Gabriel Braga Nunes, and Maria Luisa Mendonça, which grossed $11.5 million for distributor Paramount Pictures. Moura starred in co-writer/director Luciano Moura’s missing-son drama, Father’s Chair/A Busca (2012), with Lima Duarte and Mariana Lima, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and earned $3.68 million.

Moura made the jump into big-budget Hollywood movies in a supporting role in director/writer/producer Neill Blomkamp’s dystopian sci-fi action movie for Sony Pictures/TriStar Pictures, Elysium (2013), starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, and William Fichtner, grossing a weak $286 million (on a $115 million). Moura then returned to Brazil to co-star and produce the mining drama, Serra Pelada (2013), co-written and directed by Heitor Dhalia, and released by Warner Bros. to a $1.9 million box office return.

Wagner Moura starred in filmmaker Karim Aïnouz’s tepidly received drama, Futuro Beach (2014), with Clemens Schick which premiered at the Berlin film festival, followed by Moura acting under Jose Padilha’s direction in the segment, Inútil Paisagem, in the anthology feature, Rio, I Love You (2014), the fourth feature in the “Cities of Love” franchise of anthology movies set in major cities that Emmanuel Benbihy produced. Moura starred in his first British-Brazilian co-production, Working Title Films’/O2 Filmes’ Trash (2014), directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Richard Curtis and co-starring Selton Mello, Rooney Mara, and Martin Sheen, with a Rio festival premiere followed by release by Universal Pictures for a $5.36 million gross.

Moura made his debut as director/writer/producer/actor for the political biopic, Marighella (2019), about Brazilian Marxist guerilla fighter Carlos Marighella, starring Seu Jorge, Adriana Esteves, Bruno Gagliasso, and Luiz Carlos Vasconcellos, and which premiered out of competition to positive reviews at the Berlin film festival. Moura joined French filmmaker Olivier Assayas for the espionage thriller about Cuban spies in the 1990s United States, Wasp Network (2019), based on Fernando Morais’ book, The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, and co-starred Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Ana de Armas, and premiering at the Venice film festival.

Moura was the star and lead producer of the U.S. indie biopic, Sergio (2020), in which he portrayed the U.N.’s Special Representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and which co-starred Ana de Armas, Garret Dillahunt, Bradley Whitford, and Brían F. O’Byrne under Greg Barker’s direction, and premiering at the Sundance film festival. Moura reunited with De Armas in Anthony and Joe Russo’s action thriller for Netflix (arranging a limited theatrical release before streaming), The Gray Man (2022), starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.

Then Moura enjoyed his first animation voice performance in a Hollywood movie for Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s acclaimed sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Harvey Guillen, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and earning an Oscar nomination for a best-animated feature and grossing a robust $485.3 million worldwide.

Wagner Moura proceeded to co-star with Kirsten Dunst in writer-director Alex Garland’s political thriller, Civil War (2024), with Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, and Jesse Plemons, which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival before an A24 release. Moura continued his run of starring in U.S.-backed productions, joining director Gerardo Naranjo for screenwriter Scott Smith’s adaptation of Francisco Goldman’s acclaimed novel, Say Her Name (date to be announced), co-starring Adria Arjona.