Wagner Moura

Wagner Maniçoba de Moura (born June 27, 1976) is a Brazilian actor, filmmaker, musician, and journalist. Besides being a well-established and acclaimed actor in Brazil, he has achieved international fame for roles in Elite Squad (2007), its sequel: Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010) and Elysium (2013) as Spider. For his role as Pablo Escobar in the first two seasons in the Netflix series Narcos (2015–2016) he received a Golden Globe nomination.

Moura was born in Salvador, Bahia, in the Northeast Region of Brazil, but grew up in the city of Rodelas. His mother, Alderiva, was a housewife, and his father, Jose Moura, was a sergeant in the Brazilian Air Force. As a teenager, he joined the group of performing arts in his school, where he performed on his first plays. Even though Moura was interested in acting, he decided to become a journalist for a more "secure" financial stability.

He graduated in journalism at Federal University of Bahia but after a short career as a reporter in Bahia TV, Moura decided to follow his dream and become an actor.

His first major play was A Máquina ("The Machine"), in 2000. In this time, he became really good friends with two others upcoming actors, Lázaro Ramos and Vladimir Brichta. It was also because of this play that Wagner travelled for the first time to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In the same year, after a few short movies, Moura had a small participation on the movie Sabor da Paixão ("Taste of Passion"), starring Penélope Cruz.

After small roles in movies like Abril Despedaçado ("Behind the Sun", 2001), As Três Marias ("The Three Marias", 2002), 2003 launched Moura's career to a whole other level. He played a major role on the drama Carandiru, where he portrayed Zico, and the leading role on the comedy Deus e Brasileiro ("God Is Brazilian"), where he played a funny fisherman who became friends with God.

Even though at this point of his career Moura was a well-established movie actor he wanted more. On the following years he was part of series and soap operas such as Sexo Frágil ("Weak Gender", 2003), JK (2006), and Paraíso Tropical ("Tropical Paradise", 2007).

In 2007, Moura played Captain Nascimento on the acclaimed Tropa de Elite ("Elite Squad"), directed by José Padilha. The movie was a big hit launching Moura's career internationally after receiving the Golden Bear for Best Film on the Berlin Festival. The sequel Tropa de Elite 2 – O Inimigo agora é outro ("Elite Squad – The Enemy Within", 2010) received an even better reception by the critics and broke the record bring more than 11 million Brazilians to the big screens.

After receiving a few offers Moura decide to focus on his international career. His first big role was in the Hollywood science fiction Elysium (2013), where he played Spider and worked with Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Brazilian actress Alice Braga.

In April 2015, Moura was confirmed on the movie The Magnificent Seven, a remake of the 1960 movie to star with names like Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Haley Bennett and Luke Grimes. However due a schedule conflict with the Netflix series Narcos, Moura had to leave the project.

Moura's biggest international project so far was the original series created by Netflix, Narcos, where he played the protagonist Pablo Escobar for the two seasons. His acclaimed portrait of the well-known Colombian drug dealer lead to a Golden Globe award nomination in 2016.

In 2017, Moura debuted as director on the movie Marighella. A biography film about Carlos Marighella, a Marxist Brazilian writer, politician and soldier who was murdered by the Brazilian dictators in 1969.  

Besides acting and directing Moura also is the main vocalist and guitar player of the band Sua Mãe ("Your Mother"). The group have one album entitled The Very Best of the Greatest Hits of Sua Mãe.

Since 2001, Moura has been married to journalist and photographer Sandra Delgado, with whom he has three sons: Bem, Salvador, and José.

Moura's native language is Portuguese, but he also fluently speaks both English and Spanish. For his portrayal of Pablo Escobar in Narcos, Moura went back to college to take Spanish for foreigners, to perfect his pronunciation as someone who speaks Spanish as a first language. Moura had to gain over 18 kilograms (40 pounds) to play the role of Pablo Escobar; after production of the second season of Narcos, Moura decided to lose the weight with an all vegan diet.

He practices Transcendental Meditation.

Television

Film