Milton Gonçalves

Who is Milton Gonçalves?

Milton Gonçalves is a Brazilian actor. He worked in many telenovelas, including A Cabana do Pai Tomás, Irmãos Coragem, O Bem Amado, O Espigão, Pecado Capital, Sinal de Alerta, O Pulo do Gato, Baila Comigo, Partido Alto, Mandala, Araponga and Felicidade. He has also worked as director in Escrava Isaura and O Bem Amado. Milton Gonçalves is one of the most famous black actors in Brazil, having collaborated twice with acclaimed director Hector Babenco. One notable role with Babenco was that alongside William Hurt and Raúl Juliá as a homophobic police chief in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Gonçalves started his career in São Paulo, in an amateur group. As he moved to a professional group, he met Augusto Boal, who was looking for an actor to play an old black man. Joining Boal's Teatro de Arena, Milton Gonçalves found an open environment for political, philosophical and artistic discussion, where he was not discriminated for his race.

Gonçalves wrote four plays, one of which was staged by the Teatro Experimental do Negro and directed by Dalmo Ferreira. "There I learnt everything I know about Theater. It was fundamental for my comprehension of the world."