Alice Braga Biography

Alice Braga was born into an acting legacy in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Growing up with her mother, Ana Braga, and aunt, Sonia Braga, who were both successful actresses, Alice spent much of her childhood on film sets and the family business rubbed off on her. Alice knew she wanted to follow in their footsteps, but waited to actively pursue it, participating in school plays and commercials instead.

After high school, Alice focussed her efforts on making it in the industry. In 2002, at the age of 19, she landed her first film role as Angelica in the Brazilian picture City of God, about two boys who grew up in a dangerous ghetto of Rio de Janeiro and the very different paths their lives took as one became a photographer and the other, a drug dealer. The movie became of a runaway hit and garnered critical acclaim for Alice, including a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize (Brazil's Academy Awards).

While finding such success in an actor's first role is almost unheard of, her next move would be even more unorthodox—Alice decided to take time off from acting, opting to go to university instead. While furthering her education, Alice appeared in two highly regarded South American movies—2005’s Lower City and Only God Knows in 2006—before appearing in the movie that would put her on the path to mainstream success.

In 2006, she made her English-language debut in the independent movie Journey to the End of the Night, about a Brazilian brothel alongside Brendan Fraser and Mos Def. The exposure fueled her desire to seek work in the United States and in 2007, she landed a role in the Will Smith blockbuster, I Am Legend, about a doctor who scrambles to create a cure and save the world from a zombie apocalypse.

The next year she followed up with the sci-fi mystery Blindness starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore. The film earned her a second Supporting Actress nomination for the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize.

2010 was a productive year for Alice—she appeared in the science-fiction thriller Repo Men starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and as the female lead in the Adrien Brody-starring, Predators, her biggest role to date. A second sequel to the 1987 horror movie Predator, the film centers on a group of morally corrupt people who are dropped on a mysterious planet and hunted by a race of deadly aliens.

Alice also played supporting roles in the critically-lauded coming-of-age drama, On the Road, about a journey of self-discovery and in Elysium (2013), starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.

A few years later, Alice found herself starring opposite Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson in the western The Duel (2016), before being drawn to the fantasy drama The Shack (2017), alongside headliners Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer and Tim McGraw.

Ready to experience thrills, the actress became Dr. Cecilia Reyes in the horror film The New Mutants (2020), taking her part in a cast comprised of, among others, Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams.

Her most high profile TV project has undoubtedly been USA Network's Queen of the South series, on which she has starred as drug baroness Teresa Mendoza on the pay TV USA since 2016, for five seasons to date.

Filmography

The New Mutants (2020)
The Shack (2017)
The Duel (2016)
Elysium (2013)
On the Road (2012)
The Rite (2011)
Predators (2010)
Repo Men (2010)
Crossing Over (2009)
Blindness (2008)
I Am Legend (2007)
Journey to the End of the Night (2006)
Only God Knows (2006)
Lower City (2005)
City of God (2002)