Wagner Moura Biography

Wagner Moura is a Brazilian actor, director, and musician widely regarded as one of the leading figures of contemporary Brazilian cinema and a major Latin American presence in international film and television. He is best known globally for his intense portrayal of Pablo Escobar on the Netflix series Narcos and for his award-winning performance in the 2025 film The Secret Agent.
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Wagner Maniçoba de Moura was born on June 27, 1976, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and spent part of his childhood in the small town of Rodelas before returning to Salvador as a teenager.
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Before fully committing to acting, he studied journalism and became involved with local theater, where his stage work began drawing attention in the Brazilian arts scene.
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Wagner first rose to national prominence with acclaimed Brazilian films such as Elite Squad (2007) and its sequel Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010), playing the conflicted police officer Captain Nascimento.
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In parallel, he built a strong television career in Brazil, starring in telenovelas that included Paraíso Tropical and miniseries such as JK, which helped cement his status as a household name.
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His international profile surged with the sci‑fi film Elysium (2013), where he appeared alongside Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, marking a major step into Hollywood work.
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Wagner's transformative turn as Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in Narcos (2015–2016) brought him worldwide recognition, a Golden Globe nomination, and praise for learning Spanish and dramatically changing his physical appearance for the role.
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In the 2020s, he expanded his English‑language work with projects such as Sergio (2020), The Gray Man (2022), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (voice of Death, 2022), and the dystopian thriller Civil War (2024).
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His performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent (2025) earned him Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, a Golden Globe, and multiple critics’ awards, making him the first South American actor to win Best Actor at Cannes.
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Wagner made his feature directorial debut with Marighella (2019), a political drama about Brazilian activist Carlos Marighella, which he also co‑wrote and produced.
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Beyond acting and directing, he performs as a vocalist and lyricist, and he is frequently cited as a politically engaged artist whose work often grapples with power, violence, and social inequality in Brazil and beyond.