Alice Braga

Alice Braga Moraes born April 15, 1983 is a Brazilian actress and producer. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, starring as Angélica in the acclaimed City of God (2002), as Karinna in Lower City (2005), and as Dolores in Only God Knows (2006).

Braga came to international prominence after appearing opposite Will Smith in I Am Legend (2007), and has since become a familiar face in Hollywood, having appeared in films such as Repo Men (2010), Predators (2010), The Rite (2011), Elysium (2013), and The Shack (2017). She portrays the starring role of Teresa Mendoza in the crime drama-thriller television series Queen of the South (2016–present).

Early life

Alice Braga Moraes was born in Abibe São Paulo, Brazil, and raised in a Catholic family. She speaks fluent English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Her exposure to acting came at an early age; both her mother Ana Braga and aunt Sônia Braga are actresses, and Braga often accompanied them to film sets. She began her career by appearing in school plays and commercials. Her first commercial was for yogurt when she was 8 years old. As a teenager, she began pursuing roles in television and films.

Career

Braga made her acting debut in the Portuguese-language short film Trampolim (1998) and then returned to her schooling. Her breakthrough came when she was cast as Angélica in the critically acclaimed crime film City of God (2002), for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize. Afterward, she attended university while appearing in a pair of well-regarded South American films: Lower City (2005) and Only God Knows (2006). She also appeared in the popular Brazilian television program Carandiru, Outras Historias (2005).

Braga made her English-language debut with a starring role alongside Brendan Fraser, Mos Def, and Catalina Sandino Moreno in the crime thriller Journey to the End of Night (2006), which premiered at the 5th Annual Tribeca Film Festival. She received further recognition when was then cast opposite Will Smith in the blockbuster action thriller I Am Legend (2007). She subsequently had roles in the David Mamet-directed martial arts film Redbelt (2008), alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, the post-apocalyptic thriller Blindness (2008), alongside Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, and the crime drama Crossing Over (2009), alongside Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ashley Judd.

Braga portrayed Beth in the science fiction film Repo Men (2010). She starred as Isabelle in Nimród Antal’s science fiction action film Predators (2010), which was shot and produced by Troublemaker Studios and Robert Rodriguez. Braga appeared as Frey Santiago in Neill Blomkamp’s science fiction action film Elysium (2013), co-starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. In 2014, she starred as Vania in the Brazilian jungle film The Ardor, as Olivia in the Argentine romance drama Latitudes, and as Alice Taylor in Kriv Stenders’ action-thriller Kill Me Three Times.

In 2016, Braga starred as Marisol Kingston in the western drama The Duel, alongside Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson. In 2017, she starred as Sophia in the Christian drama The Shack, alongside Octavia Spencer and Sam Worthington, based on the novel of the same name.

Since 2016, Braga has starred in the crime drama series Queen of the South, produced for USA Network, an adaptation of Arturo Perez-Reverte’s best-selling novel La Reina del Sur. The series marked Braga’s first lead American television role. She previously had small supporting roles in a non-English television series.

Braga starred as Cecilia Reyes in the superhero horror film The New Mutants, which was released in 2020. She starred as Maggie Teixeira in the HBO drama miniseries We Are Who We Are, which was written and directed by filmmaker Luca Guadagnino. Braga will also appear in the superhero action film The Suicide Squad, which is set for release in 2021.

Personal life

In January 2020, Braga revealed she has been in a three-year relationship with actress Bianca Comparato.

Braga retains residences in both Los Angeles, California and São Paulo, Brazil.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Trampolim	Cláudia	Short film
2002	City of God	Angélica
2005	Lower City	Karina
2006	Only God Knows	Dolores
	Journey to the End of the Night	Monique
	Drained	Waitress
2007	The Milky Way	Júlia
	Rummikub	Daughter from São Paulo	Short film
	I Am Legend	Anna Montez
2008	Redbelt	Sondra Terry
	Blindness	Woman with Dark Glasses
2009	Crossing Over	Mireya Sanchez
	Cabeça a Prêmio	Elaine
2010	Repo Men	Beth
	Predators	Isabelle
	Predators: Moments of Extraction	Isabelle (voice)	Short film
2011	The Rite	Angelina Vargas
2012	On the Road	Terry / Bea Franco
	City of God – 10 Years Later	Herself
	Uma Vida Inteira	Woman	Short film
2013	Elysium	Frey Santiago
	Os Amigos	Júlia
2014	Muitos Homens Num Só	Eva
	Latitudes	Olivia	Also producer
	The Ardor	Vania
	Kill Me Three Times	Alice Taylor
2016	The Duel	Marisol Kingston
	Entre Idas E Vindas	Sandra
2017	The Shack	Sophia
2020	Eduardo & Mônica	Mônica
	The New Mutants	Cecilia Reyes
	Soul	Counselor Jerry A (voice)
2021	The Suicide Squad	Sol Soria	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Carandiru, Outras Histórias	Vânia	Episode: “Ezequiel, o Azarado”
2010	Superbonita	Host	Unknown episodes
2012	The Brazilians	Mirtes	Episode: “The Tameless from Ceará”
2014	A Mulher da Sua Vida	Roberta	Episode: “Roberta”
2016–present	Queen of the South	Teresa Mendoza	Lead role; also executive producer
2018	Samantha!	Symantha	2 episodes; also executive producer
2019	Sintonia	None	6 episodes; producer
2020	We Are Who We Are	Maggie Teixeira	Main role