Wagner Moura is a bona fide star in his native Brazil having worked in film, television and theater. He has acted in numerous telenovelas, a wildly popular genre in his home country, and gained worldwide notoriety after playing Captain Roberto Nascimento in José Padilha’s police drama Elite Squad. When he was cast as eighties Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in Narcos, there was only one problem: the 39-year old Brazilian did not speak a word of Spanish, his character's native tongue. Moura relocated to Colombia five months before production was set to start and immersed himself in the language, ultimately delivering a critically acclaimed performance on the Netflix miniseries – in flawless Spanish. Moura is set to direct an upcoming movie in Brazil and advocates for the ILO, the labor organization of the United Nations. HFPA member and fellow Brazilian Paoula Abou-Jaoude spoke with him.

Luca Celada