Anita Guerreiro

Anita Guerreiro (13 November 1936 – 7 December 2025) was a Portuguese actress and fado singer.

Early life Guerreiro was born to a show business family as Bebiana Guerreiro Rocha, in the capital of Portugal, Lisbon, on 13 November 1936. As a child, she lived with her father and stepmother. By the age of seven, she was already performing, singing among family and friends in the sports club of her local community. In December 1952, she competed on the Tribunal da Canção, a radio singing competition, and attracted by far the most applause from the audience. The programme's producer, surprised by the quality of her performance, then arranged for her to sing at the Café Luso in Lisbon, a restaurant famous for hosting fado singers. There she adopted the stage name of Anita Guerreiro. She married Pepe Cardinalli and they had two children.

Career In 1954, A Voz de Portugal, a magazine devoted to popular song, highlighted Guerreiro in its Cantam Estrelas (Stars Sing) section. This magazine would also feature one of Guerreiro's first popular songs, Menina Lisboa (Lisbon Girl). In 1955, she made her stage debut at the Teatro Maria Vitória in the Parque Mayer theatre district of Lisbon, in the revue Ó Zé aperta o laco, and then appeared in another revue, Festa é Festa, at the same theatre. She followed this with many other appearances in revues, a popular form of entertainment in Portugal at the time, known as Teatro de Revista (Magazine shows). In 1956, she sang in the film Lisbon produced and directed by Ray Milland.

Later life and death In 2018, Guerreiro was still performing three times a week in a Lisbon fado restaurant. As of the end of 2023, she was living in Lisbon at the Casa do Artista, a rest home for former artists. She died there on 7 December 2025, at the age of 89.