Izaías Almada

Izaías Almada is a Brazilian novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. In 1963 he moved to the city of São Paulo where he worked in theater, journalism, TV advertising, and script writing. Between the years of 1969 and 1971, he was a political prisoner of the military coup in Brazil that took place in 1964.

Early life

He was born on April 16, 1942, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Between 1960 and 1962 he finished high school in the Colégio Estadual de Minas Gerais (The High School of Minas Gerais State) and took the acting course at the Teatro Universitário de Minas Gerais (University Theatre of Minas Gerais). While attending university, he studied the Stanislavsky method with American acting instructor James Colby. He also studied Elizabethan theater with professor Francisco de Paula Lima and theater acting with professor Haydée Bittencourt. Also, he studied at the Escola de Arte Dramática de São Paulo (São Paulo's Schools of Dramatic Arts) with other instructors such as Sábato Magaldi, Alfredo Mesquita, Paulo Mendonça, Leila Khoury, Augusto Boal, and others.

He was admitted into the University of São Paulo as a student in the faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences and took classes with Fernando Novais, Gioconda Mussolini, and Otávio Ianni, among other teachers.

Career "A Metade Arrancada de Min" was his first published novel in Brazil and it was originally written as a movie script. It won an award of the Secretary of Culture of the State of São Paulo in 1987.

As an actor, he worked in the plays Arena Conta Zumbi by Augusto Boal and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, The Inspector General by Gogol, directed by Augusto Boal, and Candide by Voltaire, with theater adaptation by Carlos Alberto Sofreie for the Studio São Pedro, directed by Myriam Muniz. He also adapted part of the work of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa into a theater piece, together with Jandira Martini and Luiz Raul Machado. He worked at the Companhia de Teatro Paulo Autran (Paulo Autran's Theatre Company), where he was part of the performances of Cosi E Si Vi Pari by Pirandello, directed by Flávio Rangel, and Les Femmes Savantes by Molière, directed by Silney Siqueira. He also participated in the musical O Homem de la Mancha by Dale Wassermann, directed by Flávio Rangel. Furthermore, he went to Portugal with the Companhia de Ruth Escobar (Ruth Escobar Theatre Company) and played a role in Cemitério de Automòveis by Fernando Arrabal, directed by Victor Garcia.

In 1974, he directed a theater piece about Fernando Pessoa for Teatro Opinião, with Cláudio Cavalcante and Maria Cláudia in the main roles.

Between 1975 and 1990 he worked in advertising as a TV director at Movie&Art, which he co-founded with the current CEO Paulo Dantas. He sold his share of the company just before moving to Portugal in 1991. During these 15 years, he directed more than five hundred TV ads in Brazil and abroad, and was awarded several times in Brazilian festivals and international festivals. In 1984 he received the Cannes Lion for the category "Perfumes".