Rodrigo Santoro

Biography

Rodrigo Santoro (born in Petrópolis, 1975) is a Brazilian actor who has built his career across Brazilian television and international cinema. He began in Rede Globo's telenovelas in the mid-1990s and, after establishing himself at home, moved to Hollywood with widely seen titles. He is best known outside Brazil for playing Xerxes I in 300.

The son of an Italian engineer from Paola, in Calabria, and a Brazilian artist of Portuguese ancestry, Santoro studied journalism at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro while training as an actor in Rede Globo's workshop. After missing out on one of the network's miniseries, he landed roles in the telenovelas Olho no Olho (1993) and Pátria Minha (1994). His first major television role came in Explode Coração (1995), a soap about a young man's romance with an older woman that boosted its ratings. Miniseries such as Hilda Furacão (1998) and Suave Veneno (1999) followed.

In Brazilian film, his most acclaimed work of this period was Bicho de Sete Cabeças (2001), directed by Laís Bodanzky, in which he played a young man committed to a psychiatric hospital by his own family; the role won him best actor awards at several festivals. That same year he starred in Walter Salles's Abril Despedaçado, and in 2003 he drew attention with Héctor Babenco's Carandiru, playing Lady Di, a transgender prisoner, in a film set in Latin America's largest prison. That year he also had a small part in Love Actually and soon after joined Hollywood with Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

His breakthrough in American blockbusters came with 300 (2006), directed by Zack Snyder, where his Xerxes earned a MTV Movie Award nomination for best villain. In 2006 he also joined the third season of Lost as Paulo, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815. He later appeared in The Last Stand alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Focus with Will Smith, and in Ben-Hur (2016), where he played Jesus. On television he returned to telenovelas with Velho Chico in 2016 and took a role in Westworld.

Santoro combines work in Brazilian television and cinema with international productions, and he is associated with a career that moves between Brazilian auteur films and large-budget studio work. His approach relies on a carefully built physical presence and a willingness to take on demanding parts, such as the prisoner in Carandiru. Outside acting, he has appeared on American magazine lists of attractive people in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Key films

• Bicho de Sete Cabeças (2001): a young man committed to a psychiatric hospital by his family, a role that brought him festival recognition.
• Carandiru (2003): Lady Di, a transgender prisoner, in Héctor Babenco's drama set in São Paulo's notorious prison.
• 300 (2006): Xerxes I, the Persian king who faces Leonidas in Zack Snyder's film.
• Love Actually (2003): a brief role in Richard Curtis's ensemble comedy.
• Ben-Hur (2016): Jesus in the film directed by Timur Bekmambetov.