--- name: "Yoná Magalhães" canonical: "https://film.one/person/yona-magalhaes" fi1m_id: "yona-magalhaes" imdb_id: "nm0535676" tmdb_id: 931719 wikidata_id: "Q1797523" roles: ["Actor"] born: "7 August 1935" died: "20 October 2015" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-26T15:36:09.890973+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Yoná Magalhães ## Identity Yoná Magalhães - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/yona-magalhaes - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** yona-magalhaes - **IMDb ID:** nm0535676 - **TMDB ID:** 931719 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1797523 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yon%C3%A1_Magalh%C3%A3es, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1797523, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0535676/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/931719 Actor. Born 7 August 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Died 20 October 2015. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 7 August 1935, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - **Died:** 20 October 2015 - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yon%C3%A1_Magalh%C3%A3es, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1797523, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0535676/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/931719 ## Fi1m on Yoná Magalhães > In Glauber Rocha's *Black God, White Devil* (1964) Yoná Magalhães does her acting with her face while the men do theirs with speeches, and she is the best thing in it. Brazilian television then kept her busy for the next fifty years. Manoel kneels on a hillside in Bahia and kisses the hem of a preacher's robe, and his wife stands behind him and does not. That is Rosa in *Black God, White Devil* (1964), and it is most of what Yoná Magalhães is asked to do in the film: watch, doubt, and keep quiet while the men around her shout about God and cattle and the sertão turning into sea. Geraldo del Rey's Manoel believes everything he is told. Lídio Silva's Sebastião believes himself. Magalhães is the only person on screen who looks as though she has weighed the evidence, and while we admired the film for its pictures, she is the reason we cared what happened to anyone in it. She moved us more than the film seems to intend. Rocha's picture is loud for two hours and louder in the second, and the script hands its arguments to the men; Magalhães argues back with a look, and the look is quieter and more persuasive than anything said aloud. She had little experience of feature films when she made it. By her own account Rocha probably wanted somebody else, trusted his own direction more than her talent, and got a performance out of a beginner; she also said she did not grasp at the time what the film was or would become. We think she is being modest. A director can tell an actress where to stand. He cannot make her face think. The film is the odd one out in her working life. She had started in the mid-1950s on radio and at TV Tupi in Rio, in small parts and live teleteatro, with stage work that included Nelson Rodrigues, and when she came back to Rio in 1964 she became one of the first actresses under contract at the newly launched TV Globo. There, in Glória Magadan's *Eu Compro Esta Mulher* (1966), she was paired with Carlos Alberto, and the two of them became the network's first popular on-screen couple; she said the audience leapt and that she never quite understood why. For the next five decades she worked across Globo, Tupi and Bandeirantes in dozens of telenovelas. We have not reviewed the television, so we will not judge it, but the shape is plain. The romantic lead became the character actress: Mercedes in *Os Imigrantes* (1981), a part that runs across decades of the character's life; Matilde, the boate owner in *Roque Santeiro* (1985); Tonha in the Jorge Amado adaptation *Tieta* (1989); supporting parts until *Sangue Bom* (2013), two years before she died. That is a long time to stay useful in a medium that discards people quickly. Most of that work was made for Brazilian evenings and did not travel. Rosa did. If you know Magalhães from one thing, it will be a woman standing behind a kneeling man on a dry hill, not believing a word of it, and that is a good one thing to be known for. ## Biography Yoná Magalhães was a Brazilian actress. She appeared as Rosa in Glauber Rocha's *Black God, White Devil* (1964), also known as *Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol*. Born Yoná Magalhães Gonçalves Mendes da Costa in Rio de Janeiro on 7 August 1935, she began her career in radio and television in the 1950s. She worked extensively in Brazilian telenovelas, including *Roque Santeiro* (1985), *Tieta* (1989) and *Senhora do Destino* (2004), as well as in theatre and further films, remaining active until 2013. Magalhães died in Rio de Janeiro on 20 October 2015. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Black God, White Devil* (1964), Fi1m 82, as Rosa — [page](https://film.one/film/black-god-white-devil.md) ## Complete filmography (51) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Tangled Hearts* (2013), series, as Glória Pais - *Cat's Cradle* (2009), series, as Adalgisa Monteiro de Britto - *Negócio da China* (2008), series, as Suzete Noronha - *Tropical Paradise* (2007), series, as Virgínia Batista - *Her Own Destiny* (2004), series, as Flaviana Mendonça - *Agora é Que São Elas* (2003), series, as Sofia Ramos Zabelheira - *As Filhas da Mãe* (2001), series, as Violante Ventura - *Vila Madalena* (1999), series, as Abigail Ramirez (Bibiana) - *Once Upon a Time...* (1998), series, as Anita - *Anjo de Mim* (1996), series, as Yvete Freitas Bastos - *Delicado* (1996), as Glória - *A Vida Como Ela É...* (1996), series, as Glória, Mulher de Alfredo, Mulher do Dr. Guedes - *The Next Victim* (1995), series, as Carmela Ferreto Vasconcellos (Cacá) - *Golden Dream* (1993), series, as Magnólia Guerra - *O Santo que Não Acreditava em Deus* (1993), as Adalberta - *Retrato de Mulher* (1993), series, as Laís - *Bachelor Party* (1992), series, as Lola - *My Love, My Torment* (1990), series, as Valentina Venturini - *Tieta* (1989), series, as Maria Antônia Esteves (Tonha) - *Vida Nova* (1988), series, as Laura (Lalá) - *O Outro* (1987), series, as Índia do Brasil - *Grande Sertão: Veredas* (1985), series, as Maria Mutema - *Roque Santeiro* (1985), series, as Matilde - *Partido Alto* (1984), series, as Drª Miranda Barros - *Amor com Amor Se Paga* (1984), series, as Grace (Maria da Graça Santana) - *Os Imigrantes* (1981), series, as Pilar Molina, Mercedez Hernandez - *Dulcinéa Vai à Guerra* (1980), series, as Pepita - *Yellow Horse* (1980), series, as Pepita - *Como Salvar Meu Casamento* (1979), series, as Lila - *Gaivotas* (1979), series, as Maria Emília - *Espelho Mágico* (1977), series, as Nora Pelegrini (Assunta) - *The Trapalhões* (1977), series, as Ela mesma - *Saramandaia* (1976), series, as Zélia Tavares - *O Grito* (1975), series, as Kátia - *Cuca Legal* (1975), series, as Fátima - *Corrida do Ouro* (1974), series, as Walkíria Albuquerque - *O Semideus* (1973), series, as Adriana Penha - *Uma Rosa com Amor* (1972), series, as Nara - *Caso Especial* (1971), series, Actor - *Simplesmente Maria* (1970), series, as Maria Ramos - *A Ponte dos Suspiros* (1969), series, as Leonor Dandolo - *A Gata de Vison* (1968), series, as Maggie Parker / Dolly Parker - *O Homem Proibido* (1967), series, as Surama - *A Sombra de Rebecca* (1967), series, as Suzuki Lee - *A Public Opinion* (1967), Actor - *O Sheik de Agadir* (1966), series, as Janette Legrand - *Eu Compro Essa Mulher* (1966), series, as Maria Teresa - *Society em Baby-Doll* (1965), Actor - *Black God, White Devil* (1964), as Rosa — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/black-god-white-devil.md) - *Joy of Living* (1958), as Silvia - *Um Desconhecido Bate à Porta* (1958), Actor ## Gallery - ![Yoná Magalhães](https://film.one/media/person/3910496/gallery-7b649f497b45.jpg) Yoná Magalhães — UnknownUnknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Yon%C3%A1_Magalh%C3%A3es%2C_sem_data.tif/lossy-page1-1280px-Yon%C3%A1_Magalh%C3%A3es%2C_sem_data.tif.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Yoná Magalhães](https://film.one/media/person/3910496/gallery-ca43b94abf1a.jpg) Yoná Magalhães — Image via TMDB - ![Yoná Magalhães](https://film.one/media/person/3910496/gallery-48659020b9de.jpg) Yoná Magalhães — Image via TMDB - ![Yoná Magalhães](https://film.one/media/person/3910496/gallery-7488bfc3be14.jpg) Yoná Magalhães — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/yona-magalhaes