Matheus Nachtergaele can make a comic trickster persuasive and fit naturally among non-professional actors. We rate him for both, with one reservation: repeated casting as regional types and eccentric supporting figures risks leaving too little room for anything else.
Fi1m perspective
In City of God (2002), Matheus Nachtergaele's Sandro Cenoura fits into a cast that includes non-professional actors without making a display of fitting in. That naturalism takes skill: a more conspicuous performance could pull us away from the people around him. Fernando Meirelles's film moves quickly, with exceptional clarity even at speed. We were frightened by its violence, then uneasy about how exciting the cutting and music sometimes made it. Nachtergaele helps keep the people credible when the film threatens to get carried away with the excitement.
The earlier Central Station (1998) places him, as Isaías Paiva, in Walter Salles's moving road drama. Fernanda Montenegro carries the central travelling relationship, and our affection for the film comes chiefly from that reluctant companionship. These are different settings for an actor comfortable with dramatic work as well as comedy. Salles's film sometimes offers reassurance too readily; Meirelles's sometimes makes the suffering too exciting. Neither reservation should obscure the value of performers who can make the people within those stories convincing.
The comic work gives his timing more direct attention. João Grilo in O Auto da Compadecida (2000), following the 1999 miniseries, is the trickster role that established his popular standing. Here, his feel for a recognisable Brazilian character type and his comic timing are central to the appeal. His return to João Grilo in O Auto da Compadecida 2 (2024) makes the part a continuing thread through his work. Alongside it, he has continued in both Brazilian film and television, rather than making comedy his sole occupation.
The reservation concerns what he gets asked to play. Regional characters and eccentric supporting parts can become a casting habit, however capably they are performed, and we would be wary of letting those categories define him. His recurring collaborators include directors Guel Arraes, Cláudio Assis and Salles, all of whom have worked with him more than once. We would look beyond the familiar comic figure to the actor who can work unobtrusively among non-professionals. Start with City of God, provided its occasionally overexcited treatment of violence is a caveat you can accept.
Biography
Matheus Nachtergaele is a Brazilian actor, director and screenwriter. He was born on 3 January 1968 in São Paulo.
He began his career in theatre in the early 1990s with the company Teatro da Vertigem. Nachtergaele is known for his performances in Central Station (1998) as Isaías Paiva, O Auto da Compadecida (2000) as João Grilo, City of God (2002) as Sandro Cenoura and Four Days in September (1997). He has also directed and written the film The Dead Girl's Feast (2008). He has received multiple awards, including five APCA Awards, three Grande Otelo Awards and two Guarani Awards.
