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Ruth Pinto de Souza (May 12, 1921-July 28, 2019)—widely known as Ruth de Souza—was an Afro-Brazilian actress. As a member and actor of the Teatro Experimental Do Negro (Black Experimental Theater). Souza was one of the first Black women to be represented in dramatic theater in Brazil. A pioneer, Souza was the first Brazilian actress nominated for an international award (she received the Golden Lion Award at the 1954 Venice Film Festival). She is widely credited and recognized as the first Black actress to build and create a career in film, television and theater.

Biography by Jaedyn Griddine

Ruth de Souza (1968). Imagem of Fundo Correio da Manhã. Brazilian National Archives. Public Domain.

Ruth de Souza was raised in Porto do Marinho, Minas Gerais on her family’s farm. This humble life, however, only lasted for nine years; when her father died, she and her mother moved to Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, a working-class village. Even as a young girl, Ruth was drawn to the arts; her mother cultivated her interest by regularly bringing Ruth to see plays and operas at Cine Copacabana and the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, where she would later make her debut. At only 17 years old, she joined the Teatro Experimental do Negro (TEN), which opened her up to many opportunities in her acting career.

Her first performance was in Eugene O'Neill 's Emperor Jones (1945), where she became the first Black actor to perform at the Municipal. She then received a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation to travel to the United States, where she interned at the Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio, the oldest Black theater in the US. She also visited Howard and Harvard Universities, as well as the American National Theater and Academy (ANTA) during her year-long trip. Her first professional work began shortly after when she starred in the play Terras do Sem Fim [Endless Land] in 1947; she then went on to become the first Afro-Brazilian actress to play Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello. After a successful theatrical career, she pursued film, her first one being Terra Violenta (1949) an adaptation of Terras do Sem Fim. Her final frontier was television, where she worked with TV Globo in 1969 and became the first Black actress to act in a soap opera (A Cabana do Pai Tomás [Father Tomás’ Cabin]).

Throughout her career she made many firsts, as previously mentioned, and also received many accolades: she was the first Brazilian actress nominated for an international award–the Golden Lion–at the 1954 Venice Film Festival, she won the Saci award for best supporting actress three times, her work in the film Filhas do vento [Daughters of the Wind] won her “best actress” at the Gramado Film Festival in 2004, and the Brazilian government bestowed upon her the badge of the Official of the Rio Branco Order for her contributions to theatre. She was also awarded the Almirante Negro João Cândido award by the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro in 2010, an award which commemorated her lifelong defense of the Afro-Brazilian community, which was most notably seen in 1951 when her and her peers were denied entry to a reception; after much uproar, the first anti-racism law, the Afonso Arinos law, was passed in Brazil.

Ruth was a highly talented woman with a prolific career of over 30 films and over 20 soap operas, and stood as a role model and voice for many Afro-Brazilian actors across the stage and on the screen. How did she do it all? Well, she once said that her solitude in living alone helped bring her peace of mind and concentration. Whatever the case, she was a marvel in her lifetime.

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