Aracy Balabanian (Armenian: Արասի Բալաբանյան; 22 February 1940 – 7 August 2023) was a Brazilian actress.
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Biography
Aracy Balabanian was born in Campo Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, to Armenian immigrants Raphael and Esther Balabanyan, who fled Nor Hachn and settled in Brazil after surviving the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks.
Her parents originally wanted to name her Arax (Արաքս), after the river, but ultimately decided to honor their new homeland instead. Aracy is a Brazilian name of Tupi origin meaning "daybreak" or, literally, "mother of the day."
At the age of fifteen, she moved to São Paulo with her parents and helped raise her seven younger brothers. She passed the entrance exam for Social Sciences and for the Escola de Arte Dramática, coming to abandon the studies of Sociology, another entrance exam that she had taken and had been accepted, to devote herself to the theater. She said that she lived in a time when it was considered ugly for a woman to do theater since women were formerly educated to be housewives and obey their husbands.
Balabanian died in Rio de Janeiro on 7 August 2023, at the age of 83.
Filmography
Television series
Vila Sésamo (1972–1974).... Gabriela
Aplauso (1979).... Angélica
Caso Especial (1993–1994)
Você Decide (1994)
Engraçadinha... Seus Amores e Seus Pecados (1995).... Dona Geninha
Sai de Baixo (1996—2013).... Cassandra Mathias Salão
Brava Gente (2001)
Linha Direta Justiça (2003)
Casos e Acasos (2008).... Amélia
Queridos Amigos (2008).... Teresa Fernandes Moretti
Toma Lá, Dá Cá (2008).... Shafika Sarakutian
Louco por Elas (2012).... Cândida
Juntos a magia acontece (2019)
Telenovelas
Marcados Pelo Amor (1964)
O Amor Tem Cara de Mulher (1966)
Um Rosto Perdido (1966)
Angústia de Amar (1967)
Meu Filho, Minha Vida (1967)
Sublime Amor (1967)
Antônio Maria (1968)
Nino, o Italianinho (1969)
A Fábrica (1971).... Isabel
O Primeiro Amor (1972)
Corrida do Ouro (1974)
Bravo! (1975)
O Casarão (1976)
Locomotivas (1977).... Miena Cabral
Pecado Rasgado (1978)
Coração Alado (1980).... Maria Faz-Favor
Brilhante (1981)
Elas Por Elas (1982)
Guerra dos Sexos (1983)
Transas e Caretas (1984)
Ti Ti Ti (1985)
Mania de Querer (1986)
Helena (1987)
Que Rei Sou Eu? (1989).... Maria Fromet/Lenore Gaillard
Rainha da Sucata (1990).... Dona Armênia (Arakel Tchobanian Giovani)
Cinema
A Primeira Viagem .... Irene (1975)
Caramujo-Flor .... Woman in black (1998)
Policarpo Quaresma, Herói do Brasil .... Maricota (1998)
Theatre
1963 – Os Ossos do Barão
1966 – Oh, Que Delícia de Guerra
1968 – Feira Paulista de Opinião
1969 – Hair
1977 – Brecht, segundo Brecht
1980 – À Direita do Presidente
1985 – Boa Noite, Mãe
1985 – Time and the Conways
1988 – Folias no Box
1991 – Fulaninha e Dona Coisa
1995 – Noite Feliz
1998 – Clarice, Coração Selvagem
2006 – Comendo Entre as Refeições
