Laurinda de Jesus Balleroni (née Cardoso; 13 September 1927 – 17 August 2026), known professionally as Laura Cardoso, was a Brazilian actress. Regarded as a grande dame of Brazilian drama, she was a pioneer of television, working in the medium from its launch in 1950. She appeared in more than 100 telenovelas and received numerous awards, including three Grande Otelo Awards, five APCA Awards, two Shell Awards and two Troféu Imprensa Awards. In 2006, she was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit for her contribution to Brazilian culture.
Cardoso began her career in radio in the 1940s before moving to television in the 1950s, becoming one of the early performers on TV Tupi. She made her telenovela debut in 1958 in Os Miseráveis and subsequently worked for Brazil's major broadcasters, including Band, TV Cultura, Record and Globo, where she remained from 1983. She also had a distinguished stage career, winning two Shell Awards for Best Actress. Across more than seven decades, she became known for her versatility and for portraying characters in productions including Felicidade, Mundo da Lua, Mulheres de Areia, A Viagem, Chocolate com Pimenta and Caminho das Índias.
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Early life
Laurinda de Jesus Cardoso was born in São Paulo, the daughter of Portuguese immigrants. At first, her parents resisted her career goals. But by the age of 15, she was determined to be a professional actress in radionovelas in Radio Cosmos.
Career
Still young, Cardoso made her debut in the Tupi TV show Tribunal do Coração (1952). She participated in telenovelas such as Um Lugar ao Sol (1959) by Dionísio Azevedo (an adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy) and Ídolo de Pano (1975) by Teixeira Filho. At the same time, Cardoso also worked at TV Excelsior, RecordTV and TV Cultura. In the 1960s, she also worked as voice actress, dubbing the character Betty Rubble into Portuguese in the animated series The Flintstones.
After two years dedicated to the theater, in 1981, she was invited by Globo to integrate the cast of Gilberto Braga's telenovela Brilhante.
In 1982, she starred in Ninho da Serpente and Renúncia aired by TV Bandeirantes. Back in the Globo TV, Cardoso appeared in three Walther Negrão's telenovelas: Pão-Pão, Beijo-Beijo (1983), Livre para Voar (1984) and Fera Radical (1988). After that, she made Silvio de Abreu's Rainha da Sucata (1990), and Manoel Carlos's Felicidade (1991), and three remakes of very successful telenovelas, two by Ivani Ribeiro, Mulheres de Areia (1993) and A Viagem (1994).
In 1995, Cardoso appeared in Irmãos Coragem and Gloria Perez's Explode Coração, the first telenovela filmed in Projac (today Estúdios Globo). In 1998, Cardoso starred in Vila Madalena, and after a brief passage in RecordTV, where she appeared in Marcos Lazarini's Vidas Cruzadas (2000), she returned to Globo to star in Walcyr Carrasco's A Padroeira in 2001.
Cardoso then appeared as Madalena in Esperança (2002), and in 2003 as Carmen in Chocolate com Pimenta.
In 2005, she appeared in the mini-series Hoje É Dia de Maria, Cardoso also participated in the cast of O Profeta (2006), and in Aguinaldo Silva's Duas Caras (2007). In Caminho das Índias (2009) she played the Indian Laksmi Ananda.
In 2010 she played Mariquita in Araguaia. In 2012, she starred in the role of Dorotéia, in the remake of Gabriela, an adaptation of Jorge Amado's novel, written by Walcyr Carrasco.
Death
Cardoso died in São Paulo on 17 August 2026, at the age of 98.
Filmography
1964 – Imitando o Sol
1964 – O Rei Pelé
1965 – Quatro Brasileiros em Paris
1969 – Corisco, O Diabo Loiro
1976 – Já Não Se Faz Amor Como Antigamente
1977 – Tiradentes, O Mártir da Independência
1979 – Gaivotas
1980 – Ariella
1982 – Um Casal de Três .... Shirley
1987 – Quincas Borba
1988 – Adultério (short film)
1988 – Fera Radical
1989 – Lua Cheia
1990 – Rainha da Sucata .... Iolanda Maia
1991 – Felicidade .... Cândida Peixoto
1993 – Mulheres de Areia .... Isaura
1994 – A Viagem .... Dona Guiomar
1995 – Irmãos Coragem .... Sinhana
1995 – Terra Estrangeira .... Manuela
1995 – Explode Coração .... Soraya
1996 – Salsa e Merengue .... Ruth Campos Queiroz
1998 – Uma Aventura do Zico
1998 – Meu Bem Querer .... Yeda Ferreira de Souza