Fúlvio Stefanini (October 12, 1939) is a Brazilian actor. He is known for his long career as a soap opera actor on TV Globo.
Biography The son of Italian immigrants, Oreste and Agnese Stefanini, he was born in the city of São Paulo in 1939. At age 15, he dropped out of school and went to look for the , affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP). To enroll in the university, you had to be 18. “I did the math: three years until I turned 18, then another four years of school—that’s seven years before I could start?” It would take too long. So, I asked to audition at TV Tupi. At the time, was the artistic director. I started in 1955, just as an extra, learning from the more experienced professionals.” He worked at the TV station for three years as an extra.
His first television role came in 1955, on TV Tupi’s program , which aired television dramas. In his debut, he starred in Crime and Punishment, based on the novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. The following year, he made his film debut in , in which he had a small role in a film starring Dercy Gonçalves and Anselmo Duarte. He continued working at TV Tupi until 1964, when he moved to TV Excelsior, where he starred in the soap opera . He worked at the network until 1968; his last soap opera there was , written by Marcos Rey. That same year, he moved to TV Record. Her first soap opera on the network was , starring Susana Vieira, written by Benedito Ruy Barbosa.
After making a few brief appearances on the Rio de Janeiro-based network TV Globo in 1973, he made his debut in his first soap opera for the network, Carinhoso. In the soap opera, there was a lonely architect who had separated from his wife and ended up falling in love with a secretary at the company where he worked, played by Rosamaria Murtinho. At the network, she appeared in soap operas such as Gabriela, Pátria Minha, Suave Veneno, and Porto dos Milagres, as well as series such as , Os Normais and Você Decide.
In 2003, he began a collaboration with writer Walcyr Carrasco, working on several of the author’s soap operas. Fúlvio was part of the cast of Chocolate com Pimenta, Alma Gêmea, Caras & Bocas, and Amor à Vida. As a result of this partnership in 2005, he won the APCA Television Award for Best Actor in Television for his portrayal of Osvaldo Santini in Alma Gêmea. His last role on TV Globo was in Amor à Vida. In 2015, he appeared in the series , which aired on the GNT cable channel, and in 2018, in the Space channel series Pacto de Sangue.
Having stepped away from television, he has been performing in Florian Zeller’s play The Father since 2016, in which he plays André, a friendly, funny, and grumpy 80-year-old man whose memory is beginning to fail due to old age. The play has been performed more than 200 times and seen by more than 80,000 audience members.
Filmography
Television YearTitleCharacterNote(s)TV StationRef.1955Various charactersEpisode: "Louisa"Rede Tupi1956Episode: "O Regenerado"Episode: "Louisa"1957Episode: "Tensão em Shangay"Episode: "Volta Mocidade"Episode: "Pacto Sinistro"1961PortugaEpisode: "Zuni, O Potrinho"1962Playboy CasperEpisode: "O Repórter"1964LeandroTV ExcelsiorDr. Artur1965AlbertoSalvadorSérgio1967GustavoEstácio1968NandoTV RecordGeraldo1969Moacir1970Pedro das Dornas1971LeonardoLeonardo1972Manoel CarlosRede Tupi1973CláudioEpisode: "O Demônio da AlmaTV GloboCavalo de AçoAgente federalSpecial guestCarinhosoSérgio Garcia1974Fogo sobre TerraGustavo de Almeida1975GabrielaAntônio Ramiro Bastos (Tonico Bastos)1976PaqueradorSkecth: "Rei das Viúvas"1978EdmundoRede Tupi1979Eduardo Gonçalves (Dudu)Rede BandeirantesMarcelo1980Teo Maldonado1981Prof. Amadeu1982RenúnciaCirilo DavemportBarão de VilaverdeTV Cultura1983Charles SpencerRede BandeirantesJoão Carlos de Sá (Joca)TV Globo1985Orlando Aranha1988Julinho LaurianoEpisode: "Um Banho de Loja"1990Brasileiras e BrasileirosÂngelo MinotauroSBT1994Pátria MinhaRafael NovaesEpisodes: "18–31 de julho"TV Globo1996Razão de ViverDelegado Renato BragançaSBT1998Gustavo AlvarengaTV Record1999Suave VenenoMarcelo Barone / João Pedro BotelhoTV Globo2000Você DecideMuriloEpisode: "A Mãe Preta"CordeiroEpisode: "Glorinha Vai às Compras"2001Porto dos MilagresOswaldo de AssunçãoOs NormaisTonyEpisode: "Seguir a Tradição é Normal"2002Detetive LacerdaEpisode "Umas Loucuras Normais"2003Chocolate com PimentaPrefeito Vivaldo Albuquerque2005Alma GêmeaOsvaldo Santini2006Pé na JacaDr. Último Botelho Bulhões2007Duas CarasWaldemar NascimentoEpisodes: "1–2 de outubro"O Segredo da Princesa LiliArthurYear-End Special2008Faça Sua HistóriaCornélioEpisode: "Um Cadáver Ilustre"Casos e AcasosOlavoEpisode: "O Parto"NestorEpisode: "A Garota"Xuxa e as NoviçasFrei CanecoYear-End Special2009Caras & BocasFrederico Foster2010Adílson CerqueiraEpisode: "Não Matarás"2011Assediador de VeraEpisode: "Folhetim"Homens de BemRicardoYear-End Special2012A Grande FamíliaSilasEpisode: "O Infiltrado"2013Amor à VidaDenizard Trajano Araújo2015Juiz Cássio JordãoGNT2018Pacto de SangueSimãoSpace
Cinema YearTitleCharacterNote(s)Ref.19571978Janjão1982José Roldão1988Cristino Palha2004Pelé EternoNarrator; Documentary2005Esquivel2006Dr. Naum2007Luiz Fernando2009Waldomiro (Miro)2011Cilada.comLeoni2016De Onde Eu Te VejoHélio2019Tony2026Os CorretoresAlaor
Awards and nominations YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef.1964Troféu ImprensaBest New Male Actor2005APCA Television AwardAlma Gêmea2009Rio de Janeiro International Film FestivalBest Actor – Honorable Mention2023Best ActorO Pai
Personal life He has been married to Vera Stefanini since 1968, and they have two sons, Fúlvio and Leonardo. He's a SE Palmeiras fan.
In 2020, he ended up in the Intensive care unit (ICU), where he was hospitalized for four days following staphylococcus aureus a bacterial skin infection. In March 2026, he contracted a bacterial infection, which forced him to cancel some theater performances.
References