Laura Cardoso, legend of Brazilian soap operas, dies aged 98

Her death was confirmed by relatives via the actress's official Instagram. On TV she shone in telenovelas including "Chocolate com Pimenta", "Caminho das Índias" and "Gabriela". Actress Laura Cardoso has died at the age of 98 in the early hours of Tuesday in São Paulo. Her death was confirmed (source in Portuguese) by the family through the official Instagram profile of the Brazilian actress. "Our great star has said goodbye to us. Laura Cardoso will forever be in our hearts. Thank you for everything, our beloved and eternal Laura Cardoso," reads the message posted on the social network. According to Fátima Cardoso, the actress's daughter, reports G1 (source in Portuguese), Laura died on Monday night after feeling unwell at her home in the Sumaré neighbourhood, in the western district of São Paulo. With a career spanning more than 80 years in television, radio, theatre and cinema, Laura Cardoso is regarded as one of the leading figures in Brazilian drama. Born in 1927, she began working as a teenager, at the age of 15, in radio soap operas on Rádio Cosmos. She made her television debut in 1952, at the age of 25, in the programme "Tribunal do Coração" on TV Tupi. Since then, she worked on more than 60 telenovelas, making her the Brazilian actress with the largest number of titles to her name. The actress joined TV Globo in 1981, in the telenovela "Brilhante" by Gilberto Braga. In the following decades, she appeared in more than 20 productions on the channel, including "Caminho das Índias", "Gabriela", "Chocolate com Pimenta", "Império" and "O Outro Lado do Paraíso". Her last role on television was in the telenovela "A Dona do Pedaço", in 2019, broadcast in Portugal by SIC, in which she played Matilde. Throughout her eight-decade career, Laura Cardoso was recognised with Brazil's main arts awards. Among them are five APCA (Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte) trophies, the Oscarito Award at the Gramado Festival for her contribution to Brazilian cinema, and in 2006 she was also honoured by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with the Order of Cultural Merit, one of Brazil's highest cultural distinctions. Her last project was the short film "Dona Rosinha", released in 2025, which addresses the abandonment of elderly people.