Maria Pompeu (Rio de Janeiro, October 27, 1936) is a Brazilian actress and former vedette. Maria acted in more than 25 films. The only child of separated parents, Maria was very controlled by her mother, due to the standards of the time. Maria Pompeu's passion for theater was discovered almost by chance in childhood, in classes taught by Paschoal Carlos Magno at the Teatro Duse. In adolescence, she had to face her mother's resistance to continue acting. She worked in a bank to pay for a course at the Brazilian Theater Federation, where she took classes with Dulcina de Moraes and Henriette Morineau. She began acting in amateur theater in 1952, under the direction of Pascoal Carlos Magno. In 1955, Maria made her professional stage debut in Diálogo das Carmelitas, directed by Flaminio Bollini Cerri. In 1958, she joined the cast of the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (TBC) and, the following year, secured a one-year contract with TV Tupi. Maria Pompeu became president of the Union of Artists and Technicians of Rio de Janeiro in 1981 and fought for the consolidation of the regulation of the actor's profession. Maria lives in the Copacabana neighborhood. (Wikipedia)