Tônia Carrero

Maria Antonietta Farias Portocarrero was born in Rio de Janeiro on August 23, 1922. Her father, Hermenegildo Portocarrero (1894-1959), was a military man and maths teacher with a lifelong interest in show business. A close friend of the great Brazilian actor Procópio Ferreira, he was acquainted with actors, singers and musicians, and for a time was the director of Radio Nacional, the chief radio station in Rio, then capital of Brazil. Tônia had two older brothers, both military men and teachers. At a very early age, she took an interest in dancing and in sports, eventually graduating as a physical education teacher.