“I’ve only just begun to live,” says Tânia Maria, at the ripe old age of 79. By playing Dona Sebastiana in The Secret Agent , the seamstress and artisan from Rio Grande do Norte not only discovered a new profession but also became “Brazil’s newest icon,” as defined by a headline in the American newspaper The New York Times, in a report from February 22nd.
Since the international premiere of Kleber Mendonça Filho's thriller in May 2025 at the Cannes Film Festival, Tânia has starred in campaigns for Heineken, Burger King, and HBO Max, among other brands. She graced the cover of Brazilian Elle magazine, became a costume theme for Carnival parades, and met actress Fernanda Montenegro. During the week of the Oscars ceremony, she even received a symbolic star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
Originally from Santo Antônio da Cobra, in Parelhas, in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, Tânia was discovered when she was selected as an extra for Bacurau , from 2019, another film by Mendonça Filho. Since then, she doesn't want to know about any other profession.
The expectation was that she would go to the party in the United States. However, due to having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), she was not cleared to travel on medical advice.
A passion for cinema led Tânia to quit smoking after more than 65 years. The turning point came after she had difficulty filming a scene proposed by the director in The Secret Agent.
“I was very tired, breathless, and sick. My lungs were already giving out,” she recounts in a conversation with NeoFeed . “That scene was filmed on the third floor, and they had to carry me because I couldn’t climb the stairs anymore. If I hadn’t quit smoking, I wouldn’t even be talking to you now.”
The scene in question is the toast, when Dona Sebastiana gathers all the neighbors from the building that serves as a refuge for political refugees, in honor of a couple who are leaving Brazil.
This, incidentally, is the actress's favorite scene because she identifies with characteristics of the revolutionary lady she plays: from her gossipy nature to her welcoming way of receiving everyone at home. In her real home, in Santo Antônio da Cobra, where she still lives with her family, there's always room for one more, she says.
In the film, Dona Sebastiana says she was "communist, anarchist," although she doesn't remember the order. Tânia, on the other hand, only studied until the fourth grade and lacked political literacy. She didn't "feel" the military dictatorship, but she experienced the burden of being a woman in a still patriarchal society in the interior of Northeast Brazil and, like her character, had a lot of courage to, in a way, resist the system.
Since dropping out of school, Tânia worked as an artisan until she got a job at the village health center. But she became pregnant at 29. And, at that time, single pregnant women were considered morally "unsuitable" for certain jobs and could be dismissed, since job security for pregnant women would only be guaranteed many years later, with the 1988 Constitution.
Before she could be subdued, Tânia decided to take the lead in the decision. “They started a petition to get me out of the health department. They said I couldn't work there pregnant and single. A neighbor came to my house and said, 'Tânia, go to the city hall and resign, because on Monday they're going to fire you for just cause.' I went with my father, eighteen kilometers on foot. I resigned on Friday. When the boss went to ask the mayor for my dismissal, he said, 'She already resigned.' He was wrong.”
From then on, she proudly raised her daughter alone, working as an artisan and seamstress. "My daughter is very good. If it weren't for her, I would be wandering the world," she praises.
One day, when she was 72 years old, she heard that "some people from outside" had arrived in town to do a recording. And she rushed over to offer them the crocheted bathroom sets she made.
That's when she received an invitation to be an extra, earning R$ 50 a day—R$ 10 more than her product was worth. Until then, Tânia had never even been to the cinema. And the first film she saw was precisely Bacurau . “I didn't see anyone in the film, I only saw myself. I kept counting how many times I appeared. I was on screen ten times,” she recalls, laughing.
The wellspring of spontaneity, at just 1.50 meters tall, captivated Mendonça Filho, who wrote the character Sebastiana especially for Tânia — incidentally, her name is Sebastiana Maria de Medeiros Filha.
To memorize her lines, she adopted a simple method: copying the text three times in a notebook, as she learned from the acting coach. For her role in The Secret Agent , she has already received the award for best supporting actress from the International Cinephile Society and the award for Best Supporting Actress from the Santiago de Compostela Critics Association.
After so many accolades, when asked what her next dream is, Tânia says she hasn't thought about it yet. "My dream was to have a dignified life." And that, as she says, she has already achieved.
