A personality that inspired and opened new paths for future generations of transgender and LGBTQ+ artists in Brazil.
Claudia Celeste, the first transgender actress to appear in Brazilian TV soap operas, is honored with today’s Doodle by Google. She won and organized several beauty contests, was a singer, dancer, director, producer and writer. Despite the problems and challenges she faced, Celeste became a figure who inspired and paved new paths for future generations of transgender and LGBTQ+ artists in Brazil. On this day in 1988, she appeared for the first time in a role as a trans woman in the television series “Olho por Olho”.
Celeste was born in Brazil in 1952. She began searching for her identity and talents while in the military. After her service, at the age of 20, she won a beauty contest and became a hairdresser in Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro. That same year, she went to a theater audition with a friend and eventually got a role.
In 1973, a theater in Rio de Janeiro became the first to get permission to stage the play “O mundo é das Bonecas”. Celeste had a leading role, with recognizable transgender actors alongside her. After the success of the show, more doors opened for her and she worked in many nightclubs in Brazil.
In 1976, Celeste decided to participate in the Miss Brazil Pop contest which she won. A year later the director of the soap opera “Magic Mirror” saw her show and offered her a role in the series. None of the cast and crew knew she was transgender and there were negative comments in the press after her first appearance. The series was discontinued shortly after and she moved to Europe in search of new opportunities.
Returning again to Brazil, Celeste claimed and managed to get a role in the soap opera “Olho por Olho”. Her devotion to the character she embodied was very great. Despite facing discrimination and being kicked out of the cast when she came out as transgender, she continued her career and became a pioneer in the fight for the rights of transgender and LGBTQ+ artists.
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