I became a better actress after I started directing, says Leandra Leal, who takes stock of 2023

Leandra Leal, 41, doesn’t talk much about her personal life. Newly married, she officially married photographer Guilherme Burgos, 34, in a discreet ceremony in Rio de Janeiro last Thursday (21) — in 2020, they had already tied the knot without celebration, due to the pandemic.

In a chat held before the wedding, Leandra doesn’t seem like a nervous bride, one of those who spend months planning every detail. Despite the style low profilethe party invitation went viral for a cute reason: it was designed by Júlia, the artist’s 8-year-old daughter, from her previous relationship, with cultural manager Alê Youssef, 48.

Regarding intimacy, Leandra limits herself to telling the F5 that everything is fine, continues the fight and just wants to be happy and healthy. Need more? What gives him pleasure is talking about work, a topic in which he had a 2023 full of news.

With more than 30 years in acting, she debuted as a director in the praised series “A Vida Pela Frente”, on Globoplay, her project and that of her partners Carol Benjamin and Rita Toledo at the production company Daza Filmes. Angela Leal’s daughter highlights that she is an actress by training and vocation, but who feels increasingly comfortable behind the camera.

“I’m an actress, and directing is a very pleasant place to investigate and go deeper into other matters. Being a director serves me in an authorial place”, comments Leandra, who doesn’t plan on stopping playing characters to become a director. “No, I don’t have that desire. Do you know that after I directed, I think I became a better actress? For me, directing feeds acting. And acting is the basis of directing.”

So much so that she says she asked for a role in the recently released “Betinho – No Fio da Navalha”, also on Globoplay. “Betinho is a series that tells the story of a true hero, a possible hero with all his flaws and all his idealism. I asked a lot to do it because it was important to tell this story”, she says.

In the plot, she plays the sociologist’s first wife, Irles Carvalho. “Irles was a decisive female voice not only in this story, but in the fight against the dictatorship, she faced exile alone with her son, making motherhood her strength”, he details.

For 2024, she says she hopes to play at festivals with “Nada a Fazer”, a film she recorded alongside her mother during the pandemic. “I’m also developing a project with Bruno [Safadi]who directed ‘A Vida Pela Frente’ with me”, he said. “I have other projects, but one thing at a time.”