Sidney Santiago Kuanza
Sidney Santiago Kuanza is an actor graduated from EAD/ECA-USP, director, playwright, teacher, researcher, and presenter. He is the founder of Cia Os Crespos, which has been researching Brazilian Black Theater for 15 years.
In theater, he has worked with directors such as Frank Castorff, Cibele Forfaz, Ulysses Cruz, Zé Henrique de Paula, José Fernando de Azevedo, Iacov Hilel, Rodrigo França, and Marcelo Lazzarato. He is also a co-founder of Cia Os Crespos (Collective of Black Actors), which has been continuously active in the theater for 15 years, proposing new dramaturgy, training black professionals, historical revision, and broadening the audience's education. He is also involved in publishing, contributing to the magazine O Menelick segundo ator and serving as one of the editors of Revista Legítima Defesa, a publication about Brazilian Black Theater.
On TV, he has appeared in successful soap operas and series such as the Emmy-winning soap opera "Caminho das Índias" (2008, TV Globo); the APCA Award-winning "Segunda Chamada" (2019); the soap opera "Escrava Mãe" (2016, TV Record); "A Vida Secreta dos Casais" (2018, HBO); "Terra Dois" (2017, TV Cultura); among others. Currently, he is part of the cast of the series "Rensga Hits" for Globoplay.
He has won awards in cinema and has been in approximately 17 feature films, eight of which he starred in, including "Os 12 trabalhos" (2006, Dir. Ricardo Elias), "Mundo Deserto de Almas Negras" (2015, Dir. Ruy Veridiano), "Sequestro Relâmpago" (2017, Dir. Tata Amaral), "O Novelo" (2019, Dir. Claudia Pinheiro), and "Lima Barreto ao Terceiro Dia" (2018, Dir. Luís Antônio Pilar). In 2024, he is part of the cast of the film "Saudosa Maloca," the biographical film about Adoniran Barbosa.