Carlos Dias

Biography

The Brazilian-born, Manhattan-based singer, actor, and model Carlos Dias has led a remarkably eclectic international career. He has appeared in many of Brazil’s highest-rated novelas (soap operas) and musical productions imported from Broadway; sung pop-jazz at top New York venues; worked as an acrobatic dancer; and recorded several CDs of dance music and American standards.

Born in São Paulo, Carlos graduated in 1998 from Teatro Escola (Theater School) Macunaíma, a center for artistic experimentation and freedom of expression. In his hometown he attended Escola Wolf Maya, another respected acting school; studied film acting at Studio Fátima Toledo; and joined the theater company Teatro Amador Produções Artísticas (TAPA). He also studied American and flamenco tap-dancing and capoeira. All the while he maintained a thriving career as a model, which made him a familiar face throughout Brazil and Australia.

But music is his greatest joy. Inspired by his grandfather, Clemente Capella - first violinist in the orchestra of São Paulo’s Teatro Municipal for 45 years - Carlos devoted much of his time to the study of piano and voice. He went on to costar as a singing actor in the Brazilian versions of Grease, Beauty and the Beast, and Chicago. For almost six years he sang backup for Brazil’s popular dance-music countertenor Edson Cordeiro. Carlos released several dance-music CDs of his own, including Recall (featuring his band of the same name) and This Is the Time (produced by dance/electronic artist Franco Junior).

He kept building his career as a dramatic actor. Carlos appeared in a long string of novelas broadcast by Globo, SBT, and Bandeirantes; the shows included Belíssima, Marisol, Eterna Magia, Paraíso Tropical, Pequena Travessa, Pícara Sonhadora, Água na Boca, and Cristal. He was also seen in JK, a Globo series about former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek. In 2007, he costarred in Miguel Falabella and Maria Carmem Barbosa’s acclaimed stage comedy Querido Mundo (Dear World) at São Paulo’s Teatro Gazeta. Its director was the renowned playwright, actor, and journalist Rubens Ewald Filho. Carlos acts in the 2010 film VIPs, the story of a criminal who impersonates a variety of prominent people; the movie won four awards at the Festival do Rio, including best picture.

In 2014 he moved to New York to pursue a career as a singer of American pop-jazz standards as well as Brazilian classics. With singer Vanessa Falabella, Carlos began a two-year residency at B.B. King’s Blues Club & Grill, the prestigious Times Square music venue.