Wagner Moura

Wagner Moura (born June 27, 1976 in Salvador, Brazil) earned his first Golden Globe nomination for playing Pablo Escobar in the TV series Narcos. He scored his second this year, with Kleber Mendonça Filho’s  The Secret Agent, which also earned him the Best Actor prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

Moura’s film career first took off after starring in Walter Salles’ Behind the Sun (2001), then his work included The Man of the Year (2003), Elite Squad (2007),Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium (2013), Trash (2014), Heitor Dhalia’s Bald Mountain, Karim Anouz’ Praio Do Futuro, and  VIPs. Additional film credits include a villainous role in the animated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish; the biopic Sergio for director Greg Barker; The Gray Man for the Russo Brothers; and Wasp Network for director Olivier Assayas. His 2007 film Elite Squad was a global hit and the 2010 sequel Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within, topped the box office in his native Brazil. In 2024, Moura starred alongside Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny in A24’s Civil War for director Alex Garland.

On television, aside from Narcos, he starred with Brian Tyree Henry in AppleTV+’s Dope Thief for director-executive producer Ridley Scott, a guest-starring role in AppleTV+’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith; he starred opposite Elisabeth Moss in Shining Girls and he  had a role on the soap opera Paraiso Tropical (2007).

Moura’s feature directorial debut Marighella, which premiered at the 2019 Berlinale Film Festival and chronicles the struggle of Brazilian politician and activist Carlos Marighella. Moura will direct and star in Last Night at The Lobster with Elisabeth Moss and Brian Tyree Henry and will also appear in Rachel Rose’s directorial debut, The Last Day.

He has served as an advocate in Brazil for laws and political campaigns that worked to help end forced labor, catching the attention of the United Nations’ International Labor Organization which gave Moura a three-year appointment to work with the agency to draw attention to end forced labor worldwide. Moura and his wife, photographer Sandra Delgado, live in Los Angeles with their three sons.