Born in the south of Brazil, Ênio Gonçalves majored in journalism and worked in over 30 films, starred in 20 telenovelas, and performed in numerous plays, starting with "Auto de Natal" in 1959. He studied film directing at the "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia" in Rome, Italy, and became popular after his performance in Nelson Rodrigues's "Toda Nudez Será Castigada" in 1965, directed by Zbigniew Ziembinski. He would write some 20 plays, including "2 ou 3 Buracos" (1976), "Dia Torto" (1976), "Vem Contudo" (1977) and "Até as Orelhas" (2004), and adapt literary works such as J. Guimarães Rosa's Sorôco, Sua Mãe, Sua Filha (1975) for the screen and Erico Verissimo's "Sonata".