Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos is a Brazilian actor and director whose career spans film, television, theater, and circus. He gained international recognition for his performance as physician Drauzio Varella in Hector Babenco’s acclaimed Carandiru (2003), for which he received an acting award at the Cartagena International Film Festival. He made his feature-film debut as the legendary Brazilian outlaw Lampião in Perfumed Ball (O Baile Perfumado, 1996), and subsequently worked with acclaimed directors including Walter Salles and Andrucha Waddington. A prominent figure in Brazilian theater and circus, Vasconcelos is also known for creating the iconic clown character Xuxu, whom he has performed since 1978. His television credits include A Pedra do Reino and Queridos Amigos. He studied performing arts in Denmark and at Brazil’s National Circus School.

Filmography

• Alucinação — Belchior
• 2026Heart of Darkness
• 2026Time, Knifed — Juvenal
• 2026Viver é Melhor Que Sonhar — Belchior
• Guerreiros do Sol — Bosco
• 2025Luiz Gonzaga - Tyrant League
• 2024A Arte de Morrer ou Marta Diptero Braquícero
• 2024Son of Ox — Pai
• Cangaço Novo — Deocleciano
• Marighella — Branco
• 2022Aluísio, the Silence and the Sea — Director
• 2021Marighella — Branco
• 2021Menino Azul — Anselmo
• 2020Under the Heavens — Vilmar
• A Mother's Love — Januário Silva
• Aruanas — Miguel Kiriakos
• Sweet Diva — Miroel Matheus
• 2018A Family Submerged — Titán
• Above Justice — Euclydes Menezes
• Time After Time — Bento Silvino / Bento Ventura
• 2014Irmã Dulce — Dom Eugênio Sales
• Now Generation — Frederico Yanes (Fred)
• O Tempo e o Vento — Manoel Terra (Maneco Terra)
• 2013Acalanto — Chico
• Caribbean Flower — Donato Silva
• 2013Fragma — Homem 1 Mais Velho
• 2013The Inventor of Dreams — Timóteo
• 2013Time and the Wind — Maneco
• The Life We Lead — Renato Nogueira Martins
• 2010The Midday Sun — Artur
• 2009O Homem Mau Dorme Bem — Caburé
• 2008O Natal do Menino Imperador — Zampano
• Queridos Amigos — Ivan
• 2007Mutum — Aristeu
• 2007Romance do Vaqueiro Voador — Vaqueiro Voador
• Stone of the Kingdom — Arésio
• Carandiru: The Series — Drauzio Varella
• 2005Dry Movie — Jurandir
• Her Own Destiny — Sebastião
• 2004Sousândrade - O Guesa Errante — Sousândrade
• 2003Carandiru — Doutor (Physician)
• Cena Aberta — Simão
• 2002How to Die in Cinema — Papagaio
• Pastores da Noite — Pé de Vento
• 2001Behind the Sun — Salustiano
• Brava Gente — Pé de Vento
• 2000Me, You, Them — Ciro
• 1998Midnight — João
• 1997Perfumed Ball — Lampião
• 1982Closes
• Chofre
• Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos Não Está Neste Filme
• The Bottled Captain — Capitão

Appearances as themselves (1)

• O País do Cinema — Self