From Ilha do Governador to Caco Antibes, 15 years of 'Vídeo Show', a Carnival runner-up finish and frog broth on an empty stomach: the story of Miguel Falabella, who turns 70
Actor, writer, director and Carnival designer, Falabella turns 70 this Saturday (10) with more than four decades on TV and over 100 works.
Foto: Reprodução via PurepeopleMiguel Falabella turns 70 this Saturday (10). Born in Rio de Janeiro and raised on Ilha do Governador — which he once described as a paradise with water so clear you could see the bottom — the actor made his TV debut in 'Sol de Verão' (1982), as Romeu, and has more than four decades of career and over 100 works across television, theater, film and Carnival. At Globo he played the hustler Miro in the 'Selva de Pedra' remake (1986), the sinister Donato in 'As Noivas de Copacabana' (1992), Raul in 'A Viagem' (1994) and the villainous lawyer Mauro in 'Cara & Coroa' (1995).
The character that made him immortal was Caco Antibes, the broke snob of 'Sai de Baixo' (1996–2002, with a special season in 2013), a show he also helped write and whose most famous lines came from cast improvisation. As a writer he penned 'Salsa e Merengue' (1996), 'A Lua Me Disse' (2005), 'Negócio da China' (2008) and 'Aquele Beijo' (2011), created 'Toma Lá, Dá Cá', played Ruço in 'Pé na Cova' (2013–2016) and hosted 'Vídeo Show' for 15 years. In the 1990s he was carnival designer for Império da Tijuca and, in 1995, took the samba school to runner-up in Grupo de Acesso A with 'No Sassarico da Colombo'; in 2018, Unidos da Tijuca paid tribute to him.
His most recent telenovela role was gallerist Kasper Damatta in 'Três Graças' (2025). This year, on 'Roda Viva', he said he avoided making his sexuality the center of his public image at a time when prejudice could cost him his career, revealed he has a new boyfriend — businessman Alexandre Altoé — and talked about his sons Theo and Cassiano, whom he kept out of the spotlight: 'I never exposed them because I thought I was the public figure, not them.' Now a grandfather, he keeps a curious ritual from his youth: frog broth every morning. 'I didn't want to be put on a shelf, because once they put you there, you never get off,' he summed up.
