Matheus Nachtergaele was born on 3 January 1968 in
São Paulo to an
upper-middle-class,
artistic family. His father, Jean-Pierre, was a
jazz musician and his mother, Maria Cecília, was a
poet who committed suicide when Matheus was only three months old. As a result, Matheus lived with his paternal grandparents’ early in his life between their farm in
Atibaia and their beach house in
Ubatuba. Matheus wouldn't learn about her mother's suicide until he was sixteen years old. In 2018, Matheus staged the monologue
Concerto do Desejo (English: Concert of Desire), produced by him based on the poems written by his mother. According to Matheus, she was the inspiration for him to pursue an artistic career. Jean-Pierre would later remarry to Carmen, Matheus's stepmother, after earning his
engineering degree from the
University of São Paulo. Together, they would have three sons. Nachtergaele began his acting career at in 1989. Following an invitation from a friend, he studied for a year under director
Antunes Filho at the School of Dramatic Arts at USP, unbeknownst of his parents, who didn't want him to pursue an artistic career. ==Career==