He is the son of António Castelo and his wife Lucília (da Costa),
Catholic Goans; a rather poor family. This meant that Virgílio had to work various jobs before his artistic career. He attended the Industrial School, a course he did not complete, and began working at just 14 years old as a clerk in the
Ministry of Finance. At 20, he emigrated to
France, working on the expansion of
Orly airport and then as a
receptionist in a refined
Parisian hotel. He returned to Portugal in 1975, beginning his career as an actor. In 1978 he returned to France, this time to study acting, graduating from the
University of Strasbourg with a scholarship from the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He is one of the founders of the Adoque Theatre Group. In
theatre he has worked in
musicals, children's theatre,
comedy and
drama. For 3 years he presented a television program called "Isto só vídeo". Between 1993 and 1999 he directed actors and was head of the NBP (National Theatre Association). Between 1992 and 1994 he presented the program
Isto Só Vídeo on
RTP1. He returned to presenting in 2007, the
talk show Ainda Bem que Apareceste, on the same channel. After moving to public television where he participated in the
RTP1 and Band co-production,
Paixões Proibidas, he headed the cast of the
remake of
Vila Faia. In 2009 he joined
SIC to work as a consultant for national fiction, where he also participated in the
telenovela "Podia Acabar o Mundo", and later in "
Lua Vermelha", "A Família Mata" and "
Laços de Sangue". Also in 2009 he was directed by
Joaquim Leitão in A Esperança Está Onde Menos se Espera. In 2011 he left SIC and joined the exclusive actors team of
TVI. In 2015, she returned to RTP at the invitation of Nuno Artur Silva, where she began managing the fiction department. In 2020, he will star in the film Terra Nova, a drama inspired by the book O Lugre, by Bernardo Santareno. == Personal life ==