Early career (1996–2005) Moura took acting classes in his teens, and started working in professional theater in 1996. Later, he graduated in journalism at the
Federal University of Bahia. He had a small PR company that worked for other local actors and theater companies but the business soon went bankrupt. In the early 2000s, he was a reporter for an interview program on
TV Bahia – an affiliate of
Rede Globo – and covered high society parties interviewing businessmen and celebrities. During this time Moura continued going to auditions because he aspired to become an actor. He found some success with the play
A Máquina. Receiving critical and public acclaim, the show left Bahia and went on the road to Pernambuco, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro where it continued to succeed. The hit show boosted the careers of Moura and his colleagues, now-successful Brazilian actors
Lázaro Ramos and
Vladimir Brichta. In cinema, he started with the shorts
Pop Killer, by Victor Mascarenhas, and
Rádio Gogó, by José Araripe Jr. His first feature was
Woman on Top, by the Venezuelan director
Fina Torres, in which he had a small role with Ramos, whom he helped with the tests in English, since Ramos did not speak the language. With the resumption of Brazilian cinema opening up to new faces, he got roles in several productions with important names, such as
Behind the Sun, by
Walter Salles;
The Three Marias, by
Aluizio Abranches;
God Is Brazilian, by
Cacá Diegues;
Nina, by
Heitor Dhalia;
The Man of the Year, by José Henrique Fonseca;
The Middle of the World, by Vicente Amorim. In Recife, during the filming of
God Is Brazilian, Moura was reading the book
Carandiru Station by
Drauzio Varella when he found out about the auditions for the film
Carandiru. Because he was busy with the recordings and unable to appear in the face-to-face auditions in another state, he asked the person in charge of the making to help him record a tape that would be sent to the production. The material was very dark, and it was only possible to hear the actor reading excerpts from the book. Some time later,
Héctor Babenco would call him for a meeting in São Paulo, curious to meet the owner of the voice. The actor ended up joining the cast as the prisoner, dealer and drug addict Zico. He debuted on television after famous Brazilian actor and his costar in
God Is Brazilian,
Antônio Fagundes, invited him for a small role in the popular series
Carga Pesada on
Rede Globo. Then came the series
Sexo Frágil, which entered the network's Friday night schedule after its success as a sketch on the TV show
Fantástico. The play
Dilúvio em Tempos de Seca was shown in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and ended its season at the Curitiba Theater Festival at
Teatro Guaíra before an audience of more than four thousand people in the two days it was presented. With the end of the work, the actor would turn to television and cinema. In 2005, he debuted in telenovelas with
A Lua Me Disse as Gustavo Bogari Prado, the comic role was a contrast to the other characters he had played before. He also portrayed a young version of Brazil's former president
Juscelino Kubitschek in the limited series
JK (2006).
Breakout in Brazilian cinema and TV (2007–2012) In 2007, Moura starred as police officer Captain Nascimento in
José Padilha's
Elite Squad. The film won the
Golden Bear at the
58th Berlin International Film Festival and was a box office hit in Brazil, but generated controversy for its portrayal of
police brutality and urban violence in
Rio de Janeiro. He also had lead roles in
Ó Paí, Ó,
Saneamento Básico,
A Máquina and
Romance. He also portrayed the corrupt businessman Olavo Novaes in
TV Globo's
Paraíso Tropical. For his cinema and television roles, he was named "Man of the Year" in 2007 by
Vogue Brazil. In 2008, he returned to theater with
Hamlet by
William Shakespeare. The theatrical process was recorded by his wife, Sandra, and became a documentary. He also starred in three short films:
Desejo,
Ópera do Mallandro and
Blackout, which premiered at the
Festival de Gramado. He also resumed concert performances with his band
Sua Mãe. In 2010, he portrayed Nascimento once again in
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within. Like its predecessor, the film was met with critical acclaim and became the largest box office ticket seller and highest-grossing film of all time in Brazil. In 2011, he was honored at the Braskem Theater Award. In 2012, he was a guest vocalist for the "
MTV Live: Tribute to Legião Urbana" held in
São Paulo and broadcast by
MTV Brasil. Moura was a big fan of the band, which disbanded in 1996. In 2013, he was elected Man of the Year by
GQ Brazil in the cinema category and honored at the Gramado Film Festival.
Hollywood and directorial debut (2013–present) The film
Elysium (2013) marked his
Hollywood debut, portraying Spider. Moura got the role after his agents showed his work in
Elite Squad 2 to the producers. In 2014, he starred in
Karim Aïnouz's
Futuro Beach as a gay lifeguard from
Recife who travels to Germany after falling in love with a tourist. He also starred in the anthology film
Rio, I Love You, in the segment directed by
José Padilha. As a director, he worked on the music video for the song "Te Amo" from the album
Bicicletas, Bolos e Outras Alegrias by Brazilian singer
Vanessa da Mata. In 2015, Moura starred as Colombian drug lord
Pablo Escobar in
Narcos. Moura learned to speak Spanish while preparing for his role. He also had to gain over 18 kilograms (40 pounds). After the second season, he decided to lose the weight through an all-vegan diet. His performance was praised by critics. For the role, Moura was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. In 2019, he starred as Juan Pablo Roque in
Wasp Network, directed by
Olivier Assayas. Wagner Moura's feature directing debut,
Marighella, had its world premiere at the
69th Berlin International Film Festival, and a delayed theatrical release in Brazil in 2021. The film is a biopic of
Carlos Marighella, a politician and guerrilla fighter facing the heinous crimes torture and
censorship during the
military dictatorship in Brazil. Moura says he is sure the film was censored by right-wing former president
Jair Bolsonaro, though the official reason for the delay was the
COVID-19 pandemic. At the 2022
Brazilian Film Grand Prix,
Marighella won eight awards, including Best Film, Best First Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Moura. In 2020, he signed with WME. He was a part of the official international fiction jury of the
Sundance Film Festival. He also produced and starred as the title character in the
Netflix drama
Sergio, about Brazilian diplomat
Sérgio Vieira de Mello. In 2021, he joined the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood. He also directed two episodes of ''
Narcos: Mexico's'' third season. In 2022, he starred in the
Apple TV+ series
Shining Girls, in the role of journalist Dan Velásquez. He starred in
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, voicing the Wolf. He also starred in
Netflix's
The Gray Man, directed by the
Russo Brothers, as Laszlo Sosa, for which he lost twenty kilos. In 2024, he played a recurring role as John Smith's agent in the
Prime Video series
Mr. & Mrs. Smith. In 2025, he starred as Marcelo in
Kleber Mendonça Filho's
The Secret Agent. For the role he became the first South American actor to ever win the
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the first Latin-American actor to win the
NYFCC for Best Actor, and received his first
Golden Globe, as well as becoming the first Brazilian actor to be nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor. ==Personal life==