- - Wagner Moura never feared getting political. It may win him an Oscar.

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYDecember 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM

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Even if you don’t yet know his name, you’ve almost certainly seen Wagner Moura’s face.

The Brazilian heartthrob has made a splash on American TV in the last decade, playing cold-blooded kingpin Pablo Escobar in Netflix’s hit series “Narcos,” as well as other key roles in streaming shows “Shining Girls,” “Dope Thief” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

Now, he’s all but assured to earn his first Oscar nomination for the Portuguese-language film “The Secret Agent” (in theaters nationwide Dec. 19), after scooping up nods from the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, as well as the best actor prize at Cannes Film Festival. He keeps the latter in his garage in Los Angeles.

Wagner Moura is now a two-time Golden Globe nominee for his work in "The Secret Agent" and Netflix's "Narcos."

“It’s a garage, but it’s also a place where I work and do jiu-jitsu. I don’t want people to think I don’t give a s---,” Moura clarifies with a smirk, speaking over Zoom hours after winning another best actor trophy from the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

In classic Big Apple fashion, “I’m just celebrating with a pastrami sandwich. I’m so happy! It’s not every day you have a Brazilian film receiving this amount of attention.”

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'The Secret Agent' reflects 'hardcore' political strife in Brazil

“The Secret Agent,” which is also up for best drama at the Golden Globes, follows an activist and ex-professor named Armando (Moura) who’s on the run from government forces in 1977 Brazil, then under military dictatorship. He goes into hiding with a group of dissidents, all while trying to reunite with his young son.

“There’s a lot of me in the character,” says Moura, 49, a dad of three with documentarian Sandra Delgado. “Armando is not a revolutionary – he’s just a man whose values are putting his life in danger."

Former President Barack Obama has named "The Secret Agent," starring Wagner Moura, as one of his favorite films of 2025.

Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the fictional story is inspired by Brazil’s complex political history. Although democracy returned to the country in 1985, it was nearly dismantled by recent president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of plotting a coup d'état and sentenced to 27 years behind bars in September.

“It was hardcore for anyone that was vocal against Bolsonaro, like Kleber and I,” says Moura, who directed a 2019 movie, “Marighella,” about activist Carlos Marighella. The film was censored and barred from release in Brazil for two years. Filho received similar retaliation after he staged a protest against the Brazilian government at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

“Kleber and I both suffered the consequences of the things we said and did,” Moura recalls. “We were calling each other like, ‘Hey, dude, what the f---?’ ‘The Secret Agent’ was born from a place of perplexity: How could a government in the 21st century bring back the values of a dictatorship to the biggest democracy in South America?”

83rd Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 11, 2026, airing live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

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Awards season is here! See which stars and films are nominated for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 11, 2026, airing live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

The duo met two decades ago, when Filho, then a film critic, was interviewing Moura about his 2005 movie “Lower City.”

“I thought Wagner was just a great actor and a completely normal person,” Filho recalls. They stayed in touch through the years, and eventually, decided to develop this project together: “Wagner has a great understanding of Brazil and the society we come from. He’s incredibly talented and generous – I hope to make another film with him.”

Wagner Moura was a journalist before he turned to acting

Wagner Moura, clockwise from left, in "Dope Thief," "Narcos" and "Civil War."

Even as a young kid, Moura remembers Brazil being a place of rich culture and contradictions.

“It’s the country of samba and football, but it’s also built on colonization, slavery and violence,” Moura says. “Growing up, I was living in the beauty of what the country was, but you couldn’t help but feel the vibes of the dictatorship.”

He enjoyed doing theater as a teen, but “when it came time for college, I wasn’t strong enough to tell my dad that I wanted to be an actor,” Moura says. And so, he went into journalism: covering the police beat and interviewing local socialites for a TV station.

Wagner Moura is grateful for the "beautiful support" Brazilian fans have given "The Secret Agent" and "I'm Still Here" starring Fernanda Torres.

“They didn’t have to do anything to be famous – they just had money. That sucked,” Moura says, shrugging. Even now, “most of my friends are journalists. I still see journalism as a tool of social justice. I wanted to be the kind of journalist that I saw in ‘All the President’s Men,’ but that didn’t really happen for me!”

When he wasn’t reporting, Moura was going out on auditions and made inroads into Brazilian dramas and soap operas in the early 2000s. His Hollywood breakthrough came in 2013’s “Elysium,” co-starring Matt Damon, and he worked steadily in “The Gray Man” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”

Moura has frequently been drawn to political projects, including “Elite Squad,” “Civil War" and “Wasp Network."

“My sons and my wife are the most important things I have, but being an artist is also very important,” Moura says. “I am a political person, so it’s just natural that’s what I gravitate toward.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Secret Agent' and 'Narcos' star Wagner Moura could win an Oscar

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