Funeral tributes to actress Estrela Novais, who died at the age of 70, will begin this afternoon in Lisbon and the funeral will take place on Saturday at the Olivais Crematorium, a family friend told Lusa.
According to information provided by actor Gonçalo Barata, a friend of Estrela Novais’ family, “the funeral tributes will take place at the Church of São Pedro de Alcântara, on the 8th [today] from 4pm”, in Lisbon.
The funeral will take place on Saturday from 2:30 p.m. at the Church of S. Pedro de Alcântara, after which the body will be taken at 3 p.m. to the Olivais Crematorium, also in Lisbon, with the funeral procession passing in front of the D. Pedro V school, where Estrela Novais taught until the last days of his life, from the Dramatic Expression Workshop from 1992 to the disciplines of Acting, Movement or Dramaturgy in 2024.
Estrela Novais was born on March 13, 1953, in Porto. She made her professional acting debut in 1970 with Garcia Lorca’s “Bodas de Sangue”, directed by Carlos Cabral for the Teatro Experimental do Porto, and in 1973 she took part in the founding of Seiva Trupe.
She was also one of the founders of the International Festival of Theater of Iberian Expression – FITEI.
Throughout his career he has worked with Teatro Experimental do Porto, Seiva Trupe, Teatro da Politécnica, Companhia de Teatro de Almada, Companhia de Teatro A Barraca, Grupo Comédias de Lisboa, Teatro Tejo, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Sociedade de Instrução Guilherme Cossoul, DRAMAX Oeiras, among other organizations such as the former Service for Animation, Artistic Creation and Education through Art (ACARTE) of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
According to the profile available in the database of the Center for Theatre Studies of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon, she received a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation between 1979 and 1982, attended the directing course at the Silvio d’Amico Academy in Rome and worked as a trainee with Orazio Costa, Giorgio Strehler, Ronconi, Dario Fo and Vittorio Grassman.
She also appeared in several Portuguese series and soap operas, and received several awards, including Best Actress in Theater (1984), awarded by Mulheres magazine, and Best Actress in Cinema (1986) awarded by Nova Gente magazine.
