Walter Salles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Walter Salles
Salles at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024
Born	Walter Moreira Salles Júnior (1956-04-12) 12 April 1956 (age 68) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Alma mater	Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro University of Southern California
Occupation	Filmmakker, editor
Spouse(s)	Maria Klabin ​ ​ (m. 2004; div. 2021)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Walter Moreira Salles (father)
Relatives	João Moreira Salles (brother) Pedro Moreira Salles (brother)

Walter Moreira Salles Júnior (/ˈsɑːlɪs/; Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈvawteʁ ˈsalis]; born 12 April 1956) is a Brazilian filmmaker. He is well known for his Golden Globe, BAFTA and Golden Bear-winning film Central Station (1998), and for getting the rare Academy Awards Best Picture and Best International Feature double nomination for I’m Still Here (2024). He is also known for his award winning film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004).

Heir to Itaú Unibanco, with a fortune valued at US$4.2 billion (around R$25.6 billion), Salles is the third richest filmmaker in the world.

Early life and education

Salles was born on 12 April 1956, in Rio de Janeiro, and attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He is the son of Brazilian banker, politician and philanthropist Walter Moreira Salles.

Career

Salles in 2005

Salles's first notable film was Terra Estrangeira ("Foreign Land"), released in Brazil in 1995. Locally, it was widely acclaimed by film critics and a minor box-office hit, and it was selected by over 40 film festivals worldwide. In 1998, he released Central Station to widespread international acclaim and two Academy Awards nominations, for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Fernanda Montenegro) and Best Foreign Language Film. Salles won a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Brazilian to win a Golden Globe.

In 2001, Abril Despedaçado ("Behind the Sun"), based on a novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare and starring Rodrigo Santoro, was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Golden Globes. Salles said: "... there was one book that resonated to the point where I couldn't forget it. And that was Broken April by Ismail Kadare. The book was handed to me by my younger brother, who said: 'If I know you well, this will touch you.' ... What really struck me was the opposition between the atavistic violence described in the book and the possibility for that violence to be overpowered by the discovery of poetry and literature and ultimately by brotherly love." Both films were produced by veteran Arthur Cohn, and had worldwide distribution.

In 2003, Salles was voted one of the 40 Best Directors in the World by The Guardian. His biggest international success has been Diarios de Motocicleta ("The Motorcycle Diaries"), a 2004 film about the life of young Ernesto Guevara, who later became known as Che Guevara. It was Salles's first foray as director of a film in a language other than his native Portuguese (Spanish, in this case) and quickly became a box-office hit in Latin America and Europe. In 2005, Salles released his first Hollywood film, Dark Water, an adaptation of the 2002 Japanese film of the same name. He also helped to produce the Argentine picture Hermanas, which was a major success. In 2006, Salles wrote and directed a segment in the French film Paris, je t'aime (French for "Paris, I love you") with Daniela Thomas. The film is a collection of 18 shorter segments made by different 21 directors and set in different arrondissements of Paris. Salles' segment called Loin du 16^e (literally: Far from the 16th) and took place in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. In 2007, Salles took part in a similar project called To Each His Own Cinema (French: Chacun son cinéma) in the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival. He made a three-minute segment called A 8.944 km de Cannes (English: 5,557 miles from Cannes). In 2008, Salles wrote and directed the film Linha de Passe also with Daniela Thomas. It is a story about four brothers from a poor family who need to fight to follow their dreams. He was nominated for the Golden Palm and Sandra Corveloni won the Best Actress award for her role in this film in Cannes Film Festival in 2008.

Salles and Fernanda Torres promoting I'm Still Here at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival

In 2012, Salles released José Rivera's screenplay adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, with Francis Ford Coppola producing. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. In 2024, twelve years after his last feature film, Salles released I'm Still Here ("Ainda Estou Aqui"), based on the book of the same name by Marcelo Rubens Paiva; the film tackles the arrest and disappearance of Rubens Paiva in 1971, Marcelo's father, during the military dictatorship in Brazil. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, where it won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama category for Fernanda Torres, becoming the first Brazilian actress to win the Golden Globe for acting.

Personal life, views and beliefs

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In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Salles signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.

Fortune

As of January 5, 2025, he has an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion. He is the third richest filmmaker in the world, behind Steven Spielberg ($5.3 billion) and George Lucas ($5.2 billion).

Filmography

Feature Films

Short Film

Television

Documentaries

Year	Title	Subject	Notes
1987	Krajcberg: O Poeta Dos Vestígios	Frans Krajcberg
1988	Marisa Monte	Marisa Monte	Co-directed with Nelson Motta
1989	Chico, ou O País Da Delicadeza Perdida	Chico Buarque	Co-directed with Nelson Motta
1995	Antônio Carlos Jobim: An All-Star Tribute	Antônio Carlos Jobim
1999	Somos Todos Filhos Da Terra	Adão Dãxalebaradã	Co-directed with Kátia Lund, João Moreira Salles and Daniela Thomas
2002	Castanha E Caju Contra O Encouraçado Titanic		Co-directed with Daniela Thomas and George Moura.
2013	Venice 70: Future Reloaded	Venice Film Festival	Segment director
2016	Jia Zhang-ke by Walter Salles	Jia Zhangke

Awards and nominations

In July 2022 Salles was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of letters by the University of Reading.

See also

In Spanish: Walter Salles para niños