Laura Cardoso’s Death Announced on Instagram on August 18, 2026
Actress Laura Cardoso, one of the greatest names in Brazilian drama, died at the age of 98 in São Paulo, as announced on her official Instagram profile in the early hours of August 18, 2026. The information was released on the artist’s official Instagram profile, managed by her great-grandson, Fernando Faria, who wrote:
Fernando Faria said, Our great star has said goodbye to us. Laura Cardoso will always be in our hearts. Thank you for everything, our beloved and eternal Laura Cardoso.
The actress would have turned 99 on September 13, 2026.
Birth of Laura Cardoso in Bixiga, São Paulo in 1927
Born in 1927 in the São Paulo neighborhood of Bixiga, Laurinda de Jesus Cardoso Balleroni was the daughter of Portuguese immigrants and began her career in radio drama at the age of 15. It was at Rádio Cosmos and in radio soap operas that she began her professional trajectory and met her husband, Fernando Baleroni, with whom she had two daughters, Fernanda and Fátima. She made her television debut in 1952 in the TV Tupi soap opera Tribunal do Coração
. Throughout her career, she participated in more than 60 soap operas, including prominent roles such as Isaura in Mulheres de Areia
(1993) and Guiomar in “A Viagem” (1994). Her last work on TV was in the soap opera A Dona do Pedaço
in 2019, and in the film “Dona Rosinha” in 2025.
Laura Cardoso’s 2025 Star on Globo Studios Walk of Fame
The actress held a lifetime contract with TV Globo and had been away from soap operas since 2019. In October 2025, she personally participated in the unveiling of her star on the Globo Studios Walk of Fame and recorded the network’s traditional end-of-year vignette. In 2024, she was one of the honorees on Globo’s “Tributo” program.
Laura Cardoso’s 8-Decade Career and 100+ Works
With a career spanning more than eight decades, the actress accumulated over 100 works in theater, film, and television. In 2025, she was honored with a star on the Globo Studios Walk of Fame. Her trajectory included work on networks such as Tupi, Excelsior, Record, and Cultura, in addition to a striking presence in film, with movies like “Copacabana” (2001).
Laura Cardoso passed away on the night of August 17, 2026, after feeling unwell at her residence in the West Zone of São Paulo at around 11:20 PM, according to her daughter Fátima Cardoso. Her death was announced in the early hours of August 18 on the actress’s official Instagram profile, which has over a million followers. Some fans left comments,
A fan said, She had the way of my grandmother, I always admired Laura.
The actress also had a voice acting career, voicing characters such as Betty in “The Flintstones”. Her childhood was marked by growing up in a tenement in the working-class neighborhood of Bexiga, in São Paulo. The pleasure of reading to her parents and, later, the pride of being asked to recite to her junior high classmates at the nun’s school awakened her interest in the performing arts. She began her career at Rádio Cosmos at age 15, as reported in sources.
In her final years, Laura Cardoso maintained a close relationship with TV Globo, where she held a lifetime contract. In 2025, she participated in the short film “Dona Rosinha” and was one of the honorees on Globo’s “Tributo” program in 2024. She also left a message about her relationship with longevity:
Laura Cardoso said, We retire when we leave.
as highlighted in sources.
Her daughter Fátima Cardoso reported that she passed away on the night of August 17 after feeling unwell at her residence in São Paulo.
Her career spanned dozens of soap operas on TV Tupi, Rede Excelsior, Rede Record, and Rede Globo, as well as films and theatrical plays. The actress was one of the pioneers of Brazilian television, spanning practically the entire history of television, from TV Tupi to Globo’s soap operas.
