Actress. She was a well-recognized Portuguese actress of the first half of the 20th century. Born Maria da Conceição de Matos Ferreira da Silva, she was also renowned as a theatre director, playwright, writer, teacher and impresario, who became known as one of the most famous theatre and cinema actresses of the first half of the 20th century in Portugal. She received her instruction in a convent, by the hand of her brother's godmother, the Viscountess of Fonte Arcada, to whom her parents worked. She spent much of her childhood in the mansion of the viscounts, surrounded by relatives and servants, being described as sensitive, beautiful and intelligent, already presenting artistic gifts, like learning to play the piano at a very young age. Her father died when she was 19, and soon she enrolled at the Royal Conservatory of Lisbon, already with the desire to be an actress, after seeing a play with the French actress Julia Bartet, at the D. Amélia Theatre. At the protest of the viscountess, who had wanted another destiny for her than the theatre, which at the time carried a great stigma, Matos is expelled, along with her family, from the mansion, with wills torn and relationships severed, going to live with her mother in a modest house, where she went through great financial difficulties. At the Conservatory, she took a course in Piano, Singing and Dramatic Art, under the guidance of professors João da Câmara, José António Moniz and Augusto de Melo. A distinguished student, she presented herself for the final exam with the play "Rosas de Todo o Ano" ("Roses of All Year"), expressly written by Júlio Dantas for this purpose, concluding her theatre course with the 1st Prize for the Art of Representation, in 1907. By the hand of her teacher, master and friend João da Câmara, she began to perform in the aristocratic salons. Matos made her professional debut on November 20, 1907, with the play "Judas", a drama by Augusto de Lacerda, at the D. Maria II National Theatre. In 1908, she became a partner in that theatre, whose cast included important figures in the Portuguese theatre scene. She remained in the artistic society of D. Maria II until 1910, passing briefly through the Lucinda Simões Company, with which she performed the play "A Tia Leontina" ("Aunt Leontina") at the Aveirense Theatre. At the time she began a relationship with the actor Francisco Mendonça de Carvalho, who was registered in the same theatre, from whose union her only daughter, Maria Helena Matos, was born on November 6, 1910. In 1911 she's registered at the Gymnasio Theatre, where she would be a manager and where she would obtain the greatest hits of her career, debuting on January 28 with the play "Sherlock". She contracted civil marriage on May 4 of the same year with Mendonça de Carvalho, with whom she would found in the same decade, around 1914/15, the Maria Matos-Mendonça de Carvalho Company, residing at the Gymnasio. She also starts rehearsing, directing and staging the vast majority of the plays she enters. Matos specializes in character papers, often using the freshness of her twenties for comic effects in older characters. In 1911 alone, she participated in 40 different plays. In 1917, she committed herself to helping Portuguese soldiers mobilized during the First World War, taking the initiative to produce clothing with the help of the cast of actresses at the Gymnasio. From her long repertoire of hundreds of plays, including drama, comedy, operetta, comic opera, revista, monologue, farce and vaudeville, there are numerous that stand out such as "Uma velha estrangeira" ("An old foreigner"), "A Força do Mal" ("The Force of Evil"), "A lei dos Morgados" ("The law of the Majorats") or "A Madrasta" ("The Stepmother"). Thus, she became a true idol of the audiences, first at the Gymnasio Theatre and later at the Avenida Theatre. In addition to touring the Provinces, Islands and Brazil, Matos also took to the Lisbon stages of the Apolo, Variedades, Maria Vitória, Politeama, São Carlos, Trindade and Coliseu dos Recreios, also making regular visits to Porto, where she performed at the Sá da Bandeira Theatre. In addition to Maria Matos-Mendonça de Carvalho Company, she also formed companies with Nascimento Fernandes, Vasco Santana and Piero Bernardon, in addition to her own company. In the cinema, she participated in successful feature films that gave her great stardom in the country, being consecrated as one of the best actresses of the Golden Age of Portuguese Cinema. She debuted in 1935 with the character "Joana" in the film "As Pupilas do Senhor Reitor" ("The Dean's Pupils"), which became an instant success. This was followed by "Varanda dos Rouxinóis" ("Balcony of the Nightingales", 1939), where she played "Inácia da Conceição", "O Costa do Castelo" ("Costa of the Castle", 1943), where she played "Mafalda da Silveira", considered by some her best work in cinema, "A Menina da Rádio" ("The Radio Girl", 1944), where she played "Rosa Gonçalves", "Um Homem à Direitas" ("A Righteous Man", 1944), where she played "Governess Teresa", "Não Há Rapazes Maus!" ("There Are No Bad Boys!", 1948), where she played "Maria Farripas", "A Morgadinha dos Canaviais" ("The Majorat of the Sugarcane Fields", 1949), where she played "Vitória" and "Heróis do Mar" ("Heroes of the Sea", 1949), where she played "Wife of Petinga". The great popularity she enjoyed as a comic actress, relegated her writing activity to the background. Matos was the author of two books of chronicles and verses: "África" and "Dizeres de Amor e Saudade", both published in 1935. She was also the author of three plays: "A Tia Engrácia" ("Aunt Engrácia", 1936), a comedy in 3 acts; "Escola de Mulheres" ("Women's School", 1937), comedy in 3 acts and "Direitos de Coração" ("Rights of the Heart", 1937), comedy in 1 act, which established her as a playwright, having translated several theatrical works by Frondaie, Benavente, Zola and Pirandello. In 1940, she was invited by Ivo Cruz to take the position of professor at the National Conservatory of Lisbon, teaching the subjects of Theater Aesthetics and Art of Saying until 1945, the year in which she resigned. Matos was also awarded a commendation published in the Government Gazette for her services to the Theatre (1915) and the degree of Officer of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, on May 9, 1934. On January 21, 1947, she divorced her husband, who soon retired after the divorce. On January 3, 1950, a tribute to the actress, who had been ill, was held at the Variedades Theatre, with the play "O processo de Mary Matos" ("The prosecution of Mary Matos"), in which all the actors and actresses, with the exception of Matos, who was the defendant, represent the roles of judges, accusers, defenders, witnesses for the prosecution and defense. The tribute was attended by all the great figures of Portuguese theatre and cinema. Matos' last representation was in the comic play "Andam ciúmes no ar..." ("There's jealousy in the air..."), on the stage of the Avenida Theatre, from May 30 to June 11, 1951. She died in Lisbon on September 19, 1952, at the age of 65, from arteriosclerosis, a disease she had been diagnosed three years before. She is interred in a private mausoleum in Alto de São João Cemetery. On April 17, 1953, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in the building where she was born. At the time of her death she was writing her memoirs, which she didn't finish. Posthumously, "As Memórias da Actriz Maria Matos", revised by Alice Ogando, were published in 1955. She was later honored in the nomination of the renowned Maria Matos Theatre, inaugurated on October 22, 1969 in Lisbon. Her name was given to 19 streets in the country.