Portuguese actress. She was a reference artist of Portuguese theatre, television and cinema, unanimously considered one of the best Portuguese actresses of all time. Born Eunice do Carmo Muñoz into a family of stage actors and circus artists, she was the daughter of Hernâni Cardinali Muñoz and Júlia do Carmo (aka Mimi Muñoz). She made her debut in the family's collapsible theater, the Trupe Carmo, at just 5 years old, singing the song "Uma Porta e Uma Janela". In 1941, at the age of 13, Muñoz made her professional stage debut at the D. Maria II National Theatre, in the play "Vendaval", with the Rey Colaço/Robles Monteiro Company. Her talent was immediately recognized and admired by Palmira Bastos, Raul de Carvalho, João Villaret and by Amélia Rey Colaço herself, which allowed her to quickly integrate the Company. In 1943, she participated in the play "Riquezas da Sua Avó", a Spanish comedy, alongside Palmira Bastos, followed, in the following year, by "Labirinto". In the summer of that year, she starred in the operetta "João Ratão", alongside Estêvão Amarante. She continued to collect hits, alongside Maria Lalande and Irene Isidro (in "Raparigas Modernas"), and was also directed by Maria Matos in "A Portuguesa". Already attending the National Conservatory Theatre School, she became famous in "A Casta Susana", by Georg Okonkowikski. She finished the Conservatory course with 18 points (in 20) and became popular on the stage of the Variedades Theatre, with Vasco Santana and Mirita Casimiro in the play "Chuva de Filhos". In 1946, she made her film debut, appearing in the film "Camões". For this performance, Eunice won the National Information Secretariat award for the best film actress of the year. "Um Homem do Ribatejo" (1946) and "Os Vizinhos do Rés-do-Chão" (1947), are the works that followed. In 1947, she married the architect Rui Ângelo de Oliveira do Couto from whom she had a daughter, Susana. In 1948 she returned to the D. Maria II National Theatre to star in "Outono em Flor". The same year "Espada de Fogo", directed by Palmira Bastos, was a resounding success. Muñoz worked again in cinema, starring in "A Morgadinha dos Canaviais" (1949), adapted from the homonymous novel by Júlio Dinis. She also participated in "Ribatejo". Returning to the stage in 1950, she participated in the revista "O Disco Voador" at the Maria Vitória Theatre, and in the comedy "Ninotchka", alongside Igrejas Caeiro, Maria Matos and Vasco Santana. In 1951 she joined the Ginásio Theatre Company, directed by António Pedro. From this time, Edward Percy's "A Loja da Esquina" stood out. She passed through the Trindade Theatre and withdrew from theatrical activity for four years, to the great exclamation of newspapers, critics and the public. Her reappearance took place in Jean Anouilh's "Joana D'Arc", on stage at the Avenida Theatre. Crowds lined at Avenida da Liberdade, eager to get a ticket to see her, who critics hailed as a genius. In 1956, she married for the second time with engineer Ernesto Borges, having 4 children from this marriage, Joana, António, Pedro and Maria. In 1957, after the play "A Desconhecida", she joined Maria Lalande, Isabel de Castro, Maria José, Ruy de Carvalho, Curado Ribeiro and Fernando Gusmão at the National Popular Theatre, under the direction of Ribeirinho, where she played Shakespeare ("Noite de Reis"), Júlio Dantas ("Um Serão Nas Laranjeiras") and Luiz Francisco Rebello ("Pássaros das Asas Cortadas"), among other playwrights' works. In the 1960s, she switched to comedy at the Alegre Theatre Company, in Parque Mayer, alongside actors like António Silva and Henrique Santana. At the Monumental Theatre she made "O Milagre de Anna Sullivan", by William Gibson (SNI Best Actress Award ex-aequo with Laura Alves - 1963) a success. She then began to appear regularly on television, in televised plays repeated by the public's express desire, such as "O Pomar das Cerejeiras", "A Dama das Camélias", "Recompensa" or "Os Anjos Não Dormem" and in series, such as "Cenas da Vida de Uma Actriz". Returning to comedy, she participated in "Mary-Mary" at the Variedades Theatre. In 1965, Raúl Solnado founded the Companhia Portuguesa de Comediantes (Portuguese Comedians Company), at the recently opened Villaret Theatre. In that inaugural year, Muñoz participated in the play "Verão e Fumo", and, the following year, in the play "As Raposas", which won her the Press Awards for "Best Actress" and "Popularity", by the magazine "Rádio e Televisão". She received the highest salary ever paid to a dramatic actress in Portugal: 30.000 escudos a month (roughly 150€ today). In 1967, she performed at the Variedades Theatre and at the Cascais Experimental Theatre, where she played "Fedra", by Jean Racine. She married for the third time the poet António Barahona da Fonseca, with whom she had a daughter, Eunice. In 1970, together with José de Castro, she created the Somos Dois Company, with which she made a long tour of Angola and Mozambique, directed by Francisco Russo in "Dois Num Baloiço" and "Os dactilógrafos". In 1971, she returned to the stage of the Trindade with João Perry to make "O Duelo". In the same year, she joined a new artistic formation at the São Luiz. With the ban by the censors, a few hours before the premiere of "A Mãe", in which Muñoz was the protagonist, the director of the company, Luiz Francisco Rebello, resigned and ceased the activity of this promising group. She then dedicated herself to promoting the poets she loved, whether on record or in recitals, giving voice to Florbela Espanca, António Nobre or António Maria Lisboa, returning to the theatre to interpret Jean Genet's "As Criadas" (1972), together with Glicínia Quartin and Lurdes Norberto, staged by the Argentine Victor Garcia, at the Cascais Experimental Theatre. She made a long tour of Africa again in the company of Carlos Avilez, where she played "Fedra" and "A Maluquinha de Arroios". Once integrated into the resident company of the reopened D. Maria II National Theatre, she experienced enormous successes, interpreting plays by Donald Coburn, John Murray, Bertolt Brecht, Hermann Broch, Athol Fuggard, Euripides, among others. She worked with directors such as Stephan Stroux, João Lourenço, João Perry or Filipe La Féria. During this period, she also appeared in several films, having anthological interpretations, in "Manhã Submersa" (1980) and "Tempos Difíceis" (1987). In 1991, her 50th anniversary in Theatre is celebrated, with an exhibition at the National Theatre Museum, with Eunice Muñoz being decorated, in an open scene, on the stage of the National Theatre, by the President of the Republic, Mário Soares. In 1993, she debuted in telenovelas with the interpretation of D. Branca in "A Banqueira do Povo", by Walter Avancini. She went on to appear in numerous soap operas like "Todo o Tempo do Mundo" (1999), "Olhos de Água" (2001), "Dei-te Quase Tudo" (2005), "Ilha dos Amores" (2007), "Destinos Cruzados" (2013) or "A Impostora" (2016). "A Maçon", a play written by the novelist Lídia Jorge specifically for Eunice, was staged in 1997 on the stage of the National Theatre and in 2001 Ernest Thompson's "A Casa do Lago", staged by La Féria, premiered with her at the Politeama Theatre. In 2006, she performed for the first time in the house she gave her name to, the Eunice Muñoz Municipal Auditorium, in Oeiras, with the play "Miss Daisy", directed by Celso Cleto. In 2013, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, having been operated in April and underwent chemotherapy treatments. After losing her voice, she underwent surgery again at the Charles Nicolle Hospital in Rouen, France, and underwent chemotherapy treatments again until November 2013. She underwent speech therapy and, in 2015, partially recovered her voice, never having fully recovered. In April 2021, celebrating 80 years of career, she retired from her artistic career with the play "A Margem do Tempo", accompanied by her granddaughter, Lídia Muñoz, and had to interrupt it for 20 days, having been hospitalized due to fatigue and frailty. In October 2021, the Casa de Memórias Eunice Muñoz was inaugurated in Amareleja. In her honor, her granddaughter's husband, Tiago Durão, directed the documentary "Eunice ou Carta a uma Jovem Atriz" ("Eunice or Letter to a Young Actress"), which premiered in November 2021. Throughout her career, she participated in hundreds of plays, 13 films, 9 series and 17 soap operas. She was awarded the rank of Officer of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword (July 13, 1981), being promoted to Grand Officer of the same Order on June 8, 2010 and to Grand Cross on April 28, 2021, the Medal of Cultural Merit (March 27, 1990), the rank of Grand Officer of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (November 26, 1991), being promoted to Grand Cross of the same Order on November 28, 2011 and the rank of Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (July 31, 2018). She died on April 15, 2022 at the age of 93, in Santa Cruz Hospital, Carnaxide, where she had been hospitalized for two days, having been declared national mourning for one day. Her funeral took place in the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon and her body was cremated in Alto de São João Cemetery. Per her last wish, her ashes were scattered in the fields of Amareleja, her birthplace.