The Heart & Hustle of Portugal

Actor Afonso Pimentel, one of the most recognizable faces from Netflix’s “Turn of the Tide”, carries with him a story that reveals how a single moment of hesitation can alter the course of a career. Early on, when a casting director from Los Angeles reached out requesting his reel, Pimentel didn’t have one prepared. He asked for two weeks to assemble it: The reply never came.

Only years later did he discover...

Actor Piper Perabo’s path to the screen began with a landline phone call: producer Jane Rosenthal contacted the young performer at home with the words every new actor hopes to hear: “You got the part”. Just six months after graduating from college, Perabo found herself on set with Robert De Niro, an early break that set the pace for a varied and steadily rising career.

Although widely recognized for her roles in &...

Paula Lobo Antunes’s recent role in the film “A Teacher’s Gift” is as memorable as the path that brought her here. Whether playing the villain in Flor do Mal or a leading protagonist in Mar de Paixão, Paula knows she made the right decision the day she quietly applied to drama school while still studying medicine.

She opens up about her career, her life, motherhood, and family. She recalls how her fat...

David Rodrigues is the man behind @howtocookstuff, a very entertaining collection of videos and reels about authentic Portuguese food (and slang). Born in the US, his parents immigrated from Lisboa and, as he recalls in this conversation with Tony Gonçalves, his mother’s food was always simmering in the kitchen, filling it with those typical Portuguese scents.

One day he was craving a real bifana (a typical Portuguese ...

Ticha Penicheiro changed the game. A true pioneer in women’s basketball, she played in the WNBA from 1998 to 2012, became a four-time All-Star, and earned her place as one of the greatest point guards of all time. In this conversation with Tony Gonçalves, she goes back to where it all started: a little girl with big dreams in a small country.

Ticha’s story is built on beating the odds. She was the only girl on a ...

Griffin Dunne has an acclaimed career with classics like “An American Werewolf in London” or “After Hours”, but the New York actor had a rough spot in his 60s and went back to class. Listen to a fascinating tale of loss, rejoice and renewal

Griffin Dunne’s personal life is as vertiginous as his prolific film and television career. The tragic death of his sister Dominique at the ripe age of 22 was an em...

Tony Gonçalves thought he was going to interview a funny guy. Instead, the mic was turned on him when Andre de Freitas flipped the script and asked him a few questions. As one of the most recognized Portuguese comedians, André de Freitas has not only a powerful social media presence, but also a very international career. He is a man with a mission, and shares his amazing journey of perseverance and endurance to become...

Chazz Palminteri is a tour de force — an actor, writer, and producer best known for “A Bronx Tale”, the powerful one-man show where he plays every role. For the first time ever, Chazz is bringing this legendary performance to Lisbon, just as it was originally staged in New York.

In this episode, Chazz Palminteri reflects on his journey from the Bronx to stages across America — including a run in Las Vegas, w...

Patrícia Vasconcelos is a renowned casting director and founder of Passaporte, a platform to help promote Portuguese actors abroad. She shares her fascinating journey that spans countries like Yugoslavia or Zaire and explains why the typical hustle that is characteristic of Portuguese people is the key to success.

Patricia Explains how her hustle and a series of coincidences turned her into a casting director. The daughter o...

Augusto Fraga was born in the Azores but he always dreamed far beyond his island. His smash hit series “Turn of the Tide” turned him (and his island of S. Miguel) into global superstars. Now on its second season, the series is one of Netflix’s top hits and it shows that Portugal can complete on a global stage.

The director and screenwriter, who confesses that he always operates the camera himself, guides us throug...

Rui Pedro Tendinha has interviewed everyone: Oprah, Tarantino, Jack Nicholson are just a few. And he will not stop. A self-confessed cinema addict, Rui Tendinha is one of the most recognized voices in the business, not only as journalist but also as a curator. Listen to his journey amongst the stars in this episode of The Heart & Hustle of Portugal.

The film critic shares a few of his adventures interviewing the likes of Julie ...

Ricardo Pereira’s acting career has crossed borders. Literally. It’s extremely unusual for a Portuguese actor to work consistently in Brazil, but Ricardo has done it - for twenty years. A household figure at Globo and SIC, where he lend his skills to many telenovela characters, Ricardo Pereira will show his talent on the second season of Netflix’s series “Turn of the Tide”

A believer of the art of givi...

Pedro Gadanho is an architect and curator, responsible for Lisbon’s MAAT Museum and a former curator of MoMA. A creative, Gadanho expresses his views on architecture as narrative and sustainable urbanism, giving his insights on how to approach the housing crisis with state intervention to bring vacant buildings back to use. An insightful conversation with a creative at heart on this episode of “The Heart‌ & Hus...

This year’s Upwardly Global honoree Mariana Van Zeller is back and she brings another four Emmys back home. The fearless journalist that stars and produces the incredible documentary series “Trafficked” on National Geographic returns for another season of investigations in the criminal underworld and speaks with Tony Gonçalves about immigration, broken policies, journalism, empathy and… Bacalhau!

Mar...

Ricardo Araújo Pereira is one of the sharpest and most distinctive voices in Portugal. He’s also very funny. His Sunday prime time show attracts millions of viewers each night and he is a constant presence in the Portuguese landscape: in advertisement, writing for newspapers and magazines and even hosting a podcast with his friends. But Ricardo, who is also known a Portuguese Jon Stewart, confesses to Tony Gonça...

The incredible journey of singer-songwriter MARO is nothing short of amazing: from her humble roots in Lisboa to living in LA and being praised by Billie Eilish, collaborating with Eric Clapton or being on tour with Jacob Collier and Shawn Mendes. There’s nothing MARO can’t do, and, as she confides to Tony Gonçalves on this podcast, she will continue to do it until it makes sense.

MARO also shares her creative pr...