André Dread got to know the arts through his grandmother, who was a ticket seller at a movie theater in Rio de Janeiro, where his love for the seventh art was awakened. Even though he was a fan of martial arts, where he almost became a professional fighter, he still didn’t see it as his first career option. His greatest encouragement came from two important people in his life: his first drama teacher, the director Cico Caseira, who died in 2017, at the SATED School in “Retiro dos Artistas” and from his friend Jefechander Suplino, who is also deceased. “Art was a way of connecting with his dear friend Jefechander Suplino,” states André.

However, soon afterwards he left the rings for the stage, André decided to specialize in acting. He took courses such as Camila Amado’s Acting Workshop “Oficina de Interpretação de Camila Amado”, “O Corpo Fala” from Lázaro Ramos and “Teatro Ninja”, at the SATED school in “Retiro dos Artistas”, under the direction of Cico Casera. This director took him to some of his productions, such as “Dostoievski” and “O Burguês Fidalgo”. He also acted in “A Vida Como Ela É”, directed by Renan Monteiro and one of the productions of “Pluft, o Fantasminha”, also by the same director.

He considers art as a way of resistance and social struggle. As an activist, he has taught in a theater project run by “CUFA – Central Única das Favelas” in Cidade de Deus, and he is the production director of “Instituto Arteiros”, founded by filmmaker Rodrigo Felha and the actor Ricardo Fernandes, also located in Cidade de Deus, with activities aimed at children, teenagers and adults.

From the social project in Cidade de Deus, he made his way to “Grupo Nós do Morro”, another project that developed great actors, in Morro do Vidigal, under the director Guti Fraga. At this time, his work in theater led him to advertising.  After joining “Nós do Morro”, he made his film debut in Cacá Diegues’ film “5 x Favela”. The movie made it to the Cannes Film Festival in France. Also abroad, André was nominated for the best supporting actor award for another film, “Por este amor”, at the “Câmera Mundo Film Festival”, in the Netherlands.

From this point on, the natural path was TV, where he made his debut in “A Regra do Jogo”. Then he took part in “Gênesis” on Record TV and the notable documentary “Cadê o Amarildo” on Globo TV. On streaming platforms, he took part in the series “Cidade de Deus” on MAX. Even with his acting work, he hasn’t left his origins behind. He works as the production director of “Instituto Arteiros”, in Cidade de Deus, which carries out activities for children, teenagers and adults.