Alice Braga

Born: April 15 1983
Where: São Paulo, Brazil

The actress first attracted international attention for the role of Angelica in the critically-acclaimed South American film City of God.

She has since appeared in movies ranging from sci-fi horror yarn I Am Legend opposite Will Smith to the drama Crossing Over with Harrison Ford.

Born into a theatrical family (her mother and aunt were both actresses), Braga was used to accompanying them on-set and landed early roles in TV commercials.

In 1998, Braga made her debut in a Portuguese-language short called Trampolim before returning to school to complete her education.

Her big break came in 2002 after she was cast as Angelica in City of God, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize.

She took more time off for university, and then followed it up with appearances in a pair of well-regarded South American films - 2005’s Lower City and 2006’s Only God Knows.

In 2006, she made her English-language debut with a starring role opposite Brendan Fraser, Mos Def and Catalina Sandino Moreno in Journey to the End of Night.

The following year, Braga was cast in the Will Smith blockbuster I Am Legend, and the drama Crossing Over (which stars Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and Ashley Judd).

Additionally, she was cast in the 2008 David Mamet film Redbelt, in which she appeared alongside Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor.