Carmen Miranda

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Carmen Miranda as Carmen in That Night in Rio, wearing an elaborate gold costume with ruffled sleeves, large jewelry, and a tall pink feathered headpiece.

Quick Facts

Original name:: Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha

Born:: February 9, 1909, Marco de Canaveses, Portugal

Died:: August 5, 1955, Beverly Hills, California, U.S. (aged 46)

Married To:: Dave Sebastian (married 1947)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "The Gang's All Here" (1943); "Alô Alô Carnaval" (1936); "Banana-da-Terra" (1939); "Degraus da Vida" (1930); "Greenwich Village" (1944); "Springtime in the Rockies" (1942); "That Night in Rio" (1941); "The Milton Berle Show" (1952); "Four Jills in a Jeep" (1944); "Estudantes" (1935); "Scared Stiff" (1953); "Copacabana" (1947); "Nancy Goes to Rio" (1950); "Week-End in Havana" (1941); "Something for the Boys" (1944); "Alô, Alô, Brasil" (1935); "Laranja-da-China" (1940); "Doll Face" (1945); "A Date with Judy" (1948); "Down Argentine Way" (1940); "If I'm Lucky" (1946)

See all related content

Carmen Miranda

Portuguese-born singer and actress

Also known as: Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 5, 2026 •History

Carmen Miranda (born February 9, 1909, Marco de Canaveses, Portugal—died August 5, 1955, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.) was a Portuguese-born singer and actress whose alluring and flamboyant image made her internationally famous.

Miranda’s family moved to Brazil when she was an infant. In the 1930s she became the most popular recording artist in that country, where she also appeared in five films. Recruited by a Broadway producer, she starred in The Streets of Paris (1939) onstage before making her American film debut in Down Argentine Way (1940). Typecast as the “Brazilian Bombshell” and given such caricatural roles as “The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat” in Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943), she became the highest-paid female performer in the United States during World War II. Her final Hollywood film was Scared Stiff (1953).