Tom Cavalcante

Tom Cavalcante (born Antônio José Rodrigues Cavalcante, 8 March 1962) is a Brazilian actor and comedian. He was born in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. He began his career in 1976, performing in bars in his home state of Ceará doing humour skits and impressions of various artists.

In 1982, Cavalcante went to Rio de Janeiro and asked for a job on television but was turned down. In 1984, he got a job as a radio broadcaster at Rádio Verdes Mares, where he presented the comedy show Ligação Direta for five years, and in 1987 he presented the television news programme VM Notícias on the Rede Globo affiliate TV Verdes Mares. In 1989, he met Chico Anysio, who invited him to Rio de Janeiro to participate in the Chico Anysio Show, and later in Escolinha do Professor Raimundo, where he played the drunkard João Canabrava, a character he created himself. In 1996, Daniel Filho invited him to participate in Sai de Baixo, playing the doorman Ribamar, and from 1999 to 2001 he worked in Globo's comedy shows Zorra Total and Megatom.

Unsatisfied with his treatment by Globo, Cavalcante resigned and signed with TV Record, where he presented his own programme, Show do Tom, from 2004 to 2011. In 2013, he and his family moved to the United States, where he worked on the short film Pizza Me, Mafia, directed by Gui Pereira. He returned to Brazil in 2014. Since 2016, he has presented on Globosat's cable channel Multishow in the shows #PartiuShopping and Multi Tom, where he performed as several characters, including Tomsonaro, an impression of president Jair Bolsonaro, and starred in the 2017 comedy film Os Parças.