From Brazil to the World! The Best-Selling Brazilian Telenovelas Abroad

If you turn on the TV in the afternoon, you will come across the rerun of Caminho das Índias (a 2009 drama by Glória Perez) on Rede Globo; Prova de Amor (2005 by Tiago Santiago) and Dona Xepa (2013 by Gustavo Reiz) on Record; and, rerun for the third time on SBT, the tireless Pérola Negra (1998 by Enrique Torres, Henrique Zambelli and Crayton Sarzy).

Between late afternoon and early evening, there is the 23rd season of the teen series Malhação — Seu Lugar no Mundo (by Emanoel Jacobina), followed by the love story that transcends centuries in Além do Tempo (by Elizabeth Jhin). To close out the Rede Globo lineup, there is also the romantic I Love Paraisópolis (by Alcides Nogueira and Mário Teixeira), the battle between good and evil in A Regra do Jogo (by João Emanuel Carneiro) and the Brazilian version of Fifty Shades of Grey, Verdades Secretas (by Walcyr Carrasco).

Among current dramas, the biblical telenovela Os Dez Mandamentos (by Vívian de Oliveira), on Record, is considered the network’s biggest hit since Vidas em Jogo (2012 by Cristianne Fridman). On the channel where Chaves reigns, children’s dramas dominate the evening schedule with Cúmplices de um Resgate (2015) and Carrossel (2012), both adapted by Íris Abravanel.

Today, TV offers a packed menu of options for anyone who loves a good telenovela. In total, between reruns and originals, there are 12 Brazilian productions. Of them, only Caminho das Índias ranks among the dramas most widely shown in other countries. Will the others ever reach that milestone?

See below which are the best-selling telenovelas abroad:

11. Laços de Família

In 2015, Laços de Família turned 15. Want an example of how Manoel Carlos’s drama made history? If you hear “Love by Grace” by Lara Fabian, you will go right back to the scene in which Camila (Carolina Dieckmann) shaves her head, cries and moves everyone around her, in the moment of her character’s fight against leukemia. Before that, at 45, Helena (Vera Fischer) falls in love with Cadu (Reynaldo Gianecchini), a 25-year-old man. Amid great dilemmas, Camila also falls for him and the two soon get together, to the dismay of Íris (Deborah Secco), who torments Helena’s daughter and calls her “Judas.” The drama of Capitu (Giovanna Antonelli), Danilo’s cheating (Alexandre Borges), the surly Pedro (José Mayer), the impossible Clara (Regiane Alves) and the literary Miguel (Tony Ramos) made Laços de Família an unforgettable telenovela, sold to 66 countries.

10. Mulheres de Areia

Twins Ruth (the good one) and Raquel (the bad one) further cemented the work of Glória Pires, who played both characters. Raquel impersonates her sister and wins the heart of Marcos (Guilherme Fontes). Tonho da Lua (Marcos Frota) discovers the fraud, but because he has a mental illness, he is tormented by the villain, who threatens and frightens him. A twist comes when the evil twin suffers an accident at sea and is presumed dead. Ruth takes her place beside Marcos, never suspecting that her sister is still alive and thirsty for revenge. Written by the talented Ivani Ribeiro, the drama has been shown in 63 countries.

9. Insensato Coração

Once again, Glória Pires stole the show as the villain Norma. At first, the character was a quiet, simple woman who worked as a nurse. After being humiliated and deceived by con artist Léo (Gabriel Braga Nunes), she is jailed by mistake and swears she will make him pay for everything he did. On the other side of the drama, Pedro (Eriberto Leão) is a pilot who falls in love with Marina (Paolla Oliveira) — without knowing she is the best friend of his fiancée, Luciana (Fernanda Machado). Because of a scheme by Léo, the pilot’s brother, Pedro is involved in a plane crash in which his fiancée dies. Besides becoming paraplegic, the young man loses Marina to his rival and is still blamed for Luciana’s death. Written by Gilberto Braga and Ricardo Linhares in 2011, the drama has been bought by 68 countries.

8. Por Amor

Of the three Helenas played by Regina Duarte, the one in Por Amor was the most memorable. In several interviews, the actress admitted she still thinks about what the character did in 1997. Don’t remember? Pregnant at the same time as her daughter, Helena and Maria Eduarda (Gabriela Duarte) give birth on the same night. Duda’s baby is born dead, so with the help of doctor César (Marcelo Serrado), the matriarch swaps the living child for the other one. After that scene, the family drama of Por Amor was never the same. Helena, Atílio (Antônio Fagundes), Marcelo (Fábio Assunção) and Eduarda know it well. The drama by Manoel Carlos is considered a classic by the author and was shown in 70 countries.

7. Escrava Isaura

Germany, Indonesia, Latvia, Russia, Turkey, China, Portugal and New Zealand were some of the 80 countries to which the telenovela has been exported. In Cuba, the government even suspended energy rationing during the broadcast of the drama by Gilberto Braga. The 1977 drama is an adaptation of the novel A Escrava Isaura by Bernardo Guimarães, portraying the story of Isaura (Lucélia Santos), an educated, noble white slave who is the victim of a ruthless man, the merciless Leôncio (Rubens de Falco).

6. Caminho das Índias

The trips to and from India marked 2009. On one side of the world, in Rajasthan, there was young Maya (Juliana Paes), a woman who falls in love with the dalit (untouchable) Bahuan (Márcio Garcia) and marries Raj (Rodrigo Lombardi) while pregnant by him. With confused feelings, Maya and Raj take time to accept what each awakens in the other. In Brazil, the Cadore family must deal with psychopath Yvone (Letícia Sabatella), who scams Raul (Alexandre Borges) and takes the money and husband of her best friend, Silvia (Débora Bloch). The villain’s mistake comes when she crosses paths with Melissa Cadore (Christiane Torloni) and becomes the lover of Ramiro (Humberto Martins), the husband of the snob. The drama was so praised that it won the 2009 International Emmy for Best Telenovela. It is also one of Globo’s best-selling dramas (90 countries have aired the work by Glória Perez).

5. O Clone

Between 2001 and 2002, O Clone caused a stir by addressing human cloning. Diogo and Lucas (Murilo Benício) were twin brothers, but the first was the favorite of their father Leônidas (Reginaldo Faria) and godfather Albieri (Juca de Oliveira). When he dies in a helicopter accident, Albieri takes advantage of Lucas’s visit to the office to remove a mole and secretly saves his cells to clone him and bring his beloved godson back. By performing artificial insemination on Deusa (Adriana Lessa), she gives birth to Léo (Murilo Benício), the first human clone in history. In the romantic part of the story, Jade (Giovanna Antonelli) and Lucas fall in love in Morocco. Amid many vows of love, the two give in among the ruins, but fate soon separates them. Afraid of being excluded from her family for committing many sins against her religion, she is forced to marry Said (Dalton Vigh), with whom she has a daughter, Khadija (Carla Diaz). Time passes and the plots intertwine so that the past is never forgotten. A hit in Brazil, O Clone, by Glória Perez, marked generations and was sold to 91 countries.

4. Terra Nostra

Giuliana (Ana Paula Arósio) and Matteo (Thiago Lacerda) met on the same ship bound for Brazil. During the era of Italian immigration, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Europeans came to work on coffee plantations in search of better living conditions. During the voyage, the protagonists fall in love and share a torrid night of love. With wedding vows and promises of a life together, they did not expect to lose each other when the ship arrived at the Port of Santos. Each went a different way and married someone else. Yet Giuliana did not expect to be pregnant by Matteo. Even so, she marries Marco Antônio (Marcello Antony) and has the child. The problem is that, at childbirth, the Italian woman faints and her son is taken to an orphanage under the pretense that he was stillborn. Shown in more than 95 countries, the drama by Benedito Ruy Barbosa marked the transition from the late 1990s to the early 2000s in Globo’s primetime.

3. A Vida da Gente

In 2011, Lícia Manzo and Marcos Bernstein did not just write a telenovela; they paid a tribute to life. Ana (Fernanda Vasconcellos) was the favorite daughter of Eva (Ana Beatriz Nogueira). After getting involved in a forbidden love with Rodrigo (Rafael Cardoso), her foster brother, Ana suffers an accident and spends four years in a coma, with a baby daughter to raise. Manuela (Marjorie Estiano), also Eva’s daughter and rejected by her mother, starts caring for Júlia (Jesuela Moro), her niece-daughter, alongside Rodrigo. During a time jump, the two fall in love and raise the little girl together. But as life always surprises, Ana wakes up and a love triangle forms until everyone understands their true feelings. With exquisite dialogue and a different perspective on family values, A Vida da Gente was sold to 98 countries.

2. Da Cor do Pecado

“That brown, fragrant and tasty body you have. A slender body, the color of sin that feels so good.” In 2004, it was hard to watch the drama by João Emanuel Carneiro without humming the theme song that gives the telenovela its title, performed by Luciana Mello. Besides that, Paco (Reynaldo Gianecchini) and Preta (Taís Araújo) lived a love above any prejudice. A fake death, the disappearance of Apolo — Paco’s twin brother — the Sardinha family, millionaire Afonso (Lima Duarte) and the beautiful, blonde villain Bárbara Campos Sodré (Giovanna Antonelli) made Da Cor do Pecado a huge hit. The drama has been sold to about 100 countries.

Credit: Arquivo/TV Globo. Actors Reynaldo Gianecchini and Taís Araujo in a scene from Da Cor do Pecado.

1. Avenida Brasil

The clash between Nina (Débora Falabella) and Carminha (Adriana Esteves) brought Brazil to a halt in front of the TV. Who doesn’t remember the scene of the heroine being buried alive or her return to Tufão’s mansion (Murilo Benício), which marked the turning point of the story? Carmem Lúcia got a taste of her own medicine and, from the hundredth episode onward, the plot was pure action, as Zezé (Cacau Protásio) would say. Also written by João Emanuel Carneiro, Avenida Brasil aired in 2012 and takes first place on the list of best-selling telenovelas abroad. In total, 134 countries have bought the drama.