Wagner Moura became the first Brazilian performer to win best actor in a drama at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards and he seized the opportunity to remind audiences about the significance of “values”.
Winning the award for his leading performance in The Secret Agent, the 49-year-old global star reiterated the film’s message.
“The Secret Agent is a film about memory — or the lack of memory — and generational trauma. I think that if trauma can be passed along generations, values can too,” he said.
Further acknowledging harsh times, he added, “So this is to the ones that are sticking with their values in difficult moments.”
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent is a political thriller set in a Brazil ruled by dictatorship in 1977, while the story is centered on a former professor who becomes embroiled in state tensions.
Moura, born in Salvador, Brazil, sealed his first Golden Globes win on a second nomination, with his work in Narcos earning him his debut nod for best actor in a TV series — drama back in 2016.
A decade later, his win as the first-ever Brazilian actor came after he additionally became the first Brazilian nominated in the category.
In the drama category, Wagner Moura was nominated alongside the likes of Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams), Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein), Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners), and Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere).
