Jesuita Barbosa looks behind the scenes at Nei Matogrosso and Jobe’s criticism of the film Pantanal

“I have courage, I am full of courage,” declares the actor. Jesuit Barbosa At a cafe in the center of São Paulo, where he lives. His professional choices (and victories) prove what he says.

In 2025, Nei Matogrosso’s performance in the film Homem com H attracted attention and received praise from critics. The film attracted more than 600,000 people to theaters and became one of the most-watched films on Netflix. “After watching some scenes, I think I’m wrong,” he said of the praise on social media, responding with humility and a shy smile as he ate pasta with pesto and drank fizzy mate tea.

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The Jesuits always wanted more. He was born in Salgueiro, Certan, Pernambuco, and spent his childhood in Parnamirim. At the age of 10, he moved with his family to Fortaleza, state of Ceará, where he began acting in his school’s theater group. Although his father was a police chief and wanted his son to pursue a more traditional career, he chose to pursue a degree in theater.

In 2008, the collective “As Travestidas”, led by actor Silvero Pereira, was one of his first experiences in presentation, and as its name suggests, it had already deconstructed the image of the fearless man from the hinterlands. It was there that Jesuita created drag queen Monique Frazin at the age of 17. He joined the troupe until 2010, when invitations to film began to appear, playing roles that were far from macho in Pernambuco. He played a gay prospector in Hayter Daria’s Serra Pelada. “Tatuagem” by Hilton Lacerda, a soldier who has a romance with a theater artist. He won awards and his path led to TV Globo.

I was the boy who didn’t belong to the general group and was always on the side. But I had a certain sense of pride. Because I knew that somewhere along the line this would teach me something and give me value.

The list includes “Amores Roubados”, “O Reb”, “Sete Vidas”, “Ligaçoes d’Angelosas”, “Justisa”, “Everything Will Be as It Was Before”, “Honde Semem Os Fortes” (again, including the transgressive role of Ramirinho, the son of a strict judge, who is hiding a secret from the drag queen Shakira de Serton). His last soap opera role was in Jove in Pantanal, which divided opinions, but he assures that he doesn’t mind the negative reviews. “They made a lot of comparisons, especially since it was a remake. I already knew it was going to be a character with this vulnerability, and I wasn’t offended at all. I wanted to build Jove delicately,” he says.

However, Ney’s interpretation in the film directed by Esmir Filho did not cause even negative comments. It’s common on social media to see video compilations of actors and old recordings of singers side-by-side to compare performances, and the public’s conclusion is that they are actually very similar. The Jesuits do not agree with this. “I thought it was completely different. I said, ‘Guys, this is so wrong.’ But I had a positive reaction, and as I approached Ney, I felt a calming feeling…He himself told me that it was completely different. So I decided not to imitate anything and to do it my own way,” he says.

He acknowledges the physical similarities between himself and the artist (“We’re skinny”) and says they both share doubts. “It’s probably about family, about understanding that you need to have a different kind of relationship, and about being away from the city and being on your own,” he says.

However, the Jesuits assure Ney that he had a free childhood, unlike his strict military upbringing. “There was a time when they tried to prevent me from going to a place of mannerism, and that’s what I remember most,” he confesses about his parents’ upbringing. “My body was shaped based on what they told me it should be: the way I run, the way I hold my arms, the way I hold a notebook. I was always observing, and Nei (childhood) was the same way. He used to say that,” he says.

The production process was already a little violent for me. I didn’t realize he was attacking me. As is often the case, sometimes we work so much that we don’t realize if we are overstepping our bounds.

I won my freedom. The 34-year-old is among the first generation of Globo’s top actors to freely embrace their sexuality after decades of oppression by lovers who could never identify as gay. Sometimes he appears in public with his boyfriend. “I take that as a compliment. When I was doing ‘Pantanal,’ they published a photo of the boy I was dating. We were kissing on the beach. I thought that photo was very meaningful. It was important,” he says, speaking slowly and with the blank expression of someone looking back on his trajectory with satisfaction. Like Ney, he made a break with his past at the time.

The importance of limits

Jesuit assures us that today we have control over our bodies and know how far we can go without harming ourselves. It wasn’t always like this. During the recording of “Praia do Futuro” with Wagner Moura in 2013, he went all out in the polar ice running scene of the northern hemisphere. I was tired, but I ran a lot. Wagner asked why he would do that. “I started to realize that he was right. The camera wasn’t going to leave me. Before, physically, maybe because I was young, I had to take my body to pieces. Now I know I can go down other creative paths,” he reflects.

With maturity comes self-care. Courage doesn’t mean always doing your best. “I found a different way to create, and I’m happy about that. I no longer believe in getting into the story, being involved…like starting to cry and not being able to stop when the scene is over. For me, the scene is over and the tears are over.”

We are also trying to put limits on the use of technology. He even admitted to talking to ChatGPT, saying he was “creating a robot” that could successfully communicate with him. At the same time, they say they are concerned about the algorithms of websites and social networks. “I think about the question of God and the machine a lot. But I’m still a person who’s scared of algorithms. Sometimes I think it’s a really scary, slightly fascist path. I don’t understand who makes the decisions, who decides what gets read and what doesn’t. How is the information presented? That worries me.”

And he says he’s tired of using social media. “I’m a bit anti-social, which I can empathize with, but I really enjoy having my own space,” he says. This period of isolation coincided with the preparation and performance of the show “Sogno Eletrico” at the Sesc Villa Mariana. “I’ve managed to maintain a routine of coming home, eating well, and sleeping. I didn’t have that before, I scattered. Theater is sacred,” he says.

He has also stated that he wants to focus on himself and study theater in the coming months, perhaps traveling to New York. In the meantime, he spends his free time watching movies, reading books, and trying to get back into writing. He was fascinated by the stories of French writer Edouard Louis. “When I was in college, I was writing novels and I was really good at it. I don’t know why I stopped. I think I started thinking that work was something else and I started getting confused. But I’m trying to write some things, like a movie script.” He also mentions Bert Gil, the singer Madonna, and the idol of St. Sebastian, his favorite story being that of St. Sebastian, who became a Christian martyr, famous for his unwavering faith, and praised as a soldier who protected us from hunger and war.

Like a saint, he assures us that he is not afraid. The entire speech is based on the courage mentioned at the beginning of the conversation. “I’ve managed to understand my disability and the conflict it causes with myself. I’m paralyzed with fear. I don’t want to be scared of anything anymore.”

Fearlessness can be a result of maturity or self-awareness. The Jesuit, who he assures no one knows, uses his limitations as a springboard to learn more about himself and move forward, just as he has always done.

I value memories very much. For me, freedom is being able to remember myself, my roots, and how I grew up. There were also difficulties, but the impression was that I always wanted to understand myself, and that it was not so easy.