Today we’d like to introduce you to Rafaela Goncalves.
Hi Rafaela, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hi there! My name is Rafaela Goncalves, and I’m a Brazilian actress and producer based in LA.
I was born and raised in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, where my passion for the arts began early. I explored singing, piano, ballet, acting, sports, and martial arts, and at 15, I published my first book at one of Latin America’s largest book fairs. That same year, I had the honor of being a torchbearer for my city during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
After high school, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and earned my bachelor’s degree in Acting with honors from AMDA in Hollywood. I later completed my MFA in Production—also with honors—while continuing to act in my own projects and taking additional training in stage combat and languages.
In 2023, I completed a short film based on my first book as my thesis project. It now serves as the concept for a feature film in development. Over the past eight years in California, I’ve worked on numerous projects as both an actress and producer. Highlights include starring in I Watched You Become Death, which has won festival awards and is currently in distribution talks; appearing in a Fox Sports and Volkswagen commercial for the 2022 World Cup with Clint Dempsey; and playing a supporting role in Blow for Blow, directed by Rigan Machado, where I also co-produced and was 1st AD. The film premieres at TCL Chinese Theatres in April 2025.
I’m continuing to collaborate with Rigan Machado on his next feature, which I’ll act in, produce, and write. We begin filming later this year. Through my company, Half N Rafa Productions, I’m developing several projects, including a short on the festival circuit and a feature with fellow Ribeirão-Pretano Marcos Felipe Rossi, scheduled to shoot in early 2026.
I’ve always aimed high, and now that I’ve officially launched my career as an actress and producer in the U.S., I’m excited to see where else in the world I might go!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been like a really good book: full of chapters, and you don’t know what comes next, but you’re excited to keep reading!
I’d say my first “chapter” was my life in Brazil, everything that prepared me to move to the US for college—which was then my chapter two: the so dreamed acting school in Hollywood… Four years and a pandemic later, I graduated and got to put all that training into practice in the “real world.” Chapter 2 led me to want more from this industry, and so I moved to Chapter 3: my master’s in Film and TV Producing.
I’m currently in Chapter 4: acting, producing, and honestly still learning so much even after my degrees, and I couldn’t be happier. Who knows what’s next?
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I know I’m not the first actor to ever get into producing as well, but I do think that’s one of the things that sets me apart. Those two sides really do complement each other, and having that firsthand awareness of what goes on in front of and behind the camera is so useful. Another thing that has nothing to do with my profession, but with the person I am really, is how much I care about my crew and cast, my people. I’m always making sure everyone is feeling great and being taken care of; that’s what matters most to me because the project, I know we’ll finish it, I trust the people I hired, I chose them for a reason. And, if they’re happy and well, that only benefits the project in the end, too!
What are your plans for the future?
I just had my first official film festival run as a producer (which is actually still going on) with my film “If the Shoe Fits,” and I just can’t wait to do it again with three very special shorts that are currently in post. One was my thesis for my MFA degree, which is a proof of concept for a feature in development, and the other two were collaborations with two of my favorite filmmakers! Another project I’m really looking forward to is my next feature film with Rigan Machado, which is going to be shot soon—we just had a special screening of our first feature, “Blow for Blow,” in April at the TCL Chinese Theater, and it was such a dream come true!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.halfnrafaproductions.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsrafaelagoncalves/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaela-goncalves-162a402b8/
Image Credits
Sharis Daneri
Omar Alejandro del Rio
Vyshnav Baburaj
Kevin Alexander
Robert Nguyen
