Fernando Meirelles was born in a middle class family in São Paulo City, Brazil, where he developed an interest in filmmaking alongside his studies in architecture at the University of São Paulo.
With a group of friends, he started producing experimental videos and video art, winning numerous awards in Brazilian video festivals. This led to the formation of a small independent company called Olhar Eletrônico.
Meirelles worked in independent television for nine years before transitioning to publicity and commercials in the eighties. He also became the director of a popular children's television show, Ra Tim Bum, with 180 episodes.
In the early 1990s, he co-founded O2 Filmes production company with Paulo Morelli and Andrea Barata Ribeiro, which became the largest production company in Brazil, covering development, distribution, and post-production facilities.
Meirelles' first feature film, "Menino Maluquinho 2: A Aventura," was released in 1998, followed by "Domésticas" in 2001, which exposed the lives of five Brazilian maids in São Paulo and their secret dreams and desires.
In 1997, he read Paulo Lins' best-seller "Cidade de Deus/City of God" and decided to adapt it into a film, despite its complex storyline involving over 350 characters. The film, written by Bráulio Mantovani, was a huge success in Brazil and gained international recognition after screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.
"Cidade de Deus/City of God" won over 50 awards from film festivals and societies worldwide, including four Academy Award nominations and a Best Director nomination for Meirelles in 2004.
Since 2002, Meirelles has split his time between international feature films and TV series in Brazil, directing projects such as "The Constant Gardner," "Blindness," "360," and several TV series for TV Globo and HBO.
Apart from cinema, Meirelles has also directed opera, including Bizet's "Pearl Fishers," and was one of the directors of the 2016 Olympic opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2019, he finished directing "The Two Popes" for Netflix and began filming a scientific documentary on soil.
