An actress, filmmaker and TV personality, Marina Person became known as a VJ on Brazilian MTV from 1995 to 2011. During those years of near-daily television reporting, she sculpted an on-screen persona that was effervescent and glamourous without losing depth and relatability.
Marina rose to become a key interlocutor of pop-cultural life in Brazil, but as her auspicious run at MTV wound down, she plotted her next move. Following the footsteps of her filmmaker parents Luis Sérgio Person and Regina Jehá, she directed the theatrical features Person (2004), which dealt with her father’s personal and historical legacy, and Califórnia (2015), her narrative debut reflecting on her youth in the tumultuous Brazil of the 1980s.
Directing film and television is now Person’s primary activity, and so it came as a suprise to her when I offered her the lead in Isabel (2026). Why the choice? Marina Person embodies qualities of our shared city of São Paulo: she is scrappy, fast-moving, determined… You want to be her friend, you want to root for her.
And for someone who has been so versatile and succesful in her career, I was interested in exploring the idea of failure and frustration with her, to find her more vulnerable side. I’m grateful to her for accepting the challenge, for going deep into the wine cellar with me.
Gabe Klinger