Fernando Ramos da Silva

Fernando Ramos da Silva (29 November 1967 - 25 August 1987) was a Brazilian actor who became renowned for his role as the eleven-year-old title character in Hector Babenco's 1981 film Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco, a documentary-style account of the street children of Brazil. Da Silva became a controversial figure after the film's release and found it hard to separate himself from his depiction as the street assailant Pixote.

On 25 August 1987, da Silva was fatally wounded in an alleged shootout with police. Police reports claim that was da Silva was resisting arrest, but there are conflicting reports from eyewitnesses who claim da Silva was unarmed.

Born on 29 November 1967 in São Paulo, da Silva was the sixth of ten children. When he was eight years old his father, João Alves, died, leaving him with his single mother, Josefa Carvalho da Silva, and the rest of his siblings. They lived a poor neighborhood called Diadema on the outskirts of São Paulo.

As the opening of Pixote states, his upbringing was similar to that of the role he'd become famous for playing. His mother received a pension of less than $10 a month. The family sold lottery tickets to generate a livable income.

After attending grade school briefly, he soon joined a theater group and began acting in plays at the age of eight.

The biggest break of his young life came when da Silva was picked out of 1,300 applicants by Hector Babenco to play the role of Pixote.

Pixote was released in 1981 and would become Babenco's first internationally successful film.

The film follows four young boys through their hellish stay in a dictatorial reformatory and their subsequent breakout. After escaping, they return to their lives as children of the street, pickpockets, prostitutes, drug dealers, and, eventually, murderers.

Controversial aspects of the film include the brutal depiction of sex involving children, scenes of children committing acts of murder and drug trafficking, and Lilica, a 17-year-old transvestite major character who sells his body to older men.

Pixote became a huge international success, even being nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes, although it only achieved moderate success in its native country of Brazil. It is estimated that the film was screened for 2.5 million viewers in 20 countries.

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