full look. À LA GARÇONNE
There is a type of pressure that comes with being handed the reins of a Brazilian primetime novela — the novela das nove, the slot that has, for decades, functioned as a national ritual. It’s a shared appointment for tens of millions of viewers a night. It is a genre built on grand gestures and grander emotions, and leading one for the first time is less a job than an inheritance. Leticia Colin, who is years into a career that began before she was old enough to fully understand what she was starting, has just taken it on.
As Adriana in ‘Quem Ama Cuida’ — a physiotherapist stripped of her job, her home, and her husband within the show’s opening episodes, only to claw her way back from prison and betrayal toward something resembling justice — Colin is doing more than anchoring a hit. She is renegotiating what a leading lady is allowed to be: angry, flawed, resentful, unfinished. It’s a role that asks her to sit inside emptiness and loss, territory she admits has always pulled at her, long before she had the language or the craft to explore it on screen.
That range is, in many ways, the throughline of her career. Colin has moved between television, film, and theatre — from ‘Novo Mundo’ to ‘Onde Está Meu Coração’, which earned her an International Emmy nomination. She speaks about comedy and devastation with the same seriousness, treating both as forms of intimacy: ways of getting close to an audience, or to herself.
Ahead of a pivotal chapter — one she is stepping into as one of Brazilian television’s most closely watched actresses — Colin sat down with Schön! to talk about rebuilding a character from nothing, the costumes that tell her who someone is before she does, and more.
jacket. Prada
skirt. Penha Maia
boots. Fernando Pires
opposite
full look. Zimmerman
shoes. Valentino
sunglasses. Swarovski
You’re currently leading TV Globo’s primetime slot as Adriana in ‘Quem Ama Cuida’ — your first lead role in a novela das 9. After years of standout supporting and ensemble work, what does it feel like to carry a story on your shoulders for the first time at that level?
It’s beautiful to be the backbone of such a powerful story. To honour the tradition of the Brazilian telenovela and bring conversations about justice into the homes of 40 million people every day — not to mention everyone watching us on streaming platforms. She is a truly Brazilian character: a woman who takes care of everyone around her and supports her household. She loves her work as a physiotherapist because she understands the revolutionary power of care — of listening to others and, above all, of healing pain.
I’m also interested in exploring new directions within the archetype of the leading lady — finding new possibilities and desires within such a powerful symbol of our dramatic tradition. That has been incredibly stimulating. Rethinking femininity, rethinking vulnerability, rethinking the driving forces behind action. Exploring anger, resentment, and mistakes to tell this story in a richer, more complex way.
Adriana loses almost everything in the first episodes — her job, her home, her husband — before fighting her way back. What did you need to find in yourself to play a woman rebuilding from that kind of devastation?
Emptiness and loss have always intrigued me deeply. I’ve never experienced that kind of deprivation myself, but through empathy, I’m able to imagine it and embody those manifestations of profound pain. It’s no coincidence that I love Beckett and identify with the starkness and loneliness of his characters. Ever since I was a child, I’ve often felt out of place, as though I didn’t quite belong wherever I was. That also helps me tap into that feeling of helplessness and abandonment. The rest comes from researching references, mimesis, and imagination.
full look. Rick Owens
boots. Femme LA
opposite
full look. Gi Macedo
shoes. Valentino
You’ve moved between television, film, and theatre with real ease — ‘Novo Mundo,’ ‘Segundo Sol,’ ‘Todas as Flores,’ ‘Onde Nascem os Fortes.’ Is there a medium that feels most like “home” to you, or does each one ask something different of you as a performer?
I wouldn’t exactly call any of them “home,” because even though they are all environments I’m familiar with, there is always a fair amount of discomfort throughout the creative process. I think film and television series are where we have more tools and more time to think through and build the scenes.
Your International Emmy nomination for ‘Onde Está Meu Coração’ introduced you to audiences well beyond Brazil. How has that global recognition shifted the way you think about your career, or the kinds of stories you want to tell next?
Our industry is fantastic! I’ve always made a point of seeking out and engaging with work from different countries, beyond the Americas. Exchanging ideas, having conversations, and discovering both the differences and the common ground between cultures and different approaches to storytelling is what has fascinated me the most. Ultimately, being around interesting people who share the same passion for what we do is incredibly stimulating.
full look. Coperni
boots. Fernando Pires
opposite
jacket. Prada
skirt. Penha Maia
boots. Fernando Pires
Brazilian storytelling — the novela in particular — has such a distinct emotional register and pace. How do you think that tradition is being reinterpreted for a generation watching on streaming, in fragments, across borders?
People love what is made with authenticity. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a TikTok video or a TV Globo masterpiece: wherever there is heart and genuine commitment, there is a connection — and the audience stays with you.
You’ve played everything from period drama to broad comedy, most notably in ‘Os Saltimbancos Trapalhões.’ What draws you to comedy, and does it use a different muscle than the dramatic work you’re best known for?
Comedy creates intimacy very quickly. It brings people together. And few things in life are as pleasurable as a good laugh! I love laughing while I’m working, because when I do, I feel that what we’re creating will genuinely be funny to someone else too. And beyond that, being able to dance with the ridiculous — even your own — is something very special. Few professions invite you to do that as much as acting does.
full look. Gi Macedo
shoes. Valentino
opposite
full look. Zimmerman
shoes. Valentino
sunglasses. Swarovski
Fashion clearly plays a part in how you present your characters and yourself publicly — you’ve just shot this editorial with us. How do you think about the relationship between costume, image, and identity when you’re building a role?
Costume is essential in shaping a character. I usually wait until the character’s first fitting before I really start making choices about who she is. It begins with the clothes — the type of fabric, the cut, the shoes we choose for her to walk in. If the costume designer is talented and proposes something very different from what I had originally imagined, I completely rethink my approach and follow the direction of what they intuitively understood the character to be.
Is there a role — Brazilian or international, past or present — that you look at and think, “I have to find my way into that story eventually”?
I carry with me many performances that have shaped and inspired me. There are filmmakers whose work — Almodóvar, Tarantino, Bong Joon-ho, Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, Luca Guadagnino, Paweł Pawlikowski, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Bárbara Paz — makes me long to inhabit those deeply distinctive and captivating worlds.
Looking at where you are right now, with ‘Quem Ama Cuida’ just underway and this level of visibility at home and abroad — what does success look like for you at this stage, beyond ratings and awards?
It means having even more freedom to choose the passion projects I truly want to pursue, while also having more time to spend with my son and my family. That is what power means to me: being able to choose how we spend our time.
full look. Rick Owens
boots. Femme LA
photography. Cassia Tabatini @ Beltrame MGMT
fashion. Gi Macedo @ Capa MGT
talent. Leticia Colin
hair + make up. Dani Hernandez @ MLAGES
retouch. Rz Studio
pr. Stratosfera
photography assistant. Renato Machado + Marcelo Andrade
