She achieved success on the telenovela Rebelde and as lead singer of the band, Rebeldes, which received one gold, two platinum, and one double-platinum album awards. Band members included Arthur Aguiar, Chay Suede, Micael Borges, Mel Fronckowiak and Sophia Abrahão. Lua performed about 90 shows over a span of three years, for a total of over 1.2 million spectators in Brazil.[5][6][7][8][9]

During her career, she received nine nominations for the Shorty Awards, winning once as ‘Vox Populi’, for having the most nominations in the “Actress” category. Blanco was also voted the most suitable artist for all editions of Capricho Awards and was the only person to win all the categories in which she was nominated.[10][11][12][13]

Early life

Lua was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on March 5, 1987, the daughter of musician Billy Blanco Junior and Maria Claudia Blanco.[14] She was the granddaughter of Billy Blanco, who was a successful bossa nova artist. Blanco was born in São Paulo and, at the time of her death, resided in Rio de Janeiro. She was raised in a large family of musicians; she has an older brother Pedro Sol and four younger siblings. They were raised in an American christian cult and were home-schooled in English and later learned Portuguese. The family moved often, including living in Peru for two years. The children were active in musical and social projects since early on.

She performed from a very young age in a musical group with her parents and siblings. Lua and her siblings recorded an album called O Trem do Arco-Íris (The Rainbow Train), in Portuguese and English, that was never released by Sony Music. Later, in 2004, Sony released a self-distributed Christmas album with the whole family, called Família Blanco – É Natal (It’s Christmas) (2004).[15]

Career

Early career (2005–2006)

At the time of the release of the Christmas album, Lua, and her family spent weekends and holidays performing in restaurants, shopping malls and in other small venues in Rio de Janeiro. Their set-list consisted mostly of bossa nova and The Beatles songs.

In 2006, at age 19, Lua got accepted into the Catholic University PUC-Rio, to study English and Portuguese translation. While in college, she met André Sigaud, Rique Meirelles and Carol Cabral, and together they founded a pop-rock band initially named Collecting Dreams, that was later renamed Lágrima Flor, a tribute to her grandfather’s renowned bossa nova hit. As lead singer and co-songwriter, Lua’s experience in the band helped her define her musical identity and voice, and the five years in which she performed and created with André and the rest of the band were the most artistically defining of her ears career.

Theatre, television and film (2008–2010)

Blanco took courses to improve her talents: singing lessons with Professor Carol Savoy; Theatrical Interpretation at Casa de Cultura Laura Alvim, with Daniel Herz (2008–2009); Diving Theatre, the CAL course with Isaac Bernat, Claudia Melle and Renata Frisina (2009); Interpretation Workshop with Walter Lima to Cinema (2009); training workshop for Rebelde on TV Record, with Roberto Bomtempo (2010); workshop with the casting director Sergio Penna (2013).

Blanco began acting in 2008; her first stage role was Isolde in Romeu e Isolda.[16] That same year, she appeared in the Rede Globo telenovela Três Irmãs (Three Sisters), playing surfer Bia.[17]

In 2009, Blanco returned to theater, cast as the character Mariana in the musical O Despertar da Primavera (Spring Awakening) by Duncan Sheik based on the play by Frank Wedekind; the musical was produced, translated and directed by Charles Moeller and Cláudio Botelho. Among the three thousand auditioned, Blanco and her siblings Pedro Sol and Estrela were among the 19 finalists. In 2010, they released a soundtrack album for the musical. Blanco also played rock-musician Joe in the Globo telenovela Malhação[16] and joined the cast of young presenters for TV Globinho.[18]

In 2010, Blanco played Grace in the Globo telenovela As Aventuras do Didi (The Adventures of Didi). She re-recorded the hits “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton and “Umbrella” by Rihanna, released on Relaxing Bossa – Volume 4. Blanco also came to rehearse for Natália in the play Confessions of a Teenager based on the book series of author Maria Mariana, but because of other commitments she could not continue in the show.[19]

In the beginning of 2011, she debuted as Talia in the feature film Teus Olhos Meus (Soulbound ), which was directed and written by Caio Sóh.[20]