Rio de Janeiro
Bitter and angry were the two personality traits of Zinha that Samantha Jones, 26, immediately listed when asked about the character she plays in “Renascer” (Globo). But the daughter of Jupará (Evaldo Macarrão) and Flor (Julia Lemos) and best friend of João Pedro (Juan Paiva) also has her charms. “She is definitely a strong woman,” describes the actress. “What we lack in patience, we make up for in other feelings, such as loyalty, companionship, affection and love.”
Samantha laughs when she hears that Zinha is not “that girl” that the public roots for in a soap opera, and agrees. However, she believes (and crosses her fingers) that she will be better understood after discovering her own sexuality with the arrival of Professor Lu (Eli Ferreira). “She’ll kind of loosen up. She’ll also become stronger, more determined,” she observes.
The actress does not elaborate on the future of her relationship with the teacher, especially because Zinha is also expected to be involved with another character (to be played by an actress who has not yet been cast), who will enter the soap opera. “I don’t know many things”, says Samantha, who is bisexual and now lives with her girlfriend, also actress Manu Morelli.
“We’ve been together for a year and a half and we have a good relationship, with a lot of complicity”, said Samantha, who has no problem talking about her personal life. “What bothers me is an unbridled invasion and, fortunately, that doesn’t happen to me. I receive more messages of affection and respect than attacks”, says the actress, who was born in Salvador and raised in the city of Senhor do Bonfim, in the hinterland. Bahian, and moved to Rio eight years ago to attend performing arts college.
Since then, Samantha has worked on “Um Lugar ao Sol” (2021), “Todas as Flores” (2022) and is on her third job at Globo. “‘Renascer’ is incredible. It has a beautiful text, with many layers, and allows us to deal with all of them, and for the public to access these various layers”, she praises, who says she is very grateful for Zinha, a character who did not existed in the original soap opera by Benedito Ruy Barbosa, shown in 1993.
The story was about a male character, called Zinho (played by Cosme dos Santos), and focused more on the hatred he felt for José Augusto, José Inocêncio’s eldest son. “The theme in this sense is the same”, says Samantha about the remake. “She doesn’t forgive Zé Augusto for the death of her father and, consequently, all her suffering, since her mother married another man and left her on the farm. There’s a lot of accumulated anger (laughs).”
