Abreu was arrested during a meeting of the União Nacional dos Estudantes, belonged to the Ação Popular and gave logistical support to the Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares, a leftist group that fought against the military regime.

They both taught at the federal university in that city, but soon moved to Porto Alegre, where he produced musicals and starred in children's plays.

Then, after the success of the movie A Intrusa (The Intruder) (1979), filmed in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, he started work as an actor in TV Globo's soap-operas.

In 2006 he partnered with director Luiz Arthur Nunes to create Fala, Zé!, a theatrical monologue in which he critically reflects on his generation, crossing biography and fiction.

[5] On March 8, 2019, he was jokingly proclaimed as "president" of the Federative Republic of Brazil in an act of protest at Galeao Airport near Rio.