From the age of 14 to 21, she worked as a dancer and participated in musicals and revues, including Minha Querida Lady (1962), starring Bibi Ferreira.

[4][5] In 1964, Pêra defeated Elis Regina in an audition for the musical Como Vencer na Vida sem Fazer Força, both still unknown to the public at the time.

[7] In 1969, she achieved great success in the role of the protagonist in the drama Fala Baixo Senão Eu Grito, by Leilah Assumpção, directed by Clóvis Bueno, the first play by the São Paulo playwright.

In addition to Carmen Miranda, she played on screen and on stage the roles of famous women, such as Maria Callas, Dalva de Oliveira, Coco Chanel and the former first lady of Brazil Sarah Kubitschek.

Alongside singer Simone[9] and Cláudia Raia, they made public their support for candidate Fernando Collor de Mello[10] in the 1989 elections.

In a statement made to the television program Fantástico in 2006, due to the success of her character Milu, in the telenovela Cobras & Lagartos, Pêra spoke about her career, revealing that she could not stand working with actors with bad breath and foot odor.

In January 2013, the series Pé na Cova premiered, in which Pêra played Darlene, a makeup artist at her ex-husband Ruço's (Miguel Falabella) funeral home, who lives in the suburbs.

[14] Pêra married for the first time at the age of seventeen to the musician Paulo Graça Mello, who died in a car accident in 1969.

She had spent the year undergoing medical treatment, combating wear and tear on her hip bones, which prevented her from acting.