Made his debut in the circus at age five in 1914, where he learned to play the violin, besides being a clown, trapeze artist, acrobat and actor.

Made his debut in the revues in 1932, in the play Calma, Gegê, satirizing dictator Getúlio Vargas.

Made his debut in the cinema in Noites Cariocas (1935), although he had been an extra in a previous film (A Voz do Carnaval, 1933).

He reached utmost fame with the comic duo he formed with Grande Otelo, in comedies directed by Carlos Manga and Watson Macedo.

[1] His body was laid in the main hall of the Assembleia Legislativa do Rio de Janeiro, with the presence of more than two thousand people.