Maria Sofia dos Santos Gomes was born on 31 August 1869 in the parish of São José, in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

She was the daughter of the journalist Manuel Domingues dos Santos and the actor Maria do Céu e Silva, who were unmarried.

At the age of 30 she married António Luís da Cunha Gomes.

She debuted professionally at the age of 17, in 1886, at the Teatro dos Recreios, in the French comedy Maris qui pleurent (Husbands who cry), translated into Portuguese by Maximiliano de Azevedo.

[1][2][3] Santos excelled in operettas, comic operas, farce and vaudeville.