Trivia

Besides Portuguese, Isabel speaks fluent English and French and some German.

Studied in Conservatório Nacional. Started the course at the age of 27.

Became a professional theater actress in 1983.

She's an actress, a writer and a theater director.

Mother of actor/writer Pedro Cavaleiro (b. 1972), with first husband, an air force pilot named Pedro. Isabel and Pedro married when she was age 17.

Has a grandson named Pedro (b. 2007) and a granddaughter named Carolina (b. February 2014), from her son's marriage to Cátia Ferreira.

Her mother, Amália de Medina Barbosa, died at the age of 86 on April 2011. Her father died when Isabel was 12 in Angola. Her parents were cousins.

Isabel grew up between Portugal and Angola.