Carmelita Hughes
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Carmelita was born in a small town (Ituiutaba, MG) in Brazil, as the only child of Josepha Grace, a mixed-race Brazilian of Portuguese and Spanish descent, and Otavio de Souza who was an Indigenous Brazilian from the Amazon Tapayúna tribe.
Her parents were married for three years before her mother & Carmelita fled, penniless, in the middle of the night because of her father's physical abuse. Settling into a new city and State (Brasilia, DF), Carmelita's mother set out to work hard to build a better future for both of them and often couldn't afford to pay for a babysitter, leaving her no choice but to leave Carmelita home alone. That's when Carmelita first started getting lost in the world of American movies and pretending. When it came to performing at school or in church plays, she would light up and shine. Carmelita had no shortage of determination to pursue her passion for acting.
In 1993, Carmelita and her mother moved to United States. Obsessed with American culture, Carmelita learned English by watching films and soap operas. She was scouted to be a model at Boca Talent in Boca Raton, Florida for her exotic sex appeal, which took her a step closer to acting. In 2002, she Attended Florida Atlantic University as a theater major and was fascinated with studying Shakespeare. Her emotional availability caught the attention of her professor who candidly advised her to move to Hollywood to pursue her passion.
Carmelita took his advice and continued her studies in Hollywood, where she graduated top of her class with The Meisner Center's intensive master's program while being cast in a variety of roles in theater, TV, and Film. She appeared in "Yes, Dear" (2005), General Hospital (2006), and American Mobster (2010) before taking a sabbatical to raise her family and start an e-commerce company with her husband, Michael. Starting with the idea of selling organic mattresses online made from the latex rubber tree of Brazil, Carmelita co-founded and built the +$100 million e-commerce brand PlushBeds with her husband Michael. Carmelita has written, directed, produced and starred in several films through her own Production Company, Tribal Films (www.tribalfilms.com), which she uses as a vehicle to create and offer opportunities for women in the film industry.
Carmelita and Michael have two children. She is a passionate advocate of helping under-privileged children and is an active sponsor to several non-profit organizations, including edasnerfamilycenter.org, EveryKidCounts.org, Samaritanspurse.org, and myworldvision.org. She believes that our youth should be nurtured, inspired and encouraged to build a better world for themselves and others.
Her parents were married for three years before her mother & Carmelita fled, penniless, in the middle of the night because of her father's physical abuse. Settling into a new city and State (Brasilia, DF), Carmelita's mother set out to work hard to build a better future for both of them and often couldn't afford to pay for a babysitter, leaving her no choice but to leave Carmelita home alone. That's when Carmelita first started getting lost in the world of American movies and pretending. When it came to performing at school or in church plays, she would light up and shine. Carmelita had no shortage of determination to pursue her passion for acting.
In 1993, Carmelita and her mother moved to United States. Obsessed with American culture, Carmelita learned English by watching films and soap operas. She was scouted to be a model at Boca Talent in Boca Raton, Florida for her exotic sex appeal, which took her a step closer to acting. In 2002, she Attended Florida Atlantic University as a theater major and was fascinated with studying Shakespeare. Her emotional availability caught the attention of her professor who candidly advised her to move to Hollywood to pursue her passion.
Carmelita took his advice and continued her studies in Hollywood, where she graduated top of her class with The Meisner Center's intensive master's program while being cast in a variety of roles in theater, TV, and Film. She appeared in "Yes, Dear" (2005), General Hospital (2006), and American Mobster (2010) before taking a sabbatical to raise her family and start an e-commerce company with her husband, Michael. Starting with the idea of selling organic mattresses online made from the latex rubber tree of Brazil, Carmelita co-founded and built the +$100 million e-commerce brand PlushBeds with her husband Michael. Carmelita has written, directed, produced and starred in several films through her own Production Company, Tribal Films (www.tribalfilms.com), which she uses as a vehicle to create and offer opportunities for women in the film industry.
Carmelita and Michael have two children. She is a passionate advocate of helping under-privileged children and is an active sponsor to several non-profit organizations, including edasnerfamilycenter.org, EveryKidCounts.org, Samaritanspurse.org, and myworldvision.org. She believes that our youth should be nurtured, inspired and encouraged to build a better world for themselves and others.
