Shoeshine Kid Steps Up

Hustling for shoes to shine in Rio de Janeiro’s airport two years ago, Vinicius de Oliveira approached a man in white tennis shoes. The man noticed him too--but not because he wanted his shoes polished.

The man was film director Walter Salles and he saw something in the boy with long, thick, black eyelashes and light brown eyes that moved him. After auditioning nearly 2,000 boys for the role of Josue for his film “Central Station,” Salles was drawn in by De Oliveira’s authenticity and spunkiness.

After a quick screen test--and a sandwich--Salles cast him to co-star in his movie.

From that moment on, De Oliveira’s life was, as they say in Hollywood, in turnaround. But in his case that was more than just an expression.

“Central Station” has received international acclaim and on Sunday captured a Golden Globe for best foreign language film. The 12-year-old De Oliveira went on stage with Salles and his co-star, veteran Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro, to accept the award at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on prime-time TV. Not bad for a kid from Rio who was working by the age of 9.

“Central Station” is the story of an older woman who, by a fateful twist of events, takes a little boy under her wing to find his father in a desolate Brazilian town. Their journey becomes a spiritual voyage for both woman and boy.

Of his newfound life, De Oliveira speaks with candor and innocence. He is grateful but not quite aware of the extraordinary nature of his being “discovered.”

“I was very happy to be called to do the film with Fernanda,” he said as he scoped out the scene at the Sony Pictures Golden Globe party following the ceremony. “My life has improved a lot.”

No longer shining shoes or scraping money together to buy a sandwich, De Oliveira is now enrolled in school full time, hoping one day to become an actor or director.

The film captured the devastating life of street children in Brazil--a side of the country rarely seen by tourists. Though De Oliveira was not homeless--he lives at home with his mother and four siblings--by the age of 9 he was attending school part time and shining shoes to help his mother make ends meet.

His convincing portrayal of Josue was so natural because, in many ways, he was Josue, say those involved with the film. Somehow, De Oliveira had found a balance in playing a wise street urchin while retaining his tenderness as a little boy--qualities that captured Salles and Montenegro.

“Shining shoes was a hard and sad life,” he said. “I wanted to do more.”

Acting, he said, came naturally--with a little help from his friends.

“With Fernanda on your side, it’s never hard,” he said, smiling in his newly purchased black tuxedo.

Still, even Montenegro was taken aback by his performance.

“I was very surprised. He has such pure, warm eyes and the camera really captured that,” she said. “We had to have a lot of patience in teaching him because he had no experience, but he was great. He has a lot of passion and force of will.”

Montenegro has taken on an informal guardian role with De Oliveira, calling his teachers to make sure he is doing well in school. For Montenegro, the discovery of the boy is one of the great mysteries of life. It is, she said, fate.

“It is simply something that cannot be explained,” she said. “It was a miracle that we saw this boy and he found us.”

Now only time will tell if De Oliveira has the fortitude to push forward with an acting career, said Montenegro.

“It’s one thing to be a boy who plays with his emotions on camera and another thing completely to make it your life’s work,” said Montenegro. “I care for him a great deal. He has become a part of my life, and I want the best for him.”

In the meantime, De Oliveira is soaking it all in. As the only kid in the post-Globe ceremony party, he could only gaze around and marvel at the scene around him.

“Making the movie,” he said as he sat at a corner table, keeping a low profile, “was a grand experience.”