In the eighties, Meirelles carried out a series of projects for Brazilian television, such as the children’s series “Ra-Tim-Bum“.
In 1997 he had the opportunity to read the novel “Cidade de Deus”, by Paulo Lins, and immediately decided to transform it into a film, despite being a complex story with more than 350 different characters. The film script was written by Bráulio Mantovani, and the production was directed by Meirelles and Kátia Lund. Its premiere in 2002, launched him to fame. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and, after its international premiere, was selected as the representative of Brazil for the 2004 Oscars. The film received four nominations, including Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Direction.
Her next film was “The Constant Gardener” (2005), winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Weisz; followed by “Blindness”, based on the novel by José Saramago, “Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira”. Released in September 2008 and with a cast led by Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael García Bernal and Danny Glover, “Blindess” opened the Cannes Film Festival that year.
His latest work was the romantic drama inspired by Arthur Schnitzler’s theatrical classic “La Ronde”, “360” (2011), starring Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law) and Ben Foster. For this film Meirelles was nominated in the Best Director category at the London Film Festival.
In his personal life Meirelles He is married to the dancer Ciça Meirelles, with whom he had his daughters Márcia and Silvinha.