Brazilian television and stage actor Roney Macedo Facchini has died at the age of 73, friends and theatrical organisers confirmed on Sunday.
His death was announced by personal friends and shared publicly by the Bibi Ferreira Prize, one of the most prominent theatre honours in Brazil. Facchini was born in São Paulo on February 6, 1953, and went on to forge a distinguished career across the stage, television, and film.
Hours before his death, Facchini shared a video on social media praising the vocal talent of the Brazilian singer Gal Costa. He was an active presence on social platforms, regularly posting personal reflections and commentary on culture, and had recently commented on the deaths of fellow performing artists including Dolly Parton, Laura Cardoso, and Glória Menezes.
National fame on Rá-Tim-Bum
Facchini achieved widespread national recognition for his performance in Rá-Tim-Bum, an educational children's series produced and broadcast by TV Cultura. Between 1990 and 1994, he portrayed Luís, the father figure and patriarch of the Silva family in the programme's central sketches.
Aimed at young audiences, Rá-Tim-Bum became a cultural benchmark in Brazilian children's television during the early 1990s. The production combined comedy, puppetry, and educational lessons, endearing Facchini and his character to a generation of viewers who grew up watching TV Cultura's youth programming.
Throughout his career, Facchini worked across multiple major Brazilian broadcast networks, securing roles on TV Gazeta, Record, SBT, and TV Globo. He maintained a regular presence in Brazilian drama and television comedy over several decades, taking on diverse characters in different programming formats.
At TV Globo, Brazil's largest commercial network, his credits included popular telenovelas and comedy series such as Malhação, A Diarista, Caras & Bocas, Cheias de Charme, and Bang Bang. He also appeared in the network's comedy programmes Minha Nada Mole Vida and Pé na Cova, before featuring in the biographical television series Hebe in 2020.
From engineering to the stage
Before committing his life to acting, Facchini initially prepared for an entirely different career. He studied civil engineering at the Mauá Engineering School, an institution in São Paulo state, where he completed his degree in 1997 before turning his full attention to the performing arts.
His transition led to an extensive professional career spanning approximately 25 years. Facchini developed work across a wide variety of genres, performing as a stage actor, directing productions as a theatre stagist, and working as a television presenter.
The theatre remained the foundational pillar of his artistic life, and he appeared in more than 30 stage plays over the course of his career. In addition to acting and directing, he also authored the monologue A Alegria do Palhaço, based on the work of Antonio Rocco.
Facchini also built a substantial body of work in cinema, appearing in several prominent Brazilian feature films. His big-screen credits included the hit comedy films Cilada.com and Vai Que Dá Certo, the 2015 drama Meu Amigo Hindu, and the investigative crime thriller Polícia Federal: A Lei É Para Todos.
No cause of death has been disclosed following the announcement by his friends and theatrical colleagues. At the time of reporting, arrangements for his memorial service and funeral ceremony had not yet been established.
