54 Notable alumni of Federal University of Bahia

Alda de Jesús Oliveira is a Brazilian composer and pedagogue.

Francisco de Assis Couto dos Reis was a Brazilian architect and professor.

Max Freitas Mauro was a Brazilian doctor and politician. A member of multiple political parties, he served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1979 to 1987 and again from 1999 to 2003 and was Governor of Espírito Santo from 1987 to 1991.

Djalma Novaes Corrêa was a Brazilian percussionist and composer.

Manuel Augusto Pirajá da Silva was a Brazilian parasitologist, medical researcher, and physician.

Yeda Pessoa de Castro is a Brazilian ethnolinguist. With a PhD in African Languages at the National University of Zaire, she is a Technical Consultant in African Languages for the Museu da Língua Portuguesa at the Estação da Luz in São Paulo, a Member of the Academia de Letras da Bahia and of the ANPOLL's GT de Literatura Oral e...

Vilma Maria dos Santos Reis is a Brazilian sociologist and activist. She is a defender of human, women's, black, youth and LGBT rights. She is a teacher at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and from 2015 to 2019 she held the position of General Ombudsman of the Public Defender's Office of the State of Bahia. Reis is also a...

Hilton Barros Coelho is a historian, civil servant, labor activist and Brazilian politician. A member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), Coelho was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Bahia (ALBA) in 2018.

Paulo Velloso Dantas Az more commonly known as Paulo Azi is a Brazilian politician as well as a civil engineer and businessman. He has spent his political career representing his home state of Bahia, having served as state representative since 2015.

Cleusa da Conceição Nazaré de Oliveira, better known as Mãe Cleusa Millet or Mother Millet, was the hereditary spiritual leader (iyalorixá) of Brazil's most noted Candomblé temple, Terreiro do Gantois, located in Alto do Gantois in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Upon her death, she was accorded an official state day of mourning and was posthumously inducted into the Order of Merit...

Waldenor Alves Pereira Filho more commonly known as Waldenor Pereira is a Brazilian politician as well as an economists and university professor. He has spent his political career representing his home state of Bahia, having served as state representative since 2011.

Edison de Souza Carneiro was a Brazilian writer, historian, folclorist and ethnologist who specialized in Afro-Brazilian culture. He was one of the most well-known Brazilian ethnologists during his time with his studies on Afro-Brazilian culture and history, which had largely been ignored by Brazilian academic literature up to that point. He was also an activist with the Brazilian Communist Party...

Jutahy Magalhães Júnior is a Brazilian politician, affiliated with the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). He was a state deputy and is in his sixth term as a federal deputy. In 2016, he voted in favor of the impeachment process of then President Dilma Rousseff. In April 2017 he voted in favor of Labor Reform. In August 2017, he voted...

Roberto de Oliveira Muniz is a Brazilian politician. He has represented Bahia in the Federal Senate since 2016. Previously, he was a deputy from Bahia from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Progressive Party.

Julio Licinio is an Australian American psychiatrist who is SUNY Distinguished Professor at State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. He is simultaneously Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at Flinders University in Adelaide. Licinio has been Senior Vice President for Academic and Health Affairs, as well as Executive Dean, College of Medicine. Licinio is...

Luis Viana Neto was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman and politician who was a federal deputy, senator and deputy governor of Bahia.

Eliana Calmon Alves is a Brazilian jurist and magistrate. She was the first woman to be a member of Brazil's Superior Court of Justice, a position she held from 1999 to 2013. She is also known as the author of a cookbook.

Hermes Lima was a Brazilian politician who was the prime minister of Brazil, jurist, and winner of the 1975 Prêmio Machado de Assis.

Elsimar Metzker Coutinho was a Brazilian scientist of Luso-Austrian descent, professor, gynecologist, television personality, and character named as "Prince of Itapoa", in the books of Jorge Amado which references the Coutinho family's land in Itapoa where Amado himself lived.

Arthur de Oliveira Maia da Silva is a Brazilian politician serving as a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2011. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Bahia from 1991 to 1992 and from 1999 to 2011. From 1993 to 1996, he served as mayor of Bom Jesus da Lapa.

Alice Mazzuco Portugal is a Brazilian biochemical pharmacist and politician.

Nelson de Souza Carneiro was a Brazilian journalist and politician who had a long career in the federal legislature since the late 1940s, representing various states. He became known for his defense of the right to divorce, which became law in 1977. He is an inductee into the Livro dos Heróis e Heroínas da Pátria.

Maria Olivia Santana is a Brazilian politician, activist, and teacher. From 2005 until 2012, she was a city councilor in the city of Salvador, Bahia. From 2015 until 2017, she was the Secretary of State of Policies for Women in the state of Bahia. From 2017 to 2018, she worked as the Secretary of State for Employment, Labour, and Sports...

Luiza Helena de Bairros was a Brazilian administrator and sociologist. She was the chief minister of the Special Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality between 2011 and 2014.

Cândido Elpídio de Souza Vaccarezza is a Brazilian gynecologist and politician affiliated to Avante (political party). He was born in Senhor do Bonfim, Bahia and moved to São Paulo. He ran for the office of state representative of the State of São Paulo in 1998, obtaining the substitutive position. He was elected to the same position in 2002. In 2006,...

Carla Adriana da Silva Santos, better known as Carla Akotirene, is an activist, researcher, author and columnist on the topic of black feminism in Brazil. She is an assistant professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), and is frequently cited for her research on intersectionality.

Alberto José Costa Borba, known professionally as Bel Borba, is a Brazilian graphic artist, mosaic maker and sculptor, born in 1957. He lives in Salvador da Bahia, where he has intervened in the public arena of Brazil with hundreds of works, sculptures, mosaic murals and urban art installations, mostly employing found objects. He spent a month in New York City...

Antônio Carlos Peixoto de Magalhães Neto, commonly known as ACM Neto, is a Brazilian lawyer and politician. He was the national president of the Democrats (DEM), and is currently general secretary of the Brazil Union. He is the grandson of deceased Senator and Governor of Bahia Antônio Carlos Magalhães (ACM), nephew of Luís Eduardo Magalhães and son of Antônio Carlos...

Heloísa Jorge is an Angolan actress and film director.

Glauber de Andrade Rocha was a Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most influential filmmaker of Brazilian cinema and a key figure of Cinema Novo. His films Black God, White Devil and Entranced Earth are often considered to be two of the greatest achievements in Brazilian cinematic history, being selected by Abraccine as, respectively, the...

Maria Izildinha "Zizi" Possi is a Brazilian singer from São Paulo, the daughter of Italian immigrants. She sings in Portuguese, English, and Italian. In 2007, she sang at the opening of the Military World Games, alongside Toquinho, Jorge Aragão, Alcione and the Paralamas do Sucesso band.

João Ubaldo Ribeiro was a Brazilian writer, journalist, screenwriter and professor. Several of his books and short stories have been turned into movies and TV series in Brazil. Ribeiro was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, being elected in 1994. At the time of his death many considered him to be Brazil's greatest contemporary novelist.

Martha Maria Cordeiro Vasconcellos is a Brazilian beauty queen who became her country's second Miss Universe winner, after Iêda Maria Vargas first achieved the feat in 1963. She also became the fifth Latin American to win the title, after Peru's Gladys Zender in 1957, Colombia's Luz Marina Zuluaga in 1958 and Argentina's Norma Nolan in 1962. Vasconcellos is a native...

Otto Roberto Mendonça de Alencar is a Brazilian politician and physician. He has represented Bahia in the Federal Senate since 2015, being re-elected for another 8-year term in the 2022 Brazilian general election. He earned his medical degree from the Federal University of Bahia. Previously he was vice-governor and governor of Bahia. He is a member of the Social Democratic...

Francisco Waldir Pires de Souza was a Brazilian politician. He served as the Minister of Defence under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, before being fired for gross incompetence and inaction during Brazil's aviation crisis of 2006–2007. At the time of the crisis, he was accused by some in Brazil of nearing senility. He was replaced by former Supreme Court...

Itamar Vieira Junior is a Brazilian writer. He was born in Salvador, Bahia. He has a PhD in Ethnic and African Studies from the Federal University of Bahia. His short story collection A oração do carrasco (The Executioner's Prayer, 2017) was a finalist for the Prêmio Jabuti de Literatura. His novel Torto Arado (Crooked Plow) won the Prêmio LeYa in...

Jaqueline Góes de Jesus is a Brazilian scientist and researcher. She was part of the team which sequenced the Zika virus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was a member of the team responsible for sequencing the first genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Brazil.

Durval Lélys is a Brazilian musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lyricist. He is best known as the frontman of the Salvador (Brazil)-based axé band Asa de Águia. Durval is well known as being one of the main personas from the Brazilian carnival.

Paulo Ganem Souto is a Brazilian geologist and politician. He served as governor of Bahia from 1995 to 1999 and from 2003 to 2007. He was also a senator from 1999 to 2003 and governed in the Kaka prefecture.

Antônio José Imbassahy da Silva, or simply Antônio Imbassahy, is a Brazilian politician and electrical engineer, former governor of Bahia and former mayor of Salvador.

Helena Ignez is a Brazilian actress and filmmaker who participated in the Cinema Marginal movement during the 1960s and 70s alongside Rogério Sganzerla and Glauber Rocha.

Waly Dias Salomão was a Brazilian poet. He was born in Jequié, Bahia, to a father of Syrian origin, and a country mother. He acted on several areas of Brazilian culture as poet, songwriter and writer. His first book was Me segura qu’eu vou dar um troço in 1972. His last book, Pescados Vivos, was published in 2004 after his...

Milton Almeida dos Santos was a Brazilian geographer and geography scholar who had a degree in law. He became known for his pioneering works in several branches of geography, notably urban development in developing countries. He is considered the father of critical geography in Brazil. Santos was a recipient of the Vautrin Lud Prize, often seen as geography's equivalent of...

Wagner Maniçoba de Moura is a Brazilian actor and filmmaker. His accolades include a Golden Globe, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and five Brazilian Academy Film Awards, including nominations for an Academy Award, an Annie Award, and a Critics' Choice Award.

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, musician and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship that took power in 1964. He has remained a constant creative influence and best-selling performing artist and...

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Gil's musical style incorporates an eclectic range of influences, including rock, Brazilian genres including samba, African music, and reggae.

Raul Santos Seixas was a Brazilian rock musician and singer foundational to the genre. Rolling Stone Brazil named Seixas among the greatest artists in Brazilian music.

Carlos Marighella was a Brazilian politician, writer, and Marxist–Leninist militant. Critical of nonviolent resistance to the Brazilian military dictatorship, he founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional, a Marxist–Leninist urban guerrilla group, which was responsible for a series of bank robberies and high-profile kidnappings. He was killed by police in 1969 in an ambush. Marighella's most famous contribution to revolutionary literature was...

Maria Bethânia Viana Teles Veloso is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Born in Santo Amaro, Bahia, she started her career in Rio de Janeiro in 1964 with the show "Opinião" ("Opinion"), she is "The Queen of Brazilian Music". Due to its popularity, with performances all over the country, and the popularity of her 1965 single "Carcará", the artist became a...

Priscilla Novaes Leone, better known as Pitty, is a Brazilian rock singer.

Paulo Vladimir Brichta is a Brazilian actor.

Jean Wyllys de Matos Santos is a Brazilian lecturer, journalist and politician who rose to fame after winning the fifth season of Big Brother Brasil. He was also notable as being Brazil's second openly gay member of parliament and the first congressman to be a gay-rights activist. He has been compared to Harvey Milk for his work. In 2019, citing...

Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht is a Brazilian businessman and the former CEO of Odebrecht, a diversified Brazilian Conglomerate. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for paying more than $30 million in bribes. The jail sentence was reduced to ten years in prison in December 2016 for paying a fine, admitting guilt and providing evidence to authorities.