Harry Potter's Brazilian voiceover actor shot dead in Rio shanty town
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Version 0 of 1. JK Rowling has paid tribute to the Brazilian voiceover artist for Harry Potter after he was shot and killed while working as a policeman in a Rio de Janeiro shanty town. Caio César Ignácio Cardoso de Melo, 27, was reportedly killed on Thursday during an exchange of gunfire in Complexo de Alemão – one of Rio’s largest and most policed shanty towns. He provided the Portuguese voiceover for Potter in all eight films in the series, as a side venture to his main job as a police officer. According to local media reports, his death was confirmed by military police in Brazil and by Warner Bros studios. Rowling tweeted her condolences following the father-of-one’s death. Desperately sad to hear that Caio César, Brazilian voice of Harry Potter, has died at the age of 27. My thoughts are with his family. Fans of the Potter series also tweeted tributes. One said: “A hero in real life as well ... a police officer who died doing his job.” Kawanna Souza said: “It’s horrible to know that Rio’s violence has finally reached the magic world.” Charles Emmanuel, the actor who voiced Ron Weasley in Portuguese, also said: “Everyone has heard the voice of Caio César at some point. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with him several times, because we are the same generation of voice actors. “He was a runt, skinny, but he grew up and went on to become a policeman and turned into a father. He became a man.” Related: Guns, drugs and bandidos: inside the favela too violent for Rio’s armed police Local police reported that Melo was shot in the neck when officers came under fire during a routine patrol of the sprawling shanty town. He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery but died from his injuries. As well as voicing Harry Potter, Melo was the Brazilian voice of Sokka in the animated series Avatar: the Last Airbender, Diego in the Mexican soap opera Rebelde, and TK in the Digimon cartoons. He had his first voiceover job aged just seven when he took on the lead role in Smarty Guy, the Disney TV series. He is the ninth policeman to be killed in Rio’s slums this year. About 80 officers have been shot. |