Being an International Artist
The Art of Being "In-Between": Finding Home When You’re the Story
Art is within you. We talk a lot about "international artists" like it’s a shiny trophy, being global is being recognized. But if you’re living it, you know it’s less of a trophy and more of a bridge—sometimes your art is the connection between people, cultures and the one thing that will save us.
I left Brazil at 22. I had my theater research with foreign languages already, and a deep curiosity since my childhood. But when you move abroad, you experience what no plan or preparation can offer.
Beyond the "Ausländer" Bubble
In the industry of image, accents and performing - I am an actor and filmmaker if you don't know that yet - questions around your self image and body are very amplified. Even though I am white and came with so many other privileges, the moment I speak and show up, I’m the "other." The german culture is very different from the brazilian one. I’ve had people told me I am "exotic". I’ve faced the stereotypes around being and presenting myself as a brazilian: Brazil is just happy people, right? Do they even have beer there? Your hair and eyes are so black…
Until 22 I have always presented myself as Aline, later on as someone that came from another city so that became part of my bio, and now at almost 26 I have in my first words that I am a brazilian, this became almost a mantra in the moment of introducing myself. I am aware of this every time I encounter someone or have to talk about me or even dicuss anything, because everything is molded by culture.
As an actress, I’ve felt limited by the "Ausländer" (foreigner) roles. It’s like being trapped in a bubble where you’re constantly generalizing your own soul just to fit a script. Specially for actors, because we want range and variety, we want to live many lives in one, we handle the struggle of this career by believing that this dream is possible, that I can indeed shape and reshape who I am, my voice, my body, my actions.
I think of Wagner Moura talking about accents, or the path of Rodrigo Santoro and Fernanda Torres. They remind me that theater isn’t a building—it’s wherever you are. Fernanda Montenegro, the greatest actress of all times in Brazil, talks in her biography as a daughter of immigrants and someone that continuous speaking to me and many others, as we brazilians, we are all foreigns there.
When Words Are Not Enough (And That’s Okay)
In my podcast, I’ve been thinking a lot about writing less and "being" more. We praise the written word so much in the West, but many Indigenous cultures don't center the word the same way. They center presence and connection. They unify the act of telling stories, their songs, healing, politics, religion, fantasy and nature.
When my language fails me—and it does all the time —I look to the masters of the "unspoken", I remember how silence was the first language and there is so much that the body can tell, and only very little that the word can manage.
The Silence was the beginning of cinema: Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean being icons.
The Body: Mime, circus, and dance as universal languages.
Storytelling is the universal language that connects past generations to the new ones. It’s how we remember who we are when the paperwork and the racism try to tell us otherwise.
The Reality Check
I’m not going to romanticize integration. It’s hard. I’ve had the panic attacks. I’ve felt the exclusion. There was a time I actually stopped creating because the weight of "fitting in" was too much.
Here is the truth: You don't always have to be "on." I had to allow myself to stop, to work other jobs, and to find a safe place that wasn't for money or for an audience. In a multicultural city like Berlin, it’s easy to get lost and get found.
Culture is fluid.
So, what is home?
People ask me if I feel a "language gap" with my German husband. My response? Don't you feel a gap with everyone? Even when we speak the same language, words are often not enough. I learned languages because I wanted to be loved and understood, but I’ve realized they will always be limiting me. People here, inclusing my family, might never pronounce my name perfectly, and they might always see me as "different." If I speak with them in my language or try a cultural joke they will never get it. And for someone that is trying to connect - that is what hits me the most.
As hard as I tried to adapt, integrate, learn their language, there will always be a very much needed distance.
Despite it all, they understand me here in other ways—through respect, through art, and through the history we build together. That "gap" is actually where the creativity happens. Where just one word can serve as a dialogue instead of the deep talks I could have with my people back home, and sometimes the mime or the one word is truly enough. Sometimes a hug they gave me here was enough, no words needed.
Whether it’s a different room, a different city, or a different continent, being a "stranger" is a superpower, specially for artists. It forces you to face what doesn't change—the "home" that lives inside you.
To anyone afraid of the language barrier or the "paperwork" of moving: don't let fear make your decisions. It is okay to be lost. It is okay to be "in-between." “You can go anywhere from anywhere” as Anni Albers told.
The struggle is real and the art is worth it.
