Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mafalda Pinto Correia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mafalda, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I grew up in Portugal, a tiny country with a very rich history. One of our greatest works of literature is an epic from the 16th century named “Os Lusíadas” by Camões. It’s a book every Portuguese teenager studies in school but very few ever read. It’s a dense book, in an old form of Portuguese that makes it slightly inaccessible. But, it is a wonderful epic! My creative friend, Beatriz Frutuoso, and I decided to take on the challenge of making this work accessible through theater. In 2016, with the support of a wonderful theater company, Teatro do Bolhão, we started adapting the poem for stage, and by the end of the year, we had started rehearsals. If you didn’t get it by now, I did a little bit more than acting for this production, I adapted the book into a play and stage-directed it with Frutuoso. We set out with the goal of spreading this poem through Portuguese schools, showing people how incredibly profound, and creative it is, daring students to give it a second thought. By the time we opened, in 2017, we were sold out and the reception was incredible. The show ran for 4 years. It meant the world to us to give Camões a stage and have students see his work in this new light. To bring my country’s culture out of the dusty bookshelves and into the minds of its inheritors filled me with pride.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was introduced to acting, like many of us are, as a child through theater. Performing in plays as a kid was where I had the most fun, and it was also where I felt deeply connected to those around me and to the world. As I grew older, a restlessness started to build in me — a desire to take on more plays, face bigger challenges, and collaborate with artists from around the globe. And so my chase began. A chase that would lead me to a 3-year drama program in Porto, to perform at the National Theater in Portugal, to tour all over south Europe, and eventually to move to the U.S. to study at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. In the U.S., I was challenged to expand my craft to film. It was also here that I met so many incredibly talented filmmakers who have become my creative community. My chase was bearing fruit.

In 2020, when all our projects ceased, I rallied my community, and together we produced a TV show: CherryBomb, created by Quinn Cavin and myself, and directed by Quinn Cavin and Ryan Cairns. This is the project I’m most proud of. I’m proud that we built it together, that we produced it during a pandemic, and I’m proud of how everyone was fully invested and how we managed to find solutions no matter what challenges came our way. As an actress, it was the first time I got to dive deeper into long-form storytelling as the lead. As a producer, it was the first time I wrangled a project of this dimension from pre- to post-production. CherryBomb premiered in 2023 and it’s streaming on Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Tubi.

I’m driven by a relentless passion for my craft, a strong belief in the potential of meaningful projects, and the intention to connect with others. Acting has never been just about personal expression for me; it’s about bringing us together and giving a voice to every story that deserves to be told.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Post-production on CherryBomb was quite a journey and presented numerous challenges. At that point, I was the only producer, which meant I was responsible for hiring the team, keeping us on schedule, and securing a distribution deal. Along the way, we faced some setbacks — the team changed a couple of times, it was my first time hiring post-production creatives, so I had to build that network from scratch, and small mistakes we made during production took an immense amount of time to fix. To top it off, our original distribution plan fell through, leaving me without a clear path forward.

When that happened, I had no idea what I was going to do, and there wasn’t a backup plan in place. I could have panicked, I thought I would panic, but I didn’t, I stayed calm, open to possibilities, and alert to a solution to present itself. One afternoon, during a casual conversation with a friend about nothing, he mentioned a distributor he was happy with. I made a mental note, did some research, and eventually reached out to them. To my surprise, I got a response and in a couple of months, I had a deal.

Throughout this process, there were moments when people told me that aiming to get our show on a streaming platform was silly, unrealistic, and even impossible. I have to admit, it was tough feeling like I was the only one who truly believed in what our project could achieve, and at times, it felt like I was fighting the battle alone. But resilience paid off. CherryBomb is now available on not just one but three fantastic streaming platforms.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist — though I realize I’ve used this word a lot already — is connection. The bond you form with your fellow cast members can sometimes transcend everyday life. Together, you create a new reality on stage or on set, and when you step into that reality it’s almost like entering a different world that you build with those you’re working with. The connection with the audience, especially in theater, is equally powerful. During a live performance, you can sense the audience living the story alongside you — they feel every emotion, suffer every strike, and share every laugh. Being an artist is a truly magical experience, one where loneliness simply doesn’t exist because you’re sharing something profound and intimate with others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.themafalda.com
• Instagram: the.mafalda
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mafalda-pinto-correia