French-Brazilian film director, producer, screenwriter, composer and actor Maximianno Cobra was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the age of fifteen, he became assistant to conductor Alceo Bocchino, spending the following three years developing his musical training and understanding of interpretation. During the same period, he attended acting workshops and conferences devoted to Stanislavski’s system, notably with director Sergio Brito and theatre practitioner Augusto Boal, founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

At seventeen, Maximianno Cobra received a grant to study conducting and composition in Europe at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. During his studies, he made his stage debut as Edmund in Shakespeare’s King Lear for Kostya Studio / Cantus Company. Following his graduation, Cobra toured France with the Hungarian State Opera and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1999, he founded the Europa Philharmonia Orchestra and Choir, conceived to bring together leading European orchestral musicians and singers for recording projects making extensive use of emerging digital and audiovisual technologies. During this period, he also earned his PhD in musicology and music history from Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV).

Alongside his work as a director, conductor and composer, Cobra has maintained a selective stage career, including the title roles in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III, in productions performed in both French and English. His most recent stage appearance was as Lord Henry Wotton in The Picture of Dorian Gray, presented in Paris and Barfleur for Kostya Studio.

TRIVIA: Cobra is also a multilingual voice actor and has contributed his voice to more than fifteen audiovisual productions recorded in six different languages.