Xuxa

Xuxa (real name Maria das Graças Meneghel) born March 27 1963 in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul is a Brazilian television actress and singer. She is a children's television show host and has had shows in both Portuguese and Spanish. In 1993, Xuxa's show, Xuxa, premiered in English syndication but was cancelled soon thereafter in 1994.

Xuxa was the first Brazilian to appear on Forbes Magazine's list of richest artists in 1991 in 37th place with an annual gross income of 19 million dollars.

Xuxa has dated soccer super-star Pelé and the late Ayrton Senna, both regarded as important figures in Brazil.

Xuxa started at small net Manchete presenting Clube da Criança, she was famous because she was dating Pele and was a model (she appeared naked in several magazines in the early 80s). Then she went to number 1 net Globo where her show Xou da Xuxa, a weekday morning show with musical performances, games, guests and cartoon was very popular and gave Globo around 20 points at the morning and a 70% share. Her show went from 86 to 93, the last show was a special featuring her dad (she didn't speak to him for years after he cheated on her mom and she went public about it. The 1st public meeting after the scandal was at the show and was very emotional with her crying and all).

Then se presented a game show and did a sitcom and in mid 90s presented 2 shows: Planeta Xuxa (Xuxa Planet), a teenage show with a very polemic part where she interview stars about their sexual lifes and Xuxa Park, a modern version of Xou da Xuxa. Both shows had good ratings but were canceled after fire at Xuxa Park which sent several kids to hospital. Xuxa was very depressed.

Recovered, Xuxa started to do the Xuxa Só para Baixinhos series (Xuxa Just for Kids), CDs+a DVD with the videoclips of the songs. They were very popular and Xuxa made her first tour since her Xou da Xuxa time. She won a Latino Grammy for the 1st Xuxa Só para Baixinhos and another for the 2nd. There're now 5 and Xuxa is currently doing the 6th.

Xuxa started doing Xuxa No Mundo da Imaginação (Xuxa at the World of Imagination) a show for preschool kids on weekday mornings. Marlene Matos, Xuxa's manager since the 80s and best friend, was against the idea because she thought doing a teenage-oriented show was better, so they had a fight and they went their separate ways. The show had good ratings at the beginning but started to fall and finally lost for the 2nd net: SBT which showed cartoons at the time presented by two kids. For the first time in her carreer Xuxa lost for SBT. The show was canceled in 2004 (the show started in 2001). During the time Xuxa was off air Globo was 1st place. But Xuxa, being one of the most popular TV personalities couldn't be fired, so a new show premiere TV Xuxa with more cartoons and educational content and less Xuxa. The show was also a hit during the first weeks but is now again losing for SBT.

Xuxa personal life was always very public and sometimes a little scandalous. She had a daughter in 1998 and the birth was televised live. Her maternal habits are constantly critcized because some people say, she spoils her daughter too much like giving her a $1, 000,000 party and closing a theme park for another one. Sasha, Xuxa's daughter, studies at Brazil's most expensive school, the bilingual Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro (EARJ - American School of Rio de Janeiro) with a tuition of about $2,000 per month.

External links

• Xuxa Official Website (in Portuguese) (http://www.portalx.com.br)
• Template:Imdb namede:Xuxa

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