Nelma Costa (Rio de Janeiro, February 1, 1922 - Rio de Janeiro, December 30, 2023) was a Brazilian actress. She was the last remaining actress from the silent era of Brazilian cinema. She Is considered the longest-lived Brazilian actress, surpassing Dercy Gonçalves and Cordélia Ferreira. Nelma Costa's career began in 1925, at the age of three, when she began participating in soap commercials recorded for the cinema. In 1928, at the invitation of Olavo de Barros, she made her theater debut in the operetta Kelani. In 1937 she joined Jaime Costa's theater company and also joined the Mesquitinha theater company. Alongside Ítala Ferreira, Custódio Mesquita and Jaime Costa she participated, in 1939, in the play Carlota Joaquina, the first theatrical representation of the Imperial Family of Brazil. Still in 1939, at the invitation of Humberto Mauro, she participated in the short film Um Apólogo, alongside Déa Selva and narrated by Lúcia Miguel Pereira. She later became a Cinédia star, having acted in O Dia é Nosso (1941), Corações Sem Piloto, Caídos do Céu (1946) and Aguenta Firme, Isidoro (1951), being directed by Luiz de Barros in these last three films.
