Carmen Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha in Várzea da Ovelha e Aliviada, a village in the northern Portuguese municipality of Marco de Canaveses. She was the second daughter of José Maria Pinto da Cunha (17 February 1887 – 21 June 1938) and Maria Emília Miranda (10 March 1886 – Rio de Janeiro, 9 November 1971). In 1909 when she was ten months old, her father emigrated alone to Brazil and settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he opened a barber shop. Her mother followed in 1910 with their daughters Olinda (1907–1931) and Maria do Carmo. Maria do Carmo, later Carmen, never returned to Portugal, but retained her Portuguese nationality. In Brazil, her parents had four more children: Amaro (1911), Cecília (1913–2011), Aurora (1915–2005) and Óscar (1916). She was christened Carmen by her father because of his love for the opera comique, and also after Bizet’s masterpiece Carmen. This passion for opera influenced his children, and Miranda’s love for singing and dancing at an early age. She went to school at the Convent of Saint Therese of Lisieux. Her father did not approve of her plans to enter show business. However, her mother supported her and was beaten when her husband discovered Miranda had auditioned for a radio show. She had previously sung at parties and festivals in Rio. Her older sister Olinda contracted tuberculosis and was sent to Portugal for treatment. Miranda went to work in a tie shop at age 14 to help pay her sister’s medical bills. She next worked in a boutique, where she learned to make hats and opened her own hat business which became profitable.

Miranda was discovered when she was first introduced to composer Josué de Barros, who went on to promote and record her first album with Brunswick, a German recording company in 1929. The following year, she recorded (Taí, Eu fiz Tudo) Prá Você Gostar de Mim (also known as Taí) written by Joubert de Carvalho and became the most popular singing star in Brazil, a position she would maintain throughout the 1930s.  The increasing commercialization of popular music helped make Carmen Miranda the first truly national pop icon in Brazil’s history. In November 1930, Miranda negotiated a recording contract with RCA Victor, the Brazilian subsidiary of the American music conglomerate. In 1933 went on to sign a two-year contract with Rádio Mayrink Veiga, the most popular station in the 1930s, becoming the first contract singer in the radio industry history of Brazil (though for a year – 1937 – she moved over to Radio Tupi). Later she signed a contract with record label RCA Records. In 1934, she was invited to perform as a guest artist on Radio Belgrano in Buenos Aires. In 1935, Odeon finally got her to sign a contract. This resulted in a number of hits, many of which are now classics of Brazilian music.

Miranda’s rise to Brazilian stardom was intricately linked to the growing popularity of a distinctly Brazilian style of music: the samba. The expansion of the samba, and of Miranda’s popularity, was greatly supportive of the refiguring of Brazilian nationalism during the regime of President Getúlio Vargas. Such was her gracefulness and vitality, as apparent in her recordings as in her live performances, that she was immediately dubbed “Cantora do It;” later she became “Ditadora Risonha do Samba,” and then, in 1933, the radio announcer Cesar Ladeira gave her a lasting moniker: “A Pequena Notável”. During the 1930s, Miranda recorded nearly three hundred songs, many written exclusively for her by Brazil’s most renowned composers, such as Ary Barroso, Synval Silva and Dorival Caymmi. While recording or performing on radio and stage, she counted on Brazil’s top musicians.  From 1933 to 1939, Brazil’s burgeoning film industry, capitalizing on her widespread appeal, featured her in five films, invariably with parts that allowed her to showcase her vocal talent. As with other popular singers of the era, Miranda made her screen debut in the Brazilian documentary A Voz Do Carnaval (1933). Two years later, she appeared in her first feature film entitled Alô, Alô Brasil. But it was the 1935 film Estudantes that seemed to solidify her in the minds of the movie-going public. In the 1936 movie Hello, Hello, Carnival!, she performed the famous song “Cantoras do Rádio” with her sister Aurora, for the first time.

During her later career, Miranda would become primarily identified with her colorful fruit-hat costume and image, though she only adopted that costume in 1939. In that year she appeared in the film Banana-da-Terra, where she wore a glamorized version of the traditional costume of a poor black girl of Bahia: flowing dress and fruit-hat turban. Singing the song “O que é que a Baiana Tem?”(“What does a Baiana have?”), the intent was to empower a social class which was usually looked down upon.  In 1939 the Broadway impresario Lee Shubert visited Rio de Janeiro and witnessed the Brazilian sensation in action after seeing Miranda’s extravagant stage show at the “Cassino da Urca”. Shubert immediately offered her a contract to perform in his summer musical, The Streets of Paris. Although she was intrigued by the possibility of performing in New York, Miranda refused to accept the deal unless Shubert agreed to also hire her band, the “Bando da Lua”. The impresario refused, saying that there were plenty of great musicians in New York who could back her. But Miranda remained steadfast. She felt that North American musicians would not be able to authentically create the sounds of Brazil. As a compromise, Shubert agreed to hire the six band members, but he would not pay for their transport to New York. At this point, President Vargas, realizing the propaganda value of Miranda’s tour, stepped in and announced that the Brazilian government would sponsor the band by providing free tickets on the Moore-McCormack Lines between Rio and New York.

He believed that Carmen Miranda would foster greater ties between northern and southern hemispheres and serve as an Ambassadress of Brazil in the United States. This could benefit Brazil economically by increasing its share of the American coffee market. Miranda took very seriously the official sanction of her trip and her duty of representing Brazil to the outside world. Before boarding the New York-bound SS Uruguay on 4 May. 1939, she held a press conference and told her fans:  My dear friends, in New York I’m going to show the rhythm of Brazilian music, the music of our land. I’m anxious and I feel it’s a very big responsibility, but always remember me, and I will never forget you (…) I want to show what Brazil really is, and change the wrong ideas existing in the United States about our country.  After seeing one of her performances in Rio, theatre owner Lee Shubert signed Miranda and her band, the Bando da Lua, to a contract. In 1939, Miranda sailed from Brazil aboard the ocean liner SS Uruguay, arriving in New York on 18 May. She and the band made their first Broadway performance on 19 June 1939, in The Streets of Paris. Although her part was small (she only spoke four words), Miranda received good reviews and became a media sensation. At the same time, she participated in the The Rudy Vallee Show (1929–43), or The Royal Gelatin Hour—one of the most popular American radio shows, broadcast weekly between 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M. from New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Time Magazine dubbed her the “oomph that stops the show.” New York audiences were enchanted by her exotic costume and accessories. One critic summed up her surprising appeal: “she is the biggest theatrical sensation of the year.” By the end of the summer of 1939, the press lauded Miranda as “the girl who saved Broadway from the World’s Fair.” Her fame grew quickly, she having been formally presented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a White House banquet shortly after her arrival.  Her American film debut was in Down Argentine Way (1940), a musical produced by 20th Century Fox. Although the film’s production and cast were based in Los Angeles, Miranda’s scenes were filmed in New York City due to her obligation to perform for a club there. Fox combined the footage from both cities although Miranda has no on-screen dialogue with other cast members. The film was a great success and grossed $2 million that year in the American market.

The Shuberts brought Carmen back to Broadway, teaming her with Olsen and Johnson, Ella Logan, the Blackburn Twins, and others in the musical revue Sons o’Fun in 1 December 1941. The show was a hodgepodge of slapstick, songs, and skits. Richard Watts Jr. (New York Herald Tribune) concluded, “In her eccentric and highly personalized fashion, Miss Miranda is by way of being an artist and her numbers give the show its one touch of distinction.” Her rousing showstopper was “Thank You, North American”. On 1 June 1942, she left the production; her Shubert contract had expired. Meanwhile she made recordings for Decca Records, including “Chica, Chica Boom Chic,” “O Tic-Tac do Meu Coração,” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

Miranda was encouraged by the United States government as part of President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy, designed to strengthen links with Latin America and Europe. It was believed that in delivering content like hers, the policy would be better received by the American public. Miranda’s contract with 20th Century Fox lasted from 1941 to 1946; this period coincides with the time of World War II (1939–1945) and the creation in 1940 of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA), based in Rio de Janeiro, whose goal was to obtain support from governments and Latin American societies for the cause of the United States.  The interference was linked to the Good Neighbor policy and Roosevelt sought to forge better diplomatic relations with Brazil and other South American nations, and pledged to refrain from further military intervention, which has sometimes been done to protect U.S. business interests in industries such as mining or agriculture. Hollywood was asked to help out with the Good Neighbor Policy, and both Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox participated. Miranda was considered the goodwill ambassador and promoter of intercontinental culture.

Upon returning to the United States, Miranda kept up her film career in Hollywood while also appearing on Broadway and performing in clubs and restaurants.  The war years saw Carmen Miranda starring in eight of her fourteen films and, although the studios labelled her the “Brazilian Bombshell,” the films tended to blur her Brazilian identity in favor of a generalized Latin American image, she began appearing in its films as a featured performer.  In 1941, she shared the screen with Alice Faye and Don Ameche in That Night in Rio. Later that same year, she teamed up with Alice Faye again in Week-End in Havana. Miranda was now earning $5,000 a week. On 24 March 1941, she became one of the first Latinas to leave her hand and footprints in the sidewalk of Grauman’s Chinese Theater.  In 1943, she appeared in an extravaganza from noted director Busby Berkeley called The Gang’s All Here. Berkeley’s musicals were known for their lavish production, and Miranda’s role as Dorita featured her number “The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat.” An optical trick from the set behind her made the fruit-bedecked hat she was wearing appear even larger than humanly possible. By then, Miranda seemed to be locked into such roles as the exotic songstress, and her studio contract even forced her to appear at events in her trademark film costumes, which grew even more outlandish. One song she recorded, “Bananas Is My Business” seemed to pay somewhat ironic tribute to her typecasting. The following year, Miranda made a cameo appearance in Four Jills in a Jeep. By 1945, she had become Hollywood’s highest-paid entertainer and top female taxpayer in the United States, earning more than $200,000 that year ($2.2 million in 2010 adjusted for inflation).

After World War II ended in 1945, the American public’s tastes began to change and musicals began to fall out of favor. Hollywood studio heads and producers also felt that the novelty of Miranda’s “Brazilian bombshell” image had worn thin. As a result, Miranda’s career declined. She made one last film for Fox, Doll Face (1945), before her contract was terminated in January 1946.  She later signed a contract with Universal but at the time, Universal was undergoing a merger with another studio. Due to a change in management, no films for Miranda were planned. Eager to break away from her well established image, Miranda attempted to branch out with different roles. In 1946, she portrayed an Irish American character in If I’m Lucky. The following year, she played dual roles opposite Groucho Marx in Copacabana for United Artists. While the films were modest hits, film critics and the American public did not accept Miranda’s new image.

Though her film career was faltering, Miranda music career remained solid and she was still a popular attraction at nightclubs. From 1948 to 1950, Miranda teamed with The Andrews Sisters to produce and record three Decca singles. Their first collaboration was on radio in 1945 when Miranda guested on ABC’s The Andrews Sisters Show. The first single, “Cuanto Le Gusta”, was the most popular (a best-selling record and a number-twelve Billboard hit). “The Wedding Samba” (#23) followed in 1950.  In 1948, she co-starred opposite Wallace Beery and Jane Powell in A Date with Judy, and Nancy Goes to Rio in 1950 for MGM. She made her final film appearance in the 1953 film Scared Stiff with Martin and Lewis for Paramount.  Following the release of Scared Stiff in April 1953, she embarked on a four-month European tour. While performing in Cincinnati in October 1953, Carmen Miranda collapsed from exhaustion. She began suffering from acute depression, and underwent electroshock therapy, and when that failed to cure her, her physician suggested a return visit to Brazil. Accompanied by her sister Aurora, she arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 3 December 1954, her first visit home in fourteen years. When she arrived, she was pleased to be greeted by her fans and commented, “My people, I’m happy! I can’t say anything else. How good it is to be home.” Carmen stayed four months in Brazil. Recovered, she returned to the United States on 4 April 1955.

In 1947, to achieve more creative freedom in a film she was making, Carmen decided to produce her own film. It was called Copacabana and she played opposite Groucho Marx. The budget was divided into around ten sponsors’ quotas. A Texan investor, who held one of the quotas, sent his brother David Sebastian (23 November 1907 – 2 August 1990) to keep an eye on Carmen and look after his interests on the film set. His position allowed him to get close to Carmen and they started to date. On 17 March 1947, Miranda married Sebastian. In 1948 she became pregnant, but suffered a miscarriage after a show. The marriage lasted only a few months, but Carmen, who was Catholic, would not accept getting a divorce. Her sister Aurora Miranda later would state in the documentary Bananas is My Business that “he was very rude, many times even hit her. The marriage was a burden in her life; he only married her for her money. He did not like our family”. In September 1949, the couple announced their separation, but they later reconciled.  Before leaving for the United States and before meeting her husband, Carmen had a relationship with the young Mario Cunha and bon vivant Carlos da Rocha Faria, son of a traditional family of Rio de Janeiro, and also the musician Aloysio de Oliveira, one of the “Bando da Lua” members. In the US, she maintained relationships with the Mexican Arturo de Córdova, Dana Andrews, Harold Young and John Wayne, and the Brazilian Carlos Niemeyer.  In her later years, in addition to her already heavy smoking and alcohol consumption, Miranda began taking amphetamines and barbiturates, all of which took a toll on her health.

In April 1955, Carmen performed at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, and in July, in Cuba. Thereafter, she returned to Los Angeles to recuperate from a recurring bronchial ailment.  On 4 August 1955, Miranda was shooting a segment for the filmed NBC variety series The Jimmy Durante Show. According to Durante, Miranda had complained of feeling unwell before filming. Durante offered to get Miranda a replacement but she declined. After completing a song and dance number, “Jackson, Miranda, and Gomez”, with Durante, she fell to one knee. Durante later said of the incident, “I thought she had slipped. She got up and said she was outa [sic] breath. I tells her I’ll take her lines. But she goes ahead with ’em. We finished work about 11 o’clock and she seemed happy.” At around 4 a.m. the following day, Miranda suffered a fatal heart attack at her home in Beverly Hills.  The Jimmy Durante Show episode in which Miranda appeared was aired two months after her death, on 15 October 1955. A clip of the episode was also included in the A&E Network’s Biography episode about Miranda.