Born on November 22, 1973 in São Paulo, Brazil, Brazilian TV star Eliana Michaelichen Bezerra is known mononymously as Eliana, a TV host, actor and singer. She began nurturing a love of music and performance from an early age, dancing in Brazil's annual carnaval, and joined children's musical group A Patotinha aged 13. After a successful four-year run which included the hit song "Baile dos Passarinhos," she jumped ship to pop group Banana Split aged 17 and found fame after appearing on Brazilian TV show Qual é a Música?, impressing host Silvio Santos to such an extent that she landed her own program, Festolândia, the following year. In 1993, she released her platinum-selling Os Dedinhos via BMG and a series of self-titled follow-up albums, before winning a Latin Grammy for best children's album for her 1999 album Primavera, marking the first for a Brazilian artist in that category. Eliana went on to release another six albums, including gold-selling record Eliana 15 Anos in 2006, in parallel to her highly successful TV career, with a key gig on Bom Dia & Cia elevating her profile in the mid-'90s to bona fide celebrity status. She moved on to hosting kids' show TV Animal in 1996 and took on various other shows over the subsequent years before returning to the Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT) in 2009 to begin hosting her signature and long-running Sunday afternoon show, Eliana.
