Trivia

Sister of Margarida Moreira.

She studied psychology at Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisboa.

Before filming "Sangue do Meu Sangue", the director João Canijo asked Anabela to spend a couple of weeks in Padre Cruz neighborhood, in Lisbon, but she decided to stay there for a longer period of time. Even during the movie shooting she kept living among the locals. Anabela revealed that this decision started to influence the way she was portraying her character. After a while she started to look and act in a rougher and tougher way.

Back in 2001, she attended an acting course at ACT - Escola de Atores for 18 months, in Lisbon, where she met director João Canijo. The day she finished the course, she started interning for a João Canijo film.

One day after João Canijo asked her to play the role of Lúcia in the film Mal Nascida (2007), she moved to Codeçoso, Minho (the village where the film was shot), even without having read the script. There, she spent one month hanging out with the family who lived on the movie set, and took care of farm animals.

She gained 55 pounds in three months and stopped shaving, during the preparation for her role as Lúcia in the film Mal Nascida (2007), directed by João Canijo.

Since 2003, she starred in several films directed by João Canijo, including Noite Escura (2003), Mal Nascida (2008), Trabalho de Atriz, Trabalho de Ator (2010), Sangue de meu Sangue (2010), Obrigação (2012), É o Amor (2012), O Dia do meu Casamento (2016), Fátima (2017), Mal Viver/Viver Mal (2023).

In an interview, Anabela Said that, during the preparation for the movie *Fatima*, she had a very difficult journey. One time, she felt dizzy after walking for hours under the bright sunshine. Other time, her feet swelled so much that her walking shoes stopped fitting. The other actresses also went through a hard time during this experience.

She graduated from a high school in Lisbon managed by nuns, Colégio de S. José.

Her first acting gig in the Portuguese film industry happened back in 2002, in the short film O Amor é Kitsch (2002).

She has a great passion for the world of fashion, and enjoys creating outfits, going to fashion events, transforming herself, and knowing what's going on.