Son of retired bank employee Dalton Natal Melo and Selva Aretusa Figueiredo Melo, a housewife. Danton grew up alongside his older brother, Selton Mello, who had also become a renowned actor and director. From an early age, the brothers shared a very close relationship[5] and an affinity with the arts, influenced by a family environment that encouraged creativity.
During his childhood, accompanying his brother on recordings,[6] Danton showed an interest in acting, which led him to move to São Paulo and later to Rio de Janeiro as a child, where the family sought new opportunities, as his older brother had consolidated his option for art. In 1995, he began his artistic career when he was just ten years old, in the soap opera A Gata Comeu, in addition to some acting and advertising work. The actor says that starting his career early didn't deprive him of anything: "I was able to divide my time with school, it was a requirement. We only recorded after school hours, my parents helped me. I loved recording. I saw it as a game of telling a story, of putting on different clothes and playing a character".[7]
As a teenager, while he continued to build his career as an actor, Danton began dating Laura Malin, who would later become a writer and his first wife. The actor, in his youth, took the history entrance exam but ended up missing the last test because of the recordings.
Helicopter crash
On September 14, 1998, while flying over Mount Roraima recording a report for Globo Ecologia, a television program about environmental education shown by TV Globo, the helicopter he was in suffered a breakdown and crashed.[8] The actor and his team were found 30 hours after the accident by indigenous people from the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, who notified FUNAI so that the rescue could be carried out. Danton had severe internal bleeding and was rushed into surgery, at risk to his life, recovering weeks later.[9] His character in Torre de Babel ended up being removed, but with the actor's recovery, in November of that year, he returned to recording, due to its popularity, in a wheelchair and also with the aid of a crutch.
Relationships
He married Laura in 1993, when he was just 18 years old. Together, they had two daughters: Luísa, born in 2001, and Alice, in 2003. The marriage lasted 12 years and ended in 2005.[10] Even after the separation, Danton maintained a cordial relationship with Laura and continued to be a present father in his daughters' lives.[11][12]
In 2013, Danton began a relationship with Sheila Ramos, a businesswoman whom he married in 2017. The wedding ceremony was marked by simplicity and closeness with friends and family.[13] In 2014, his two daughters moved with his ex-wife to the United States. The actor said he suffered a lot after leaving but ended up accepting it with the help of therapy and his mother, Selva.
Spirituality
In 2022, Danton Mello's relationship with his spirituality was given new meaning after starring in the film Predestinado - Arigó and the Spirit of Dr. Fritz, a spiritualist film that tells the story of the medium José Arigó and his spiritual surgeries through the incorporation of the spirit of Dr. Fritz. Until then, he considered himself an atheist, but the film made him think a lot about the subject.[14]
Diabetes
The actor has type 2 diabetes and treats the disease with medical supervision. Danton says that his entire family is diabetic and his condition is strictly genetic: "My glucose level was always at the limit. My mother is diabetic, my grandfather, her father, also had diabetes. I had a genetic issue too. Until one One day, during a routine exam, my glucose was very high. From then on I started taking medication"[15]
Career
First works
His debut in soap operas took place in 1985, at the age of ten, as Cuca in A Gata Comeu. In 1988, he played the character Bruno Meireles, son of Leila (Cássia Kis) and Ivan (Antônio Fagundes) in the soap opera Vale Tudo; The following year, he played Peto, son of the antagonist Perpétua (Joana Fomm) in the soap opera Tieta. In 1994, he participated in the soap opera A Viagem, playing Johnny, a young rebel who becomes friends with Tato (Felipe Martins).
Malhação
In 1995, he played Héricles, protagonist of the first season of the series Malhação. In the plot, his character was a country boy who moved to the big city to study history and was dating a Greek girl named Cassandra from a distance, through letters; Throughout the plot, Héricles becomes involved in a romantic conflict between the characters of Isabela (Juliana Martins) and Rafaela (Flávia Bonato). The following year, he continued with the same role in the second season of Malhação dating Alex (Camila Pitanga), who later reveals herself to be Cassandra's cousin; He only returned to the series later with another character, in 2011, in Malhação Conectados to play the role of Fabiano, Isabela's (Bella Camero) father and Laura's (Letícia Spiller) romantic partner.
Highlights
In 1996, he transferred to SBT, where he acted in Dona Anja. He returned to Globo in 1997 to play the narrator of the miniseries Hilda Furacão, in the plot, his character Roberto Drummond is a reporter and communist militant who decides to tell the story of his life and his friends, Malthus (Rodrigo Santoro), Aramel (Thiago Lacerda) and Hilda Furacão (Ana Paula Arósio). Between 1997 and 1999 he was also the presenter of Globo Ecologia, where he suffered a helicopter accident. In 1998 (simultaneously with the previous one), he was in the soap opera Torre de Babel as Adriano, Shirlei's (Karina Barum) romantic partner. The following year, he participated in the last chapters of Terra Nostra. After three years dedicating himself to theater, he returned in 2003 as the protagonist of Jamais Te Esquecerei, on SBT. Back on Globo, in 2004, he co-starred in the second version of the soap opera Cabocla, playing Neco, a young man with advanced ideals for the time who becomes a political leader of great prestige. In 2006, he played the protagonist Rodolfo in the soap opera Sinhá Moça; the character is a young abolitionist, republican and law graduate, whose dedication to his ideals is shared with the protagonist Sinhá Moça (Débora Falabella). Throughout the plot, the two develop a romance and form a couple. In 2009, he played Amitav from Caminho das Indias, his character was the husband of Surya (Cleo Pires), eldest son of Opash (Tony Ramos) and Indira (Eliane Giardini) and is extremely attached to Indian traditions. In 2012, he was the protagonist of the romcom series: Como Aproveitar o Fim do Mundo, playing the character Ernani, an accounting technician, who is convinced by his co-worker Kátia (Alline Moraes) that, according to the Maya calendar, the world would end on December 21, 2012. With this perspective, both embark on various adventures to make the most of the days they have remain. Throughout the plot, end up falling in love. In 2013, he starred in the comedy Vai que Dá Certo, a huge box office success.
Brothers Selton and Danton Mello have shared the screen several times. In their childhood, they acted together in commercials, and Danton, who often accompanied Selton on recordings, appeared in Corpo a Corpo in 1984. In 1988, they starred in Chico Anysio's special: Grupo Escoulacho. Later, they also shared the stage in theater plays. In the film The Clown, directed by and starring Selton, Danton made a special appearance as Aldo, owner of the Aldo Auto Peças establishment. Years later, in 2021, they returned to act together in the 5th season of Sessão de Terapia in episode 34, where they played brothers in a dramatic scene.
