Ludmila Dayer was ten years old when she filmed “Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brazil” by Carla Camurati. She played the child version of the Spanish noblewoman who married the future Portuguese king Dom João VI. married. Initially the role was supposed to go to another child actress. Ludmila only dubbed the title character in the scenes in which the young princess dances to Spanish rhythms.
But the director liked her so much that he ended up giving her two characters: In addition to the child Carlota, Ludmila also played the English woman who tells the story.
“A producer on the film went to the dance school I attended in Rio and filmed me dancing,” she says. “Then they invited me to meet Carla Camurati. Then I only had two months to learn a little English and Spanish, which are the languages I speak in the film.”
Released in 1995, “Carlota Joaquina” was an unexpected box office success and the title that launched the “resumption” the process of revitalizing Brazilian cinema that almost disappeared during the Fernando Collor government. It also put Ludmila Dayer on the map.
While still very young, she spent the next decade splitting time between film and television projects. Until the actress vacationed in Los Angeles in the USA for two weeks in 2006. Without any planning, he stayed where he still lives today.
“Nobody knew about my life, which was wonderful for me. An opportunity to start from scratch, to rediscover myself without the audience I grew up with. In addition to the feeling of arriving home. I always felt like a fish, no more water in Brazil.”
“I wanted to live close to the energy of Hollywood, this world that makes me dream,” he says. But his first work there had nothing to do with cinema. He sold luxury glasses and did many translations. He gradually got closer to film sets, but behind the camera, and learned things like executive production and assistant director.
Today his life is focused exclusively on the United States. Since 2014 she has been a partner in the production company Look Films, which already has a branch in Brazil. In 2015, she moved nearby with her mother, her only daughter.
At the same time, she married a British man whose identity she is not disclosing for privacy reasons. All he says is that he was in a longdistance relationship for three years, but today they live together in LA
Everything seemed to be getting better and better as Ludmila started having more and more severe panic attacks. “When you go back to normal, you feel very ashamed,” she says. “Because you say, 'Wow, I'm creating this all in my head,'” and it's not like that. In fact, your body is in an alert state, trying to warn you of some things that need to be processed. Something you suppress. But until I understood that, I thought panic was a monster that wanted to end my life.
Ludmila began treatment and thought it would be a good idea to film a documentary in Brazil about her own healing process. But the journey started badly. “I had a panic attack on the plane to Brazil. I called my therapist in Houston and said, 'I can't do it, I'm not getting on that plane again.' My crisis on board was so severe that I needed an oxygen bomb, like the ones flight attendants carry with them. I was sure I was going to have a heart attack on the plane.”
“The entire filming process was very difficult. We shot in Varginha, in the interior of Minas Gerais. [atriz] Fernanda Souza, who is practically a sister to me and plays my alter ego in the film, was a crucial role, she helped me throughout.”
With the filmed footage, Ludmila returned to Los Angeles and discovered that her symptoms were not caused solely by the mental illness. She was diagnosed with the EpsteinBarr virus, which causes mononucleosis. In addition, EBV, as it is also called, is one of the factors that, along with others, trigger multiple sclerosis in the body.
It didn't take long until Ludmila was diagnosed with this autoimmune disease, in which the body's own immune cells attack the central nervous system. Multiple sclerosis is incurable and irreversible, but can be slowed with treatments and diet. In Brazil, the actresses Cláudia Rodrigues and Guta Stresser are also carriers of the disease.
Back in LA, Ludmila began putting together her documentary with the help of her good friend, editor and director Thales Corrêa. And then she decided to change her approach. “The film is about mental health. It's always been that way, there's never been anything more. But I only discovered that I was carrying the virus after filming. And then I realized that my physical problem was related to my mental problem.” “
“I turned to Thales and said, 'I have to edit it myself'. I took the pictures and formed the story from them, superimposing my narrative on top of them. The film was made in editing. I became addicted to the cut, so I did.” “I didn't want to stop. Until Thiago Pavarino, one of the associate producers, shook me and said 'It's over, right?'. It was time for people to see it.”
One of the first people to see the film was another friend of Ludmila, the singer Anitta. “She had been through similar situations and completely understood what I was trying to say,” he says. Anitta is now considered the executive producer of “Eu,” as the film was called, and accompanied Ludmila at a special press screening in 2022.
In one of the moments of “I”, Ludmila thanks her father, from whom she grew up apart, for giving her life. “He gave me everything he could give me and when I understood that, it was over, everything was sorted out,” she says. “I have brothers by his side that I don’t even know. It’s really interesting, these are new things I’m exploring in my life now.”
“When I got sick, I thought, 'Nobody even knows I'm like this. If I die today, the world will keep turning, people will be sad for a moment, but then everyone will go back to their lives.' '.”
Ludmila made no secret of her illness. He even posted blood tests on his social networks and received the full support of his fans. After a year of treatment, he delivered some good news: He said he no longer felt any symptoms.
“I sought treatment from allopathic doctors but did not take any medication. I followed a wonderful nutritional protocol that is widely used around the world. I took care of my overall physical and emotional health, and today I feel very good.”
“Today I am practically vegan. I don't eat animals, although I still eat them from time to time. I don’t have celiac disease, but I don’t eat gluten,” she says. “I completely avoid alcohol. I satisfy my cravings with nonalcoholic beers and gins, which are wonderful. What I haven’t found yet is a good nonalcoholic wine.”
Ludmila claims to be cured of multiple sclerosis, but medicine emphasizes that the disease remains progressive and incurable. However, there are dozens of new treatments that allow patients, especially those diagnosed early, to lead normal lives.
The documentary “Eu” is available on the Aquarius platform, which specializes in wellbeing content, with documentaries on yoga, sustainability, meditation, the environment and other topics. Meanwhile, Ludmila Dayer is already preparing a sequel, with the inevitable title: “You”.