Héctor Silva was born in Montevideo on March 28, 1958, the son of a child caregiver and a textile worker who worked nights for extra pay. He grew up in a humble home, attended public schools, and at age 15 began political activism in a highly politicized Uruguayan society. “Theater is my place in society, my way of living,” he says.
He qualified as a third engineer for overseas navigation but worked in the profession for only a year. “I realized during Montevideo's carnivals that acting was my thing,” he recalls. The Uruguayan carnival, which lasts a month and takes place in neighborhood clubs, was the starting point of his artistic career.
With the dictatorship that began in 1973, Silva had to emigrate in 1978. He passed through Barcelona and Italy, and in 1980 came to South America, arriving in Paraguay almost by chance via Foz do Iguaçu. “The first night was at Plaza Uruguai, with the Cimefor soldiers and the prostitutes who gave me a hand all my life,” he recounts.
In 1982, he enrolled in a workshop at Arlequín Teatro, directed by Uruguayan Carlos Aguilera. He took part in productions such as Hamlet and Death of a Salesman. He met figures like Emilio Barreto, Line Bareiro, and Teresa González Meyer. “And I haven't stopped doing theater to this day,” he says.
In 1987, feeling he was repeating characters, he went to study acting in Buenos Aires with Carlos Gandolfi. There, he worked in construction with Paraguayan friends and frequented the Deportivo Paraguayo. He returned to Asunción in 1990 and on Estrella Street met Mexican Viviana Rangel, whom he married in 1991. She already had a daughter, Natalia, and together they had Xitlali. “Until then, marriage and children were unthinkable for me; I only wanted to do theater,” he recalls.
Viviana died in 2015 of colon cancer in Buenos Aires. “It was the greatest loss of my life,” he says. Today, Silva is part of a Paraguayan work selected for the FIMITEBAQ 2026 international theater festival and is seeking support to participate. Interested parties can contact him at (0984) 787-726.