Silvio Santos - Biography

Silvio Santos (real name Senor Abravanel, born on December 12, 1930) is a Brazilian TV show host and entrepreneur. He is the owner of SBT, the third largest television network in the country.

1 Biography
2 See also
3 Notes
4 Further reading
5 External links

Biography

Santos was born in Rio de Janeiro, in the Lapa region. He is of Sephardi Jewish descent and was born to a Turkish mother and a Greek father. Despite his humble beginnings, working as a street vendor, he had a strong affinity for artistic endeavors and took up jobs on the radio, circus and television.

He became the major TV host in Brazil. His greatest achievement was founding SBT in 1981, where he still hosts various programs. His business, Grupo Sílvio Santos (GSS), also owns agribusiness ventures and hotels. He is the single biggest taxpayer natural person in Brazil. Additionally, Santos is known as a benefactor of the Jewish community.

He has influenced Brazilian television in many ways, particularly by producing local versions of popular international formats such as Celebrity Big Brother, Candid Camera, The Biggest Loser, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Deal or No Deal, the RTL Idols franchise, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. He also was the host of Show do Milhão, a game show also broadcast by ITV in England. The show received was later ported to some videogames, as SEGA Mega Drive 3, with the game built-in, manufactured by Brazilian SEGA's distributor Tectoy, and for Microsoft Windows (with his original dubbing).

Santos saved $3.2 billion in his career.