Sônia Braga co-founded the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts to encourage and support Latinos in the performing arts, media and tech.  Sonia is best known for her role in the film adaptation of Jorge Amado's Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976), where she played the title role of Dona Flor. She earned American recognition and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), with Raúl Juliá and Willian Hurt.  Sonia was nominated for a second Golden Globe for her performance in Moon Over Parador (1988), where she played the part of Madonna Mendez.

In 2016, Sonia stared in Aquarius a film by renowned Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonca Filho, which debuted at the Cannes film festival.  In 2018, Mendonca Filho’s film Bacurau, also starring Sonia won the Jury Prize at Cannes.  Both films dealt thematically with people threatened with losing their way of life.