Silvio Santos is a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian TV show host and entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

. He is the owner of SBT, the third largest television network

Television network

A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...

 in the country.

Biography

Santos was born in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, in the Lapa region. He is of Sephardi Jewish

Sephardi Jews

Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 descent and was born to a Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 mother and a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 father. Despite his humble beginnings, working as a street vendor

Camelô

Camelô is a Brazilian Portuguese name given to street vendors in major Brazilian cities.Law enforcement often enters into conflict - sometimes physical - with camelôs, for selling low-quality products , making improper use of public space , and for not paying the same taxes that licensed retailers...

, he had a strong affinity for art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

istic endeavors and took up jobs on the radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

, circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 and television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

.

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

Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term for the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales....

 ventures and hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

s. He is the single biggest taxpayer natural person

Natural person

Variously, in jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to an artificial, legal or juristic person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner...

 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

Celebrity Big Brother

Celebrity Big Brother could refer to:*Any series of Celebrity Big Brother UK:** Celebrity Big Brother 2001 ** Celebrity Big Brother 2002 ** Celebrity Big Brother 2005 ** Celebrity Big Brother 2006 ** Celebrity Big Brother 2007...

, Candid Camera

Candid Camera

Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...

, The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....

, Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune in different countries

Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin and first aired in 1975, with a syndicated version airing since 1983. Since its premiere, the program has been adapted into several international versions. The 1975 version premiered on Australian TV in 1981 and premiered...

, Family Feud

Family Feud

Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...

, Deal or No Deal

Topa ou Não Topa

Topa ou Não Topa is the Brazilian version of Deal or No Deal, broadcast in Portuguese by SBT. It is hosted by Silvio Santos. There are 26 cases, containing amounts from R$ 0.50 to R$ 1,000,000...

, the RTL Idols franchise

Idol series

The British talent search television series Pop Idol has spawned spin-offs in 42 territories, in what is now referred to as the "Idols" format, as described by FremantleMedia...

, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is a television game show format based on asking grade-school level questions to adults, hosted by Jeff Foxworthy...

and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...

. He also was the host of Show do Milhão, a game show also broadcast by ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The show received was later ported to some videogames, as SEGA

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 Mega Drive 3, with the game built-in, manufactured by Brazilian SEGA's distributor Tectoy, and for Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 (with his original dubbing).

Santos saved $3.2 billion in his career.

External links

• Official SBT site