Cute, winsome child actress who debuted with a sensitive performance as a girl who withdraws into a fantasy world in "House of Cards" (1993). Menina, who first name is East Indian for "hope" and whose last name, which means "my little girl" in Portuguese, is a pseudonym to protect her family's privacy, was chosen for the part after one of her schoolteachers submitted her name to a casting agency.
1993
Made feature film debut in "House of Cards"; diagnosed with diabetes on the same day that she met the film's casting director Mali Finn
