love interest of Laura Linney's character, in the romantic comedy Love Actually, which also co-stars Colin Firth, Lúcia Moniz, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, and Rowan Atkinson. Santoro also began obtaining work in the advertising business as he appeared in a commercial campaign with Gisele Bündchen in 2002. He played the male lead in No. 5 The Film, a three-minute-long commercial for Chanel, directed by Baz Luhrmann alongside Nicole Kidman in 2004. In 2006, Santoro joined the season three cast of the ABC television series Lost as Paulo, a survivor of the Oceanic Flight 815 crash. His first appearance was in the episode "Further Instructions", and his character was killed off in the episode "Exposé". He also voiced the character in the Brazilian-dubbed version of the series. Santoro was cast as Persian emperor Xerxes in Zack Snyder's film 300 (2006), based on the Frank Miller comic of the same name. The job had many special requirements, which included intensive workout for the physicality of the role (Santoro had previously lost to star in a Brazilian miniseries), extensive CGI work to portray the 6'2" Santoro as the seven-foot God-King, a four-and-a-half-hour makeup application process and the complete removal of Santoro's body hair first by waxing and then by shaving, which proved too painful. His eyebrows were kept intact, however, covered over with prosthetics and drawn in rather than being shaved. Santoro read the works of Herodotus, an Ancient Greek historian, in order to prepare for his part. Regarding Xerxes, he has stated: For his role in 300, Santoro became the first Brazilian actor nominated for the MTV Movie Awards in the category of Best Villain. He did not win however, with the award going to Jack Nicholson for The Departed. After playing the late footballer Heleno de Freitas in the 2012 film Heleno, Santoro co-starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2013 film The Last Stand before playing Garriga in the Will Smith drama film Focus (2015). Santoro played Jesus in the 2016 historical action film Ben-Hur and received personal blessings from Pope Francis for the role. Personal life Santoro has been in a relationship with Brazilian actress Mel Fronckowiak since 2013. On 22 May 2017, they welcomed their first child, a daughter named Nina. Filmography Film Television Music videos Awards and nominations Other nominations and honors 2004: On People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful list 2004 2006: 12th position on People