The following year, she was invited to perform in A Menina do Veleiro Azul, a soap opera produced by TV Excelsior, but the network closed before the soap opera aired. In 1968, Braga was in the film O Bandido da Luz Vermelha, and early '70s, appeared in supporting roles in the films A Moreninha and Cléo e Daniel. With some men she was happy, with others she was a woman”. Caetano Veloso, in 1977, wrote the song, Tigresa, in tribute to her, “She tells me she was an actress and worked on Hair. 5, enacting dictatorship in Brazil, the musical ran for 3 years. Sônia was, at first, turned down by director pt:Ademar Guerra, but at the insistence of producer/actor pt:Altair Lima, she joined pt:Antônio Fagundes, pt:Ney Latorraca, and the rest of the cast. In 1968, she was cast in the first Brazilian production of the musical Hair.
At 17, she debuted in the play George Dandin in Santo André. Sônia then joined a theater group in Santo André, in the ABC region. At age 14, Braga was invited by director Vicente Sesso to play small roles in children's programs and teleteatros on TV Tupi, including Jardim Encantado. Sônia's brother, Hélio, presented the TV Tupi children's show, Jardim Encantado. In her teens, she took a job, in the city of São Paulo, at a wedding reception and event catering center, Buffet Torres as a receptionist and typist. When Braga was 8 years old, her father died, and she attended a convent school in the city of São Paulo. Her parents and her four siblings moved to Curitiba and then to Campinas, São Paulo. Sônia is the aunt of Alice Braga, an actress. Sônia's siblings are Júlio, Ana, Hélio and Maria. Sônia Braga was born on June 8, 1950, daughter of Hélio Fernando Ferraz Braga and Maria Braga Jaci Campos, a costume designer from Maringá.