Fábio Barreto was the youngest son of a well-known family of producers in Brazil, including his grandmother Lucíola Villela, father Luiz Carlos Barreto and mother Lucy Barreto. He acted in his brother Bruno's first short when he was 9 years old, and since then became active in the Brazilian film industry as assistant director, actor, production assistant, production manager and director, until his death in 2019.