The actress and bodybuilder was born on September 30, 1957, in Manhattan, New York in the United States of America. By ethnicity, although her name might suggest she is Portuguese, she is American and was born and raised in the States.
When she was done with high school, Gladystudied English at Marymount Manhattan College in New York. It was in college that she watched Rachel McLish win one of her two Ms. Olympia titles. This immediately interested her in bodybuilding. Inspired by this, she not only tried to stay in shape, but also entered the business when she started a bodybuilding and bodybuilding program.
Besides just being a bodybuilder, GladysPortugues has also embraced fitness modeling. She has participated in several Ms. Olympia competitions and twice finished in the top ten. One of the most famous bodybuilders of the 1980s, she graced the cover of numerous fitness magazines, including Muscle & Fitness, Bodybuilding & Beauty, Hard Body, and Muscle Mag.
In 1985, Gladys appeared in the documentary, Pumping Iron II: The Women which is about female bodybuilders watching how they prepared for the 1983 Caesars World Cup. The following year, Portugues landed the role of a bodybuilder in The Morning After, then in 1987 she appeared as a waitress in C’est Alive III: Isle of the Living. Since then, Gladys Portugues has not appeared in any film.
In 2011, she was on the British reality show Jean-Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors. Apart from being a bodybuilder and an actress, Gladys is also an author. She published her first book, Hard Bodies in 1986 with Joyce L. Vedral. The two co-authored another book, Body Hard Express in 1988.
