Barroso began his acting career when Argentine producers met eleven-year-old João Carlos playing soccer on the sidewalks of Bolivar street in Copacabana. Later he was invited to participate in "Tercer Mundo" film which was shot in the hills of the city. This film was a Brazil-Argentina co-production filmed in 1961 and released only in 1973. With his work in this film, he was invited to perform in Luigi Pirandello's play "Man, Beast and Virtue". For his performance, Barroso received several theatrical revelation awards in 1962.[4]
Barroso made his debut on Rede Globo in the series "Rua da Matriz", the station's first dramaturgical production, in 1965, mending a sequence of productions by the company over the next decades.[5] Among his most popular TV characters are Tavico in Estúpido Cupido (1976) and Toninho Jiló in Roque Santeiro (1985), the latter his most outstanding character.[6]
Barroso died on August 12, 2019, in Rio de Janeiro after a long battle against pancreatic cancer.[7]