at tender age of 12, hortencio first stepped on the tiatr stage in a village tiatr "sukh ani dukh" in 1965 on the occasion of the chapel feast at pontemol, curchorem. the tiatr was written and directed by shri. jose fernandes, one of the village directors at that time. hortencio was later picked by albert colaco, a writer from sanvorderm who scripted and presented his tiatr "nimnno ekuch pelo". his first commercial stint was in the tiatr "noxibantlim khoddpam" by jess fernandes from quepem in the year 1968. hortencio later performing as a lead actor in the tiatrs of all the topmost writers and directors of his times viz. late. m. boyer, late. remmie colaco, late. c. alvares, late. prem kumar, late. bab petre , late. , late. airistedes dias, late. alfred rose, late. fr. planton faria, late. robin vaz, john claro, mike mehta, joe rose , anil-fatima , wilmix-sharon, c.d'silva , tony dias, anthony san , mendes brothers, jr. nelson, rico rod , peter roshan, tausif de navelim, anil olga, late. william de curtorim, jenny de germany etc.