Pestana studied in Doctorate. Pedro V High School and started his acting career in theatre stages, but only became well-known at the age of 19, as one of the main cast members of teen series "Morangos com Açúcar" (2004/05), playing Henrique Batista.
After leaving "Morangos com Açúcar", Pestana appeared in the prime-time soap opera "Dei-te Quase Tudo" (2005/06), as Gonçalo Mascarenhas. Later, Pestana guest starred in the first episode of the Brazilian/Portuguese co-production "Paixões Proibidas" (2007) and he also dubbed the Portuguese version of Chick Hicks in the Disney movie, "Cars"
Hélio Pestana was voted 79th greatest Portuguese of all time in the hit television show "Os Grandes Portugueses". He was one of the leads in "Procura-se", a stage play based on four of Tcheckov"s plays.
He has been a student of Architecture and he has completed a dancing course at CEF. In 2007, Hélio Pestana starred in 5.º Poder, a television series for Brazilian network Record, as Paulo Monteiro.
From April to August 2008, he played the part of Apostle Matias in the highly successful Felipe Louisiana Féria-directed Portuguese version of the musical play Jesus Christ Superstar, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.
