She made her stage debut at the age of 14, in the children's play "Dom Chicote Mula Manca e seu fiel companheiro Zé Chupança", replacing actress Débora Duarte, which had moved to Rio de Janeiro in order to star in the Rede Globo telenovela "Bicho do Mato". She was then invited by Eugênio Kusnet to participate in his intensive two-year performing arts course. After the course, Lucélia acted in a production of "Godspell", which was presented in a circus tent in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Botafogo. She finished high school in Rio, where she took the vestibular test for Medicine by an imposition of her father. She failed to enter in the University, since she was already deeply involved with her acting career.