João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço was born on March 5, 1954, in the city of Lobito, Benguela Province. He is the son of Sequeira João Lourenço, a Nurse originally from Malanje, and Josefa Gonçalves Cipriano Lourenço, a Seamstress from Namibe, both now deceased.

He studied in Luanda at the former Luanda Industrial School and the Luanda Industrial Institute. After the fall of the fascist regime in Portugal, he joined the national liberation struggle in the Republic of Congo in August 1974, where he received his first political-military training at the Kalunga Revolutionary Training Center (CIR).

He was part of the first group of MPLA fighters who entered Angolan territory through Miconge toward the city of Cabinda after the collapse of the Portuguese colonial regime. On the eve of independence, he took part in combat on the N’Tó/Yema border and in other battles against the FNLA/Zairian Army coalition, which ended in the defeat of those forces attempting to occupy that Angolan province.

During the liberation struggle and shortly after the proclamation of national independence on November 11, 1975, he trained in heavy artillery and served as Political Commissar at various levels—platoon, company, battalion, brigade—and as Political Commissar of the 2nd Political-Military Region in Cabinda (1977–78).

As part of efforts to professionalize the People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), he traveled to the former Soviet Union from 1978 to 1982, where, in addition to military training, he earned a Master's degree in Historical Sciences from the V.I. Lenin Political-Military Academy.

From 1983 to 1986, he was appointed by the President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces as Provincial Commissioner of Moxico and President of the Regional Military Council of the 3rd Political-Military Region.

From 1986 to 1989, by decision of the MPLA and the President of the Republic of Angola, he served as First Secretary of the MPLA Provincial Committee and Provincial Commissioner of Benguela.

Between 1989 and 1990, he was appointed Head of the National Political Directorate of FAPLA, during which he was promoted to the rank of general.

From 1991 to 1998, he served as Secretary of the Political Bureau for Information and, for a short period, concurrently as Secretary of the Political Bureau for Economic and Social Affairs. He also served as President of the MPLA Parliamentary Group.

Following the MPLA’s 4th Ordinary Congress, he was elected by the Central Committee to serve as Secretary-General of the MPLA from 1998 to 2003, during which time he also chaired the Constitutional Commission of the National Assembly.

From 2003 until April 2014, he was the First Vice-President of the National Assembly.

A retired general, he was appointed Minister of National Defense by Presidential Decree in April 2014.

He has been a member of the MPLA Central Committee since 1985 and a member of the Political Bureau since 1990. Following the 7th Ordinary Congress of the MPLA in August 2016, he was elected Vice-President of the MPLA by the Central Committee.

He is married to Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço and is the father of six children.

In his personal life, he has practiced football and karate and enjoys reading, chess, and horse riding as hobbies. In addition to Portuguese, he speaks English, Russian, and Spanish.