Global Greeks - Cinema
Penelope Spheeris (Director, USA)
Her first feature film was The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), a punk rock documentary that she produced as well as directed. She followed up with The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, this time about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of 1988, with footage and interviews of legendary metal bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Megadeth and Motφrhead. In addition, she worked as a writer for the TV series Roseanne (1988-1997). In the 1990s, Spheeris directed Wayne's World, a movie that grossed an impressive $121 million and became a popular hit. The 3rd Los Angeles Greek Film Festival will honor Penelope Spheeris with a special screening of her documentary short No Use Walkin' When You Can Stroll (1998) and her eighties cult classic feature Suburbia (1984), followed by a panel discussion with Spheeris, Ross Albert, Christina Beck, and Bert Dragin, moderated by UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Dean Robert Rosen.
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Often referred to as a Rock ‘n Roll anthropologist, filmmaker Spheeris (1945) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Greek immigrant father. Spheeris is the first cousin of the Greek-French director Costa Gavras, whom she says makes her consider that there is something to the genetic aspects to the job description.
Spiros Stathoulopoulos (Director, Colombia)
This directorial debut premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2007 as an official selection of The Directors' Fortnight and won numerous awards at the 48th International Thessaloniki Film Festival.
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Born in 1978, Spiros Stathoulopoulos was raised in Thessaloniki. He started making films at an early age. At 14, five years after his family has moved from Greece to Colombia, he earned his first award with a fiction video short. After moving to Los Angeles to finish a formal education in filmmaking and establishing his own production company, Kosmokrator Sinema, he has completed his first feature film entitled
Costa-Gavras (Director, France)
He has attempted several genres - including murder mystery, war film, and straight-up political fiction films - but his trademark is the merging of controversial political issues with the entertainment value of cinema, focusing on issues such as the abuse of power -especially by repressive regimes - complicity and interventionism by world powers in the affairs of other countries, torture and interrogation against the rule of law. He brings attention to international issues in the tradition of cinematic story-telling, by pouring politics into plot and interweaving epic conflicts with personal conflicts. |
Costa Gavras (born in Greece, February 13, 1933, ) is a Greek-French filmmaker best known for films with overt political themes, most famously political thrillers
Constantine Alexander Payne (Director, USA)
His films are noted for their dark sense of humor and satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne has received a Golden Globe for his screenplays in About Schmidt and Sideways, as well as the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Sideways.
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Greek-American film director and screenwriter Constantine Alexander Payne (his grandfather's family name was Anglicized from Papadopoulos) was born February 10, 1961, in Omaha, Nebraska. He is best known for his films
Nia Vardalos (Writer/Actress, Canada)
Parts of her latest film, My Life In Ruins, where shot in Acropolis, Delphi and Ancient Olympia.
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Nia Vardalos was born Antonia Eugenia Vardalos in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Greek-Canadian parents. She is an actor, screenwriter and producer for TV and film, who gained almost overnight success and international fame with her movie
George Miller (Director/Producer, Australia)
He is probably most well known for his work on the Mad Max, but has been involved in a wide range of projects, including The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Lorenzo's Oil (1992), Babe: Pig in the City (1998), and the Oscar-winning Happy Feet (2006). |
Academy-Award winning, Greek Australian film and television screenwriter, director and producer, Dr George (Miliotis) Miller, was born on March 3, 1945, in Queensland Australia, to Greek immigrant parents.
Nadia Tass (Director / Producer, Austratlia)
Tass has recently has completed four high end television movies in the U.S. She has also directed plays in Australia, including Miss Bosnia, Cosi and Summer of the Aliens. |
Greek born Nadia (Tassopoulos) Tass is one of Australia's most respected and unique filmmakers. Tass's career as a film director began in 1986, with her first feature film
Ana Kokkinos (Director, Australia)
Her films include a 1992 short film Antamasi, 1994's Only The Brave and 1998's Head On (based on the novel "Loaded" by Christos Tsolkias).
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An Australian film director, Ana Kokkinos was born in Melbourne in 1958.
Nick Cassavetes (Actor/Writer/Director, USA)
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An American actor, writer and director, Nicholas Cassavetes was born in 1959 in New York City, New York, the son of actress Gena Rowlands and Greek-American actor and director John Cassavetes. He has directed several films, including Unhook the Stars(1996),
Zoe Cassavetes (Actress/Director, USA)
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Daughter of Greek-Americanactor-director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands, Zoe Cassavetes was born in Los Angeles in 1970. Cassavetes’s first feature,
Jennifer Aniston (Actress, USA)
Aniston was born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, and grew up in New York City. She is the daughter of the actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow. Aniston's father is a Greek American born on the island of Crete, Greece, while her mother was born in New York City. |
Jennifer Joanne Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American film and television actress. Her big break came via her role as Rachel Green in the sitcom
Elias Koteas (Actor, Canada)
His parents are both of Greek descent, and he speaks Greek fluently. Koteas had noteworthy roles in Atom Egoyan's Exotica, Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line and David Cronenberg's Crash. |
Actor Elias Koteas was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Olympia Dukakis (Actress, USA)
Dukakis has starred in many films, including Steel Magnolias, Mr. Holland's Opus, Mighty Aphrodite, and Moonstruck, for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. |
An Academy Award-winning American actress, Olympia Dukakis was born in 1931 in Massachusetts, the daughter of Greek immigrants. She is the cousin of 1988 Democratic US presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.
Alex Proyas (Director, Australia)
He is best known for his films The Crow (1994), Dark City (1998), and I, Robot (2004). |
Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer Alex Proyas was born to Greek parents in Egypt, and moved to Sydney, Australia when he was 3 years of age. Proyas' first feature film was the independent science fiction thriller Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds.
