Irene Papa

Irene Papa is one of the few actors who crossed the narrow borders of Greece and made a career abroad. He was happy to work with great directors, such as Giorgos Tzavellas, Michalis Kakogiannis, Costas Gavras, Francesco Rosi, Elio Petri and Manoel de Oliveira.

She was born in Chiliomodi, Corinth on September 3, 1926 to parents who were teachers. She studied at the Drama School of the National Theater and during the first years of her career she collaborated with various troupes.

In 1947 she married the director and actor Alkis Pappas (1922-2018), with whom they divorced in 1951, but she still retains his surname. 

In total she received more than 24 honors and awards.

Maria Callas

Maria Callas (New York, December 2, 1923 - Paris, September 16, 1977), born Maria Anna Sofia Kaikilia Kalogeropoulou, was a leading Greek vocalist and world-renowned opera diva.

Her family immigrates to the USA. from Athens and Maria Callas is born. At the age of 11 he received his first prize as a "soloist" in a children's voice competition organized by the New York radio station W.O.R.

She has been found in some of the biggest stages in the world such as Venice, La Scala in Milan, Buenos Aires, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Paris Opera and the ancient theater of Epidaurus.

She had a stormy relationship with the shipowner Aristotle Onassis, who hurt her deeply when she married Jackie Kennedy. On May 25, 1970, she attempted suicide by taking a large dose of barbiturates.

Maria Callas died on September 16, 1977 in Paris. Her ashes were scattered in the Aegean Sea.

Alki Zei

Alki Zei was born in Athens. Her father was from Crete and her mother from Samos, where she spent her early childhood. She married the playwright and director George Sevastikoglou and they had two children.

She studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens, at the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory and at the Moscow Film Institute.

From 1954 to 1964 she lived as a political refugee in the Soviet Union. In 1964 she returned to Greece with her family, only to leave again with the arrival of the dictatorship in 1967. This time their place of residence is France from where they returned after the dictatorship.

From a very young age she was involved in writing. Her first novel is called kaplani tis vitrinas (1963), that has been inspired by her childhood in Samos and is almost autobiographical. She wrote a series of novels mainly for children but also for adults. In 2010 she was honored with the Award of the Academy of Athens for all her work.

Alki Zei is an ambassador of contemporary Greek literature abroad, as her entire work has been translated and is published in many countries around the world. She has received many awards for her writing.

She passed away full of days on February 27, 2020.

Melina Mercouri (1920-1994)

She came from a very important family of politicians and businessmen. In 1938 he transferred to the Drama School of the National Theater and appeared for the first time in the theater in 1944, with the troupe of George Pappas. She co-starred with all the great Greek actors of the time. 

In 1951 she began her parallel appearances on the Paris stage, and a few years later she appeared on Broadway. In the meantime she had met the American director Jules Dassen and they decided to get married in 1964. 

During the Dictatorship shedeveloped a significant resistance action. She was expelled for her political ideas, her Greek citizenship was revoked. Before she fled abroad, several assassination attempts were made against her. 

She served as Minister of Culture, launching the national campaign for the return of the stolen marbles of the Acropolis by Lord Elgin. She also created the Regional Theater of Greece and introduced theatrical studies in the school curriculum. In her life she defied the social conventions and the course that her family and her social position had prescribed for her and with her work she is still a source of inspiration.

Kiki Dimoula

Distinguished and award-winning poet of the second post-war generation, with a great impact on the reading public. 

She was born in Athens on June 6, 1931, originally from Kalamata. After her studies, she was hired as an employee at the Bank of Greece, where she worked for 25 years, until 1974, when she retired.

In 1954 she married the poet Athos Dimoulas (1921-1986). The couple had two children.

She received many awards for her poems. One of them was the European Literature Prize. Her poems have been translated into many languages of the world (English, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Bulgarian, German, Swedish, etc.).