Press release from BLA Management
Australia is a small market compared with LA, or even the UK, in terms of acting work. Actors do what they can to survive in this climate and market – but some have a 'double life' working in other markets, and not necessarily the well known Sydney/LA duality we've heard so much about, made famous over the years by Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman and Sam Worthington.
Victoria Haralabidou is one actress on whom 'the sun never sets'. More famous in Greece, where she's a household name, than Australia, she is in the enviable position of being an established actress on both countries. In Greece, she catapulted to fame fresh out of drama school in the Martin Scorsese feature Brides, starring alongside Steven Berkoff and Damian Lewis. Scorsese said of her: "Victoria's portrayal of Niki is brilliant, witty, in control of her emotions – and it is a pleasure to watch her radiance'. That radiance has not abated; it's a quality Victoria shares with a handful of other actors, making her compulsively, mesmerisingly watchable on both Greek and Australian screens. Brides sold close to 1,000,000 tickets in Greece and won 10 awards (including a Best Actress Award for Victoria) at the 45th Thessaloniki film festival, the highest number of awards for a film in the festival's 45-year history.
It was also Greece's official selection for the Oscars in 2005 and screened in Moscow and Toronto. Next came the lead role in 'So Suddenly' a MEGA Channel 20 part tv series which enjoyed amazing success in Greece and Cyprus, rated by Greeks as the 9th best TV series of all time. In an industry notoriously difficult to get a foothold in across all the genres of theatre, film and television, Victoria's move to Sydney could have presented insurmountable obstacles for her acting career, given her profile was in a non-English speaking country. Talent won out, with Victoria stepping straight into Neil Armfield's Stuff Happens. Australian film work has since flowed: in Blessed, the feature in which Victoria co-stars alongside Deborra-lee Furness, Miranda Otto and Frances O'Connor, she was heartbreaking as a mother convinced that her troubled, missing adolescent son is dead. Victoria shot Blessed in Melbourne in between Greek shoot dates for Soul Deep, a Greek civil war feature, in which she played a fighter, again working with Brides director, Pantelis Voulgaris, Her most recent Australian feature, Thirst, which was written for her, was shot under almost impossible conditions in Broken Hill, but she'll endure almost anything and go anywhere for the right project.
Victoria’s also been seen on television including My Place, The Strip, All Saints, The Informant and East West, specialising in sassy, dramatic roles that showcase her range. Feisty and fiercely intelligent, the woman is a chameleon, playing everything from a geologist to a seamstress, each character with its own point of interest. Australia is well known for its sizeable Greek Australian community; thus when Brides was distributed here by Palace, Victoria's Greek/Australian work found a crossover into both markets. Victoria's star continues to ascend: recently she was nominated for a Greek Academy Award (the Greek Oscars) for Best Supporting Actress, for Soul Deep. Though she made just one movie there that year, it was the right one. In its opening weekend, Soul Deep outsold Julie and Julia – and it has 9 Greek Academy nominations, the second most nominated film in the awards. "I'm very excited about the nomination for Soul Deep – I have been very lucky with the calibre of films I've worked on in the last couple of years, such as Blessed and Soul Deep – it's gratifying to be offered good projects in both countries."
As both markets are small, it doubles her exposure to interesting projects – of course, there's room for more, so perhaps Victoria, too, will find a foothold in other markets. Where else would she see herself working? She laughs. "I would work in Australia, Greece, Iceland – wherever the project was, I guess! And I am lucky with speaking several languages fluently: I could do an English, Russian or Greek film, if the role were right."
Michela Noonan, also managed by Monica Keightley, is another case in point. Her acting studies were undertaken in Australia and Paris; she received an AFI nomination for Aussie feature Strange Fits of Passion, then went to Italy to make features Quore and Apnea in quick succession, as well as some high end Italian TV.
She is back in Australia and optimistic about the next project. "Artists always think about LA or the UK as desirable markets, but it's also enjoyable to find markets such as Italy. We are mostly from somewhere else, so it's nice to explore those historic cultural roots – it can only further enrich Australian culture" she says.
Recently a young NIDA graduate, Matias Stevens, after what Keightley calls a "terribly long, unappreciated wait to be noticed" here in Australia, found work in his native Chile starring in a US$1.75mill TV series shooting there from April onwards. Another young actor, Lillian Barter, is in talks about a Spanish film to be shot in Barcelona, using two Australian actors. They are waiting for funding for the Spanish government. "That will be an easy one to negotiate" says Keightley, who speaks the language fluently; she has been able to read the Spanish script.
Recently, Laurie Foell, best known in Australia for playing two opposite characters on Home And Away was introduced by Keightley to French representation – Laurie speaks fluent French. The French market is thriving, as the French film festivals here attest, and the success of groups such as Alliance Francaise, promoting French language and culture in Australia, mean any French work Laurie engages in may well find an audience in Australia also.
"LA is a wonderfully big lucrative pool, but there are other markets too – what do they say? Small is beautiful” says Keightley. "We just want our people to work and find fulfillment in their vocation".
The Greek Film Academy Awards will be held in Greece on May 3.