Tzeni Karezi

About

One of the most admired actresses in the history of Greek cinema, she starred in The Red Lanterns, a movie that was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1963 Academy Awards.

Before Fame

She studied with playwright Angelos Terzakis and director Dimitris Rontiris at the Greek National Theater.

Trivia

Her 1963 film The Red Lanterns brought her international acclaim.

Family Life

She and her second husband, Greek actor, director, and politician Kostas Kazakos, were briefly imprisoned for their participation in the 1973 play Our Big Circus, which was deemed a mockery of the Greek dictatorship.

Associated With

Her involvement in theater continued after her retirement from film acting, and she appeared in such productions as Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Euripides' Medea, and Sophocles' Electra.