Kaliopi Eleni

Born in Australia to Greek parents, Kaliopi spent her youth in Adelaide. Her parents divorced when she was a child, and she was raised primarily by her mother. Kaliopi attended the Prestigious Emily MacPherson School Of Fashion Design at RMIT University in Melbourne where she graduated with Honours. In her second year Kaliopi won the Fashion Industries of Australia Award for most innovative student. Her fashion label gained her a finalist in the Young Achiever's Awards. After winning a scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Trust to study at the Academia in Florence, Italy she met her husband who proposed to her after only knowing her for four days. Kaliopi agreed to marry him after she completed her studies abroad. Their travels found them scuba diving in the Solomon Islands one hundred feet under water being circled by a Tiger Shark, trekking through remote regions of Australia and the US and following the paths of the 2nd and 3rd crusaders through Europe. The couple settled in California and within a week of arriving found themselves in a sacred Native American Shaman's Sweat lodge ceremony. This exposure to other mindsets began Kaliopi's journey into different cultural perspectives and how these perspectives shape the world we live in. Her acting career began in San Francisco after studying with The Actor's Studio lifetime member Rob Reece. Represented by "Stars, The Agency" Kaliopi scored roles in independent films and TV Series such as "Bold and The Beautiful" (2000) and "Nash Bridges" (1998 -1999) as The Countess opposite Don Johnson. After being inspired by her lecturer Fiona Shaw at the British American Drama Academy Kaliopi began performing Shakespeare with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and Napa Valley Shakespeare Festival. Her favorite character she played was Kate in "Taming of The Shrew". After the birth of her daughter, Kaliopi returned to Australia to study Film Production and received an Honours Degree of Bachelor of Creative Arts from Flinders University. She directed and produced a short documentary "Without Permission" about an Aboriginal elder who fulfills his cultural obligation to expose the truth about stolen Aboriginal remains. It won the Best Documentary from the South Australian Screen Awards (2007) and her work with indigenous people of Northern California and South Australia had her shortlisted for the Inside Film Awards independent spirit award.