Connecting Greeks Podcast

We were so excited to get to chat with the amazing Jim Mirkopoulos! Jim is VP of Cinespace Film Studios, North America's largest owner and operator of film, TV and digital media production space, liaising directly with the production heads of major Hollywood studios and Canada's leading production entities. Jim and his family are wonderful individuals as well as wonderful Greeks! Join us in hearing some amazing stories from the fantastic Jim Mirkopoulos!  

https://cinespace.com/studios/ 

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We had the most amazing time speaking with the LEGENDARY John Kapelos! John was a major part of our pop culture upbringing and he is recognized around the world for the many, many roles he has played in iconic films and shows. There is no room to list them all but let's just say Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles, Seinfeld, X Files, Home Improvement, Roxanne, and the list goes on and on and on. He is a treasure to the acting community and a treasure to our Greek community. Join us as we get to know the great John Kapelos!

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What an amazing episode we have for you! Not only a fantastic guest but on Greek Independence Day as well! The one and only Costas Mandylor joins us for a chat on his life and career and what being Greek means to him. Two Americans, a Canadian, and an Australian come together to show how Greeks are all one!

Costas is originally from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is an actor, known for Mobsters, Saw V, Virtuosity, and Picket Fences, among many others. He was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. He played professional soccer for Greece and Australia until he suffered stress fractures to his shins. He also boxes and trained with his brother, actor Louis Mandylor, in Thai kickboxing.

Join us as we hang out with Costas Mandylor!

You can watch and listen on the free Connecting Greeks app!

George Kapiniaris is one of Australia's best loved comedy, music and TV stars - having had an incredible impact on Australian popular culture over the last thirty five years.

His claim to fame was his starring role in the hugely popular stage show 'Wogs Out Of Work'. Since then, the Australian public has continued to see him use his Greek heritage as inspiration for future roles and performances.

George developed his popular style of ethnic comedy at Rusden College in 1985. Straight away he was labelled as a pioneer of Ethnic Humour in Australia.

We all loved him as DJ in 'The Flying Doctors' and who could forget his starring role as the manic waiter Memo in TV's 'Acropolis Now' from 1989 to 1992 (a show which he co-produced & co-created). Since 1992 George has also been the front man of his 70's cover band 'The Flares'. 

In 2004 George was nominated for a Green Room Award for his role of Stretch in the musical 'Oh, What a Night'. other musical credits include 'The Rocky Horror Show' and 'Return to the Forbidden Planet'.

His theatre credits include 'The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui' for the MTC, 'The Queen and I ', 'An Evening with Merv Hughes' and Guy Masterson's production of '12 Angry Men'.

George's film credits include 'Alex and Eve', 'Big Mammas Boy', 'Thundersruck', 'Bloody Footy', 'Fat Pizza', 'Housos The Movie', 'Closer and Closer Apart' & 'Joey' - George also appeared on the TV series 'Its A Date!'.

Kapiniaris was also seen in the controversial mini series 'Underbelly', playing George Defteros - the lawyer to Melbourne's underworld. In 2009 George appeared as a regular panelist on the very popular SBS show "The Squiz".

In 2021 George will be touring OZ with his comedy stage show, 'Crazy Rich Ethnics'.

He and his Co Stars have received two ACE awards for Best Comedy for their 'Il Dago' Shows and this year he and his team were nominated for Best Comedy for their 'Wildwogs' Production.

George has recently played a Vulgarian Spy in The Australian production of 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang The Musical' and starred last year in The Production Company's Award Winning Show 'Nice Work If You Can Get It!' where he stole the show with amazing reviews.

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We had a great time hanging out with author, filmmaker, director, writer, and all-around levendi Dannis Koromilas. We learned some amazing facts about our Greek history and our people's plight, but still had a few laughs along the way. Sit back with us as we get to know Dannis!  

https://panmessinian.ca/​

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What a pleasure to have had the amazing Leon Logothetis on our show! His inspiring and hopeful message to the world gave us such a necessary and welcome feeling and we anticipate his word spreading everywhere!

Before Leon became a global adventurer, TV host, motivational speaker, and best-selling author, he was living an uninspired and disconnected life as a broker in London. On the outside, it looked like he had it all. But inside, he was chronically depressed. He decided to do something radical about it – give it all up for a life on the road.

He embarked on an adventure around the globe, fueled by the receiving and giving of kindness. On his journey, he found the essence of humanity and learned about the bonds that connect people worldwide. Through kindness, he discovered that when we start to compare ourselves by our similarities instead of our differences, we start to create a brighter future.

For over a decade, he has traveled to over 100 countries and to every continent. He’s documented his experiences through his best-selling books and TV shows. Leon has devoted his life to inspiring the world with his message of kindness and hope. This is best shown through his Netflix series “The Kindness Diaries.” 

He’s worked with many well-being brands and companies to ignite a spark of love, adventure, and humanity into their message and expand their global awareness. When he’s not making TV shows and writing books, he’s traveling around the world, speaking to schools and businesses about the power of kindness, compassion, and empathy. Leon's goal is to always make a positive impact with his work and content.

Leon is also the founder of Winston Entertainment, a travel/adventure television production company that produces content that highlights the good in humanity.

leonlogothetis.com

You can also download the free Connecting Greeks app!

Join us as we chat with the multi-talented Anna Rezan! Anna was born in Athens, Greece, to a lawyer, who wanted to become an actress and to a federal judge who wanted to become a director. She is of Greek American Jewish (from her maternal grandparents), Spanish, Polish, and Greek from Izmir and Crete descent. Rezan grew up in Athens, Greece and began acting as a child on the stage of a Club Med while on family vacation, where she made her stage debut in the hotel's theatrical(musical) shows. She appeared in many more productions through her early teens but at the age of 8 she had already decided that she wanted to make acting, her career.

She enrolled in dance studies at the age of 4.The story is that she was staging theatrical plays with friends after school and directed her first short film at the age of 9, using her father's video camera in an attempt to persuade her parents to allow her to become an actress. Her parents were supportive but didn't love the idea and they revealed their own artistic endeavors to her when she was 17.

She began her career in her early teens by appearing in films and television series, most notably starring in the 2010 comedy film "ShowBitch". Her first international feature film co-starring role was in "La commedia di Amos Poe", that premiered in the 2010 Venice Film Festival.Her debut song "Let there be rain" was released internationally in 2011 and in 2016 her song "Let there be Love" was released internationally by Universal Music Group. In 2017 she co-starred in "Dance Fight Love Die - With Mikis Theodorakis on the Road" by Asteris Koutoulas which premiered in Hof International Film Festival to rave reviews. Her directorial debut, "The Greek Holocaust", is a documentary about the Jews of Greece during World War II, produced by her, Zafeiris Haitidis and Academy Award winners Mitchell Block and Kim Magnusson.

instagram.com/annarezanhappy

facebook.com/annarezanhappy

imdb.com/title/tt8159912

Talk about a great episode! We had renaissance man Harry Sideropoulos all the way from South Africa. Harry is an award-winning stage actor, singer, voice-over artist, speaker, business man and foodie, celebrating over 20 years on stage. He started his public career many years ago on 94, 7 Highveld Stereo’s Rude Awakening Breakfast Show and soon became an integral part of the show for 6 successful years, before resigning to focus solely on his career on stage. Since then, Harry’s has performed and produced a multitude of shows in his home-town Johannesburg as well as frequent appearances in America and Canada. He loves comedy and loves to sing jazz and blues and is the recipient of 3 Naledi Theatre Awards with a further 2 Naledi Theatre Award nominations for his work on stage.

More recently Harry has launched his brand of unique pop-up entertainment experiences around the country. He’s mad about food, but never wanted to run a full time restaurant, instead he creates pop-up culinary experiences for the corporate and private market, fusing both his passion for food and his love of entertaining. Harry is also a very sought after MC with a unique approach to his entertaining. With his deep, gravelly voice, he becomes your event ring master, combining his MC duties with comedy, song, audience interaction with playful frivolity, making his guests feel as though they’ve spent an evening entertained by a friend. Harry can also be booked as a key-note speaker for corporate companies, using his skills as a performer and a comic to fuel thought, encourage dialogue and to bring down the house with laughter with his very unique, larger than life personality. The Sunday Times newspaper has said of Harry “Tasting his food and experiencing his entertainment in his signature raspy voice – live, should be on everyone’s bucket list.” And The Star Newspaper wrote “He’s hysterically funny! He sings like a raunchy angel and dances like a Broadway butterfly”

facebook.com/harry.sideropoulos

instagram.com/harry_sideropoulos

tastymoments.life

Dena Romios is the founder of Power Muse Productions, a Los Angeles based production company bringing Greek entertainment to the west coast since its launch in 2012. Power Muse Productions continues to bring Greece’s finest entertainers to the United States with their primary goal being to produce live performances spotlighting the most highly recognized performers in the Greek entertainment industry. Join us in getting to know more about Dena!

powermuseproductions.com

We hung out with the amazing and inspiring Johnny Birmpilis. After arriving in Toronto about a year ago, Johnny Birmpilis (5-0-0, 2KOs) has taken the Canadian middleweight division by storm, defeating domestic rivals Larone Whyte (4-3-0, 3KOs) and Justin Blades (3-2-0, 3KOs) to solidify his place in the Canadian fight scene.

Birmpilis fought as an amateur in Greece, entering the punch-for-pay game against Evangelos Chatzis (1-1-0) almost exactly three years ago in Athens.

In 2018, Birmpilis turned his attention abroad, hoping to find more fights in the great white north. In Canada, he hooked up with Lee Baxter Promotions and the rest is history. The Greek prospect has boxed in Toronto and is now in Los Angeles. Keep an eye on him, you'll be hearing great things from Johnny!

instagram.com/johnny_birmpilis

facebook.com/Ioannis-johnny-the-greek-Birmpilis