Giota Flessa: “R U Ready for Me, America?”

by Maria Geka

Acting is part of being a lawyer, so for Giota Flessa, a University of Athens Law Faculty graduate, becoming an actress wasn’t that much of a leap, especially as acting has being “her innermost desire” for so long. While working at an Athens law firm she attended the prestigious “Iasmos” Drama School of Vassilis Diamantopoulos and it didn’t take long before offers for movies and TV came galore. “The life of other”, “Only two days”, “Forbidden love”, “If you love me”, are some of the series she has taken part, making a strong case for herself as an upcoming and promising actress.

Giota Flessa

Theater is her other great love and she is currently acting in a children’s play directed by Omiros Eustratiadis, in which she holds the leading role. “It’s a whole new experience for me and children are the toughest and most honest critics,” she says during a break from her rehearsal. “Besides, they make me feel younger!” (Wow, she’s only in her very early 20s!)

Having established herself in the very competitive but also very limited Greek scene, Giota (pronounced Yhota) has much bigger plans to fulfill. The US is in her loop, a very big step that she’s been contemplating for some time now, trying to be as ready as possible because, although young, “I’m an exhausting perfectionist!”

While she’s looking for the right moment to cross the Atlantic and land some key parts in American movies or TV, she is honing both her English and acting skills and she’s atune to developments here so that she can be ready when the time for the big move comes.

“We all know that the American film industry sets the standards for almost everything that’s happening in our field. To be able to work there and succeed for me is not only a career choice but also a confirmation of my real value as an artist. I want to go deep and with the best,” she says with a bright, full of confidence smile.

And she may be a dreamer, but she is also down to earth and she knows not to expect miracles or an easy ride. “Tough doesn’t scare me, I love the challenge,” she points out as she’s getting ready for a breathtaking workout at the gym. “I’m ready to prove myself, all that I’m asking is a chance and the rest will be history, either way!”

Asked what more she hopes to offer to the American and international movie scene, besides her youth and fresh talent, Giota needs not to think much. “Listen, it might sound like a cliché to you and your American readers, but I come from the land that conceived and developed theater and drama is part of the everyday life – try driving in Athens or go to a public service for something. I think we Greeks carry acting in our genes and, unlike the Italians, for example, who are very boisterous, we have a more subliminal quality when on stage: it’s like we are beyond the act before it has happened. The word ‘drama’ comes from the Greek verb to act, so we can be dramatic and perfectly normal at the same time, I guess (laughs)!”

Giota Flessa

Regarding her professional training, besides the great dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes’ Giota underwent an immersion in a worldwide historical and contemporary roster of works and playwrights like Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’ Neill, Carlo Goldoni, Anton Chekhov etc. “I’m well prepared, I have plenty to give! And I’m sure there is much more to learn in the US when I come. America, be ready!”