Anna Rezan

Anna Rezan (Greek: Άννα (Hannah) Rezan Κριτσελη born 12 December 1992) is an actress, model, musician, and filmmaker. Rezan began her career in her early teens by appearing in Greek films and television series, most notably co-starring in the 2008 TV drama Farewell Anatolia and starring in the 2010 comedy film ShowBitch that premiered at Thessaloniki International Film Festival[2].

Anna Rezan
Rezan in 2015
Background information
Born	12 December 1992[1]
Genres	Pop, rockglam, country, jazz
Occupation(s)	Actress, musician, fashion model
Years active	2003–present

Her first international feature film co-starring role was in La commedia di Amos Poe, a new translation of Dante's Divine Comedy by Amos Poe starring Roberto Benigni that premiered in the 2010 Venice Film Festival.[3][4] and she made her catwalk debut as a high fashion model in New York Fashion Week in 2013.[5] 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.[6][7] In 2017 she co starred in Dance Fight Love Die - With Mikis Theodorakis on the Road, which is written and directed by Asteris Koutoulas and premiered in Hof International Film Festival.[8] Rezan's directorial debut, My People: Jews of Greece, is a documentary about the Jews of Greece during World War II, produced by her and two Academy Award winners Mitchell Block and Kim Magnusson that was completed in 2020.[9][10]

Early life

Rezan was born in Athens, the daughter of Fotis who was born in Athens, from Izmir, Crete and Peloponnesus, a federal judge who had wanted to be a director, and Eva Matilda Kalamara, a Greek-Jewish lawyer of Spanish and Polish descent, born in Athens who also studied at Karolos Koun school of Dramatic Arts before going to law school. She has a brother named Leon. Rezan's great grandmother Rachel Kalamara was arrested by the Germans during World War II and did not return from the Auschwitz concentration camp. Her grandfather was rescued by Christian Greeks and survived the war.[11]

Since the age of five, she was staging musical theater and comedy shows in the living room and she started studying musical theater and performed in various stagecoach productions and school plays. While watching the comedy and musical Greek films of the 60s, as well as American films, she decided to be become an actress.[12] She vowed to move to the United States, although the family had no friends or family members in the U.S. at that time.

During a family summer vacation when she was 11, she participated in a theatrical show but started her career at the age of 12 starring in The Hall of Fame of the Moon, which was produced by the Ministry of Culture of Cyprus. The play aimed to raise awareness of the political situation in Cyprus and premiered in the Greek National Opera, in Athens in the presence of the Minister of Education of Greece.[13]

Career

Early career

In 2005, Rezan made her first professional appearances on Greek television in the Greek adaptation of The Nanny. She appeared as a minor dancer in various Greek feature films and TV series such as Woman is a Tough Person a comedy by Antonis Kafetzopoulos, in Loufa kai Paralagi, a television series by the Greek veteran director Nikos Perakis. In 2008, she worked as the production runner of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.[12] In July of the same year, Rezan danced in the DJ set of Armin van Buuren in Cavo Paradiso on the Island of Mykonos.[14] She represented Greece (As Miss Young) at the beauty pageant Miss European Union at the Pallazo di Congressi in Rome, Italy.Seeking financial freedom as a teenager she worked also as a waitress, a promotional model and a bartender. Additionally , she was choreographing other minors in Disney commercials in Greece, on occasion.

2008 to 2010

In 2008 Rezan appeared in the comedy Greek TV series The Red Room as Svetlana, in which she performed in Russian. Her noteworthy appearance of the year though, was portraying Artemitsa in Farewell Anatolia, the TV adaptation of Dido Soteriou’s bestseller by Greek director Kostas Koutsomutis. During the summer, she starred in the world tour of the rock opera 300 Spartans.[15] In 2009, after spending some time in London, Rezan moved to New York City. She landed a part in the Indie film Daft Queens, took classes at New York Film Academy and covered Neo magazine.[16] At the end of that year she enrolled in the Panteion University of Athens to study journalism and co-starred as Babe, the underaged girlfriend in Fokion Bogris gangster feature film Katharsi, which released at the end of that year to mixed reviews. Concurrently she was working as a model, a restaurant hostess or a bartender to be able to pursue her career further. She also guest-starred in the comedy TV series Lola in her native, Greece.[17] During that summer, Rezan moved to Los Angeles and took some more acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. In the same year, she co-produced and co-starred in "Love at First Sight", a romantic comedy short film by Patricia di Salvo, which was selected at the 2010 Cannes film festival.

2010 to 2014

Since she was a child she loved to change her style, hair color, look, artistic direction and to create different personas, depending on the project she is working on, such as Anna, Anna The Kid, LadyLight, ARK and Anna Rezan.In 2010 she began to develop these persons more and more. Same year she co-starred in La commedia di Amos Poe with Roberto Benigni that premiered at the Venice Film Festival.In October 2010, she starred in Nikos Zervos's (Greek veteran filmmaker) parody of show business , ShowBitch, portraying a teenage rock singer who turns into a Rockstar. The film premiered at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival to mixed reviews. She also made a guest appearance on the Greek TV series I zoi tis allis.[14] In 2011 she debuted as a vocalist with the European release of "Let There Be Rain" and co-produced the music video of it in Brooklyn, New York City.[18] In the U.S. market, the song aired for the first time during her interview on the CBS radio show Zodiac Divas by Colby Jensen.[19] In 2012, Rezan starred and co-produced in The Story of My Life, a comedy film by Dimitris Koukas and Dimitris Nakos in Athens, Greece. She was featured as a dancer in (Italian director) Paolo Genovese's comedy Immature: Il Viaggio.[13] In March 2013, she participated in Constantinos Isaias's public service announcement "We Love Cyprus"[20] that takes place in Los Angeles[21] and began to cover magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Elle.[13] In 2014, Rezan reunited with Paolo Genoveze in Milan, Italy, for Ever Been to the Moon? as fashion industry's It Girl.The film was made a box office success and was acquired by Netflix .

2015 to present

In April 2015, she started filming Dance Fight Love Die - With Mikis on the Road in Athens. The film is the work of Asteris Koutoulas [22] [23] and includes footage of his world tours with Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.[8][22] In October 2015 she reunited with Amos Poe.[24] Along with Ali Ozan Akin, they filmed a public service announcement to raise awareness for breast cancer. The film features Rezan's performance in "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" by the Beatles.[25] [22] In January 2016, Rezan hosted the awards ceremony of Hellas Film Box[26][27] in Berlin, Germany.[28] In 2016 her song "Let there be Love" and in 2017 "My Summer Night", a duet with Barbara Sassari was released internationally by Universal Music Group.[29] Same year Dance Fight Love Die - With Mikis on the Road premiered in Hof International Film Festival to rave reviews.The film opened in theaters in 2018 and Rezan 's performance was praised by Mikis Theodorakis and George Dalaras.[30] In 2019 the film was acquired by Amazon. In 2017 Rezan portrayed supermodel character Kate in Victoria Larimore's TV project Open House that is set in New York but is filmed in Los Angeles.Rezan's directorial debut, My People: Jews of Greece,is a documentary about the Jews of Greece during WW2 produced by her, Greek filmmaker Zafeiris Haitidis, Mitchell Block and Kim Magnusson that was completed in 2020.[9][10] In April 2019, Rezan directed an English comedy fiction short film, title "Beauty before Age", produced by her and veteran producer, Jason Piette which is set be released in 2020.

Music career

Rezan began writing lyrics at the age of 9, took electric guitar lesson at 15 and became a professional singer in 2010, when she portrayed Chryssa, the lead singer of a rock band, in the comedy film ShowBitch. Rezan released the heavy metal track "Let there be Rain", with an accompanying music video that she co-produced, as the OST of the film. The track was produced by Nick Rollinger in Luxembourg at the Equinox Studios.The music video was originally directed by Aksel Stasny in New York city but featured scenes from the film.The song first aired in the USA on CBS radio. In 2015 she led "Happiness is a Warm Gun", a public service announcement film which is directed by Amos Poe in New York city. In the project she performs a cover version of the Beatles's "Happiness is a warm gun". In 2016 she signed with Minos EMI and Universal Music Group and co-wrote "Let there be Love", a rock with epic elements project, which was released internationally.[31] In 2017, "My Summer Night", a Latin pop ballad duet that she co-wrote, was released by Universal Music Group. She and Asteris Koutoulas met in 2014 and have since worked together on several ventures. In 2017 a satellite clip featuring her performance of "The Honeymoon Song" by Mikis Theodorakis which was covered by The Beatles, accompanied the pre-release of the film Dance Fight Love Die: With Mikis Theodorakis on the Road. In the film that opened in theaters in 2018 she performs two songs by Theodorakis: "Day in May" and "The Bells will ring" in Greek, English and German.In 2020 she co wrote the first song she released in her native Greece and a week after a cover of an emblematic Greek 70s folk song to rave reviews.[8]

Activities and personal life

Activities

Rezan studied journalism at the Panteion University of Athens and holds a BA in Communication, Media and Culture.[32] As a teenage journalist, she contributed to Greek magazines that featured her articles on love, therapy, films and musicians such as David Bowie, Nick Cave and The Cure.[16] In March 2011, 'Love brings Love and it is the greatest power of all' was published in magazines and became one of her trademark lines.[31] Rezan promoted the right to equal opportunities for education for girls. In 2013, she walked the runway as a special guest at the 4th J’adore la mode Gala charity fashion show in Philadelphia.[33] Till today, since 2012, she is a patron of MMA, an organization that is dedicated to ending the stigma of addictions.[34] In 2015 she [24] performed in a Public Service Announcement to raise awareness for breast cancer. The PSA, directed by Amos Poe features Rezan's performance in "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" by the Beatles. In February 2020 Rezan held a lecture, as a guest Professor, at the Athens School of Fine Arts , titled Beauty...shall reunite with Art.[35] On the twentieth of July of the same year,she gave a speech to support the International Medical Brigade of Henry Reeve [36] as Velissarios Kossivakis along with the Cuban Ambassador in Greece began a petition to nominate Cuban doctors of Cuban medical internationalism for a Nobel peace prize at the official ceremony of the initiative in Athens, Greece.[37]

Personal life

Rezan's father died in August 2007.[38]

In 2019 she overcame depression, panic attacks and anxiety by exploring and committing to different forms of therapy for many years. Rezan has not shared details but she implied that her early life was quite uneasy, not joyful with many traumatic events.She openly speaks about the process of self healing, believing that it can urge other people to open up and seek therapy to improve their lives. [39] Herself, she is a reiki master.[38]

Rezan has been sincerely private about her personal life which is widely admired among her peers, given that during her first steps as an actress, she could have revealed certain personal life details to advance her career and cover tabloids.[40] It was confirmed that as a teenager she dated Greek performer Panos Mouzourakis[41] but the relationship did not last very long. While studying in New York City she dated The Durrells actor Alexis Georgoulis who is considered a sex symbol in his native Greece [42] During the filming of ShowBitch rumors had it, that she was more than an on screen couple with her Co star, Survivor Greece contestant, Nassos Papargyropoulos.[43] In the summer of 2011 she was spotted holding hands with Greek actor Panagiotis Bougiouris in Peloponnese.[44] In reality, during 2014, Rezan was in a relationship with Nassos' brother, fellow actor Aris Papargyropoulos who lives in Los Angeles.[40] At the same time the press insisted that she and Alexander Payne were an item,[45] but she stated that he is a friend that she admires.[46] In 2015 she was in a relationship with Neighbours star Carter Doyle.

Rezan has repeatedly said that she does not believe in dating and that she is more of a love at first sight kind of person, stating that:I'm with a man, when I'm in love with him.[38]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2021	Naptorun Pansiyon	Katrin	Co Star
2020	My People: The Jews of Greece	Producer, Director, Narrator	Feature Documentary
2020	Celebrating Life	Producer, Director, Singer	Lead (Music Film Video)
2020	Like a Summer Night	Producer, Director,Mermaid	Lead (Music Film Video)
2020	Beauty Before Age	Producer, Director, Tina	Guest Star
2018	Dance Fight Love Die: With Mikis on the road	Anna	Co Star
2015	Happiness is a Warm Gun:Healthy Breasts	The Boy, The Girl	Lead
2015	Ever Been to the Moon?	Cinzia	Special Guest
2013	We Love Cyprus	Herself:Anna Rezan	Co Star
2012	The Story of my life	It Girl	Co Star
2012	Immatturi Il Viaggio	The Dancer	Guest Star
2010	ShowBitch	Chrysa, Lead Singer	Lead
2010	La commedia di Amos Poe	Sofia	Co Star
2010	Love at first sight?	Sasha, Co Producer	Co Star
2009	Katharsi	Babe	Special Guest
2008	The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2	Student/Production Assistant
2006	Eduart	Girl
2005	Woman is a Tough Person	Young Clubber

TV series

Year	TV Series	Role	Notes
2017	Open House	Kate Mosscowitz
2015	The Good Wife	Young Lawyer
2010	I zoi tis allis	Sonia
2009	Litsa.com	Athina
2009	Lola	Nadia
2008	The Red Room	Svetlana
2008	Dady's Girls	Supermodel
2008	Matomena Homata	Artemitsa
2008	Ihni	Agni
2007	Yungermann	Zizi
2007	Loufa kai Paralagi:I seira	Girl (Dancer)
2007	Eythismenoi Mazi	Suzanna
2005	The Nanny Greek adaptation	Ballet Dancer

Stage

year	title	role
2008	The 300 Spartans on Stage (The Rock Opera)	Aphrodite
2007	Assemblywomen	Young Girl
2003	The Hall of fame of the moon	Queen Night

Discography

Singles

Title	Year	Label
"Let There Be Rain"	2011	Equinox Studios Luxemburg
"Let There Be Love"	2016	Universal Music Group Minos EMI
"My Summer Night" Duet Ft Barbara Sassari	2017	Universal Music Group Minos EMI
"Celebrating Life" Duet Ft BarbaraSassari	2020	Universal Music Group Minos EMI
"Like a Summer Night" Duet Ft Barbara Sassari	2020	Universal Music Group Minos EMI

Other appearances

Title	Year	Project
"Let There Be Rain"	2010	ShowBitch Film Original Soundtrack (Live Performance)
"Happiness is a Warm Gun"	2015	Happiness is a Warm Gun PSA by Amos Poe
"The Honeymoon Song" (The Beatles Cover Version)	2017	Dance Fight Love Die: With Mikis Theodorakis On the Road Film by Asteris Koutoulas
"The Bells Will Signal"	2017	Dance Fight Love Die: With Mikis Theodorakis On the Road Film by Asteris Koutoulas

Music videos

List of music videos, showing director

Title	Year	Director	Artist	Notes
"Let There Be Rain"	2011	Aksel Stasny		Anna The Kid, Herself
"Let There Be Love"	2016	Antreas Stavrinides	LadyLight, Herself Universal Music Group
"My Summer Night"	2017	Christos Daskalothanasis	LadyLight, Herself Minos EMI	Feat Barbara Sassari Universal Music Group
"The Honeymoon Song"	2018	Asteris Koutoulas	Mikis Theodorakis ft Anna Rezan	Film OST
"Celebrate Life"	2020	Anna Rezan	Duet Feat Barbara Sassari Universal Music Group
"Like a Summer Night"	2020	Anna Rezan	Duet Feat Barbara Sassari Universal Music Group

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