Laert Vasili

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Laert Vasili
Born Laert Vasili
(1974-03-07) 7 March 1974
Delvinë, Albania
Other names Laertis Vasiliou[1]
Occupation Actor/Director
Years active 1995–present

Laert Vasili (English: Laertis Vasiliou,[1] Greek: Λαέρτης Βασιλείου,[2] born 7 March 1974),[3] is a film and stage actor and director. He is bilingual, his father being of Albanian Christian Orthodox and his mother of Greek descent.

Background

Both his parents were officers in the Military of Albania. As a result, the family moved around a lot and he spent his childhood between Tirana, Saranda and Delvina, Albania. He started acting at the age of 16 while still in high school, playing leading parts in several school theatre performances. At the age of 19 he was accepted to the Academy of Arts in Tirana, Albania. In 1994 he left for Greece in order to study acting at the National Theatre of Greece Drama School in Athens, Greece. He came second out of 750 applicants and he was the first non-Greek citizen to be accepted in the school. He graduated in 1997.

Corpus Christi controversy

Laert Vasili directed a play Corpus Christi in Greece that depicts Jesus Christ and his apostles as a group of homosexual men. The 1997 play was written by American playwright Terrence McNally. The Greek Orthodox Church and the right-wing extremist Golden Dawn protested against the play. The director and actors of the play face charges of blasphemy in Greece.[4] The play's director, Laertis Vasiliou, said that prosecutors were misdirecting scarce resources by pursuing his cast, rather than trying to nab tax evaders who have plunged Greece into ruin. "What I see is that there are people who have robbed the country blind, who are not in jail, and the prosecutor turns against art," Vasiliou told Reuters.[4]

Awards

Nominations

Director

He has also written and directed theatrical plays dealing with the sensitive theme of immigration and the notion of being a foreigner. He was the first to use Albanian artists living in Greece in professional performances, which moreover were multi-lingual. The plays were initially presented in Athens, Greece and run for more than 400 performances from 2003–2009, in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Kalamata, Kavala in Greece, Nicosia and Limassol in Cyprus, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Korca, Albania.

Filmography

Theatre

He has collaborated with prestigious worldwide known directors such as: Robert Wilson, Dimiter Gotscheff, Teo Terzopoulos, Andrew Visnevski, Aleksandar Popovski and also with some of the most important directors in Greece like: Antonis Antypas, George Kimoulis, Dimitris Mavrikios, Yiannis Kakleas, Roula Pateraki, Maya Limperopoulou, Sylvia Liouliou etc. He was nominated for Dimitris Horn Prize (Best Young Actor 2001).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Laertis Vasiliou". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 18 June 2011. 
  2. ↑ "Λαέρτης Βασιλείου". retroDB. Retrieved 20 June 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Laert Vasili". Facebook. Retrieved 18 June 2011. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Greece lays charges of blasphemy over gay Jesus play
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