Nick Giannopoulos

Nick Giannopoulos (born 1 July 1963 in Melbourne, Australia) is a Greek-Australian stand-up comedian, film and TV actor. He is best known for his comedy stage show Wogs Out of Work alongside George Kapiniaris and the television sitcom Acropolis Now and is an exponent of wog comedy.^[1]

Early life

Nick is an actor/writer/producer/director. He was born in Melbourne, Australia, the first-born son of Greek Immigrant parents. He grew up mainly in the inner Melbourne suburbs of Fitzroy & Richmond. His main schools were Abbotsford Primary School & Richmond High School. He completed his HSC at Taylors College in 1980. In 1981 he was accepted into the Drama course at Rusden State College where he also majored in Media Studies majoring in Film. He left Rusden halfway through his course when he auditioned and was accepted into the Drama School at the prestigious Victorian College Of The Arts. He graduated in 1985 with a Degree in Dramatic Arts.

Career

In 1987-90 he toured Australia with ethnic comedy stage show: "Wogs Out Of Work", which he also co-wrote and produced. A huge success it played to over 750,000 people. In 1989-92 he starred in TV sitcom "Acropolis Now" for 5 seasons (63 episodes) which he also created and co-wrote. In 1990 he toured Australia with the play "The Heartbreak Kid" in which he played the lead role. In 1990-1991 he toured Australia with the stage production of "Acropolis Now Live", which he also co-wrote & produced. In 1991 he played Danny Zuko in the David Atkins production of the musical "Grease" at the Footbridge Theatre in Sydney. In 1993-1995 he toured Australia with ethnic comedy stage show: "Wog-A-Rama", which he also wrote, produced & directed. In 1996-1998 he toured Australia with ethnic comedy stage show: "Wogboys" which he also wrote, produced & directed. In 1999 he starred in the feature film "The Wog Boy" which he also co-wrote & produced. It went on to gross more than 12 million dollars at the Australian Box office becoming one of the most popular Australian films of all time. In 2000-02 he toured Australia with ethnic comedy stage show: "Wog Story", which he also wrote, produced & directed. In 2003 he starred in the feature film "The Wannabes" which he also co-wrote & produced. In 2004 he hosted & produced the TV special "Greece Is The Word" which was watched by over 3 million people on the Seven Network and repeated before the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony. In 2005 he developed a new comedy series "Get Nicked" that was commissioned by the Seven Network but which was unfortunately canceled just before going into production. Nick has been announced as the host of new variety/talent show "The Singing Office" starting on Fox 8 in September '07. Nick has won numerous awards including 2 Mo Awards for Best Comedy performer of the year in 1998/99. The Comedy Star of The Year award at the Australian Movie Exhibitors Convention in 2001. The IF Award for Most Successful Box Office Australian film of the year for 2000.

Comedy career

Giannopoulos co-created and starred in the ground breaking stage show Wogs Out of Work which remains one of the highest grossing Australian created live shows of all time. He has followed up Wogs Out of Work with the Wog Boys, Wog-A-Rama and Wog Story stage shows.^[2] Giannopoulos has also made appearances at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, as well as co-authored books ^[3]

Television career

Giannopoulos was one of the creators and stars of the television sitcom Acropolis Now. It was a popular TV show based on proud and loud Greek-Australians maintaining a Greek café in Melbourne. It consisted of 5 seasons with 3 main characters throughout the shows series. The show aired from 1989 until 1992, on Channel Seven.

Film career

His film credits include The Wog Boy (2000), which is the 18th highest grossing Australian movie of all time.^[4] He also stars in Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos and The Wannabes ^[5]

References

External links

Nick Giannopoulos at the Internet Movie Database