Anna Rezan

Anna Rezan Kritseli (Greek: Άννα Hannah Rezan Κριτσέλη; born 10 December 1992) is a Greek 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. 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. Her debut song "Let there be rain" was released internationally in 2011 and she made her catwalk debut as a high fashion model in New York Fashion Week in 2013. In the beginning of 2015 she filmed Dance Fight Love Die - With Mikis Theodorakis on the Road, which is written and directed by Asteris Koutoulas. Rezan's directorial debut is a documentary by her and Greek filmmaker Zafeiris Haitidis about the Jews of Greece during WW2. In 2016 her song "Let there be Love" was released internationally by Universal Music Group.

Rezan was born in Athens, the daughter of Fotis Kritselis from Ismir, Crete and Peloponnesus, a federal judge who had wanted to be a director, and Eva Mathilda Kalamara, a Jewish lawyer born in Greece who also studied at a 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.

Since the age of five, she was staging musical theater and comedy shows at 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, she decided to be become an actress. As a child, Rezan loved to watch foreign and especially American films. 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.

Rezan started her career as an actress 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 with the presence of the Minister of Education of Greece.

Early career

In 2005, Rezan made her first professional appearances on Greek television in the Greek adaptation of The Nanny. She appeared as a 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 June 2007, she worked as the production runner of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. In July of the same year, Rezan danced in the DJ set of Armin van Buuren in Cavo Paradiso on the island of Mykonos. In 2008 she represented Greece at the beauty pageant Miss European Union at the Pallazo di Congressi in Rome, Italy. At the same time, she was choreographing Disney commercials in Greece.

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. 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. 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. She also guest-starred in the comedy TV series Lola. During that summer, Rezan moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in an acting program 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 present

In 2010 she co-starred in La commedia di Amos Poe with Roberto Benigni. In October 2010, she starred in Greek filmmaker Nikos Zervos's parody of show business, ShowBitch, portraying a teenage rock singer who turns into a rockstar. She also made a guest appearance on the Greek TV series I zoi tis allis. 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. In the U.S. market, the song aired for the first time during her interview on the CBS radio show Zodiac Divasby Colby Jensen. 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. In March 2013, she participated in Constantinos Isaias's public service announcement "We Love Cyprus" that takes place in Los Angeles and began to cover magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Elle. In 2014, Rezan reunited with Paolo Genoveze in Milan, Italy, for Ever Been to the Moon? as fashion industry's It Girl. 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

and includes footage of his world tours with Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. In October 2015 she reunited with Amos Poe. 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. In January 2016, Rezan hosted the awards ceremony of Hellas Film Box in Berlin. Rezan's directorial debut is a documentary about the Jews of Greece during WW2.

As a teenage journalist, she contributed to Greek magazines created by George Perisanidis that featured articles on love, films, dreamers and musicians such as David Bowie, OMD and The Cure. In March 2011, ”Because Love brings Love and it is the greatest power of all" was published in magazines and became one of her trademarks. In 2012, she became a patron of MMA, an organization that is dedicated to ending the stigma of addictions. 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.

Film

TV series