Biography
Eva-Maria Leonardou holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and is also a graduate of the prestigious Drama School of Athens, making her a well-rounded artist. Six months after graduating, Oscar-nominated writer/director Nikos Foskolos personally selected her to star in his television series, which quickly became the highest-rated show in her country, with ratings soaring from 28% to 50%. A year later, she starred as the lead actress in Greece's longest-running prime-time TV show, boosting its ratings from 18% to 40%. That same year, she performed before an audience of 4,000 at Herod's Roman Theater.
Leaving behind a successful career, Eva-Maria moved to the United States to pursue her dream of showcasing her talent on the American screen. Fluent in English and Greek, she also speaks German.
Shortly after arriving, she was granted permanent residency in the U.S. as an "Alien of Extraordinary Ability in Acting." She became a member of the Screen Actors Guild and quickly began working. She co-starred in the National Geographic film "Rivals of Jesus." Her directorial debut, the short film "Work of Art," which she also executive-produced, wrote, and starred in, was selected from 12,000 entries to advance to the second round of Steven Spielberg's directing contest On the Lot. Eva-Maria was also cast as the female lead in "On a Dark and Stormy Night," which won Best Feature Film at the Chicago Horror Film Festival. She acted alongside Christopher McDonald in a feature film and wrote her second feature screenplay, "Incarnated," which was in development until 2014, when she reconnected with the Christian Orthodox Faith, into which she was baptized as an infant. She began regularly confessing and taking Holy Communion, and within six weeks, experienced a profound transformation. She found herself repelled by Hollywood and the entertainment industry and discovered what she calls the True Meaning of Life. Within months, she permanently left Los Angeles. In 2016, she became a Sunday School teacher in a small, remote village in Corinth, Greece, a role she held until 2018.
