Biography
Melanie Steliou is an actress and television presenter. Melanie was born in Keighley, Yorkshire, England. She has lived in the UK, Greece and Cyprus. Her father is Cypriot, and her mother is British. She is very proud of her multicultural roots and this, she says, is what makes her feel more of a citizen of the world, and able to identify with different cultures. Growing up in Cyprus, she always had a keen interest in theatre and music and participated in many theatrical and musical productions as a child and teenager. She graduated from the Theatre of Arts School under Karolos Koun in Athens, Greece, known as Theatro Technis. She took part in plays staged by Theatro Technis notably "Happy End" by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht, and Aristophanes "The Birds". "The Birds" was also her first participation at the International Drama Festival at the Epidaurus ancient theatre. "Seven Against Thebes" and "The Achilleis" would follow at Epidaurus.
She has collaborated with most of the theatre groups in Cyprus, performing a range of roles from Maria in Federico Garcia Lorca's "Yerma", Petra Von Kant in Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant", to Helena in John Osbornes' "Look Back In Anger". Her most recent roles include Esther Franz in Arthur Miller's "The Price" , Kate in "All My Sons" in 2021 and Libby in Kieran Hurley's "Mouthpiece" which ran from 2022 to May 2023.
On a visit to Cyprus in 2000, a chance meeting while being interviewed on a current affairs program at the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation would take her on a different path and she entered the media world. From 2000 to 2006 Melanie worked for the Cyprus Broadcasting Cooperation as the presenter of the channel's daily television morning current affairs program, anchor-woman of the 20:00 o'clock main news and presenter, writer and editor in chief of a weekly current affairs television program. During her tenure at the CyBC, she also wrote and produced documentaries.
In 2006, she moved on to Sigma Television, a privately-owned television channel which belonged to DIAS, the biggest media group in Cyprus. As a presenter she hosted the breakfast show, a weekly television show as well as being involved in documentaries in front of and behind the cameras. In 2010 she decided to work mostly behind cameras and went on to become the Television Station's Productions Development Manager. She oversaw the production of various projects such as the morning breakfast show, Weekly television series, and a United Nations Commercials Project. She has worked on various documentaries, notably, "Tales of an Oasis - Poverty in Uganda" , which was a documentary about Millennium Goal Number 1 (eradication of extreme poverty and hunger) in 2009, and "Engage in Peace" as part of a UNDP project to promote reconciliation between the two communities in Cyprus. She participated in projects involving organizations such as the UNDP-ACT, the European Commission's Life Program, and various NGOS. For a year before she left Sigma Television in 2014, she held the position of Personal Advisor to the Managing Director, advising in all areas concerning television production and programming as well as all other activities of the group concerning the media field and brought in new ideas on programs and programming that would fit certain criteria established. From 2014 Melanie has worked as a freelancer. In 2016 she set up her own production team and worked with the Romanian Broadcasting Company PROTV, part of the German RTL Group, heading the Cypriot Production Team on the Romanian Reality Television series "Ferma Vedetelor" - "Celebrity Farm". She has chaired various Conferences and Events such as "The Connected TV Conference- Looking Beyond the AVMS Directive: The Challenge of Connected TV" Co-organized by the Cyprus Radiotelevision Authority and the European Commission. She hosted the European Enterprise Promotion Awards held in Cyprus, as part of the first ever SME Assembly. From 2014 she chairs the CIM Marketing Summit every year. In 2019 and 2020 she was the Presenter for the 10th and 11th Limassol Economic Forum respectively. LEF is considered to be one of the "biggest and most prestigious yearly business gatherings in Cyprus" which offers a stage to pioneering political, economic, professional and business figures to discuss and present the latest developments and innovations in their respective fields. Her involvement in productions took her on another path, that of producing and writing. She stayed with Sigma Television until 2014. She then collaborated with ANT1 Television as an actress in the second season of the TV Series "Brousko" in 2014 and "Roi Mat" in 2015. Melanie then went back to producing and in 2016 worked with the Romanian Broadcasting Company PROTV heading the Cypriot Production Team on the Romanian Reality Television series "Ferma Vedetelor" - "Celebrity Farm". In 2018 she held one of the leading roles in "Ble" (Blue), a drama series produced for Alpha Television. She continued collaborating with Alpha TV in three episodes of the drama series "Karma". She has just finished filming a television series titled "The final Hour" for the OPEN TV station in Greece. She has taken part in two feature films and one short film. She has lent her voice to documentaries and advertisements. She is fluent in both English and Greek and also has a good knowledge of French.
