The Royal Apollonia (issue 4, 2018) The Royal Apollonia (issue 4, 2018)

CELE BRITY PAOLA HADJILAMBRI Actress is in her most creative phase… and it really shows! P aola Hadjilambri born in Paphos is an actress and a graduate from the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece. She also has a degree in Greek Literature and dur- ing the mornings you can find her at the International School of Paphos. She has a Master of Arts in International Rela- tions and Diplomacy while she is on the third year of completing her Law Degree in Alexander College. We first got to know Paola during the Olympics of Ath- ens in 2004. She is one of the 23 Olym- pic Priestesses that ignite the Olympic Flame and the only Cypriot ever in the history of the Olympics. She started her career at Sigma T.V and ANT1 T.V where she was presenting the 8 o’clock news. She returned to the theatrical stage as Hecuba in “Trojan Women” completing a tour in the United States of America and performing in 17 differ- ent states. We watched her excellent character Erato in the Cypriot sitcom of Sigma T.V “Galatea” while her latest one woman performance “Melina: The Last Greek Goddess” represents Cyprus on a European and International Level. Paola is a single mum with a 7year old son named Constantinos, to whom she devotes all of her free time while she writes daily on her personal blog My Beauty-Full World. 50 T H E R O YA L A P O L L O N I A M A G A Z IN E • 2018 edition Paola going through your career there is only one word I could say…you are a restless spirit! Oh thank you! I really loved this phrase! Yes, I have to say that I have am so blessed. I mean having such a beauti- ful diversity in all the projects that came into my life it is something that I will be forever grateful. For sure my life is never dull and my daily schedule is always busy! I am happy that I had the opportu- nity thanks to late Andy Hadjicostis who gave me the chance to present the news and have a an amazing time being a jour- nalist. When I felt that the specific cycle was completed I returned back to my acting on tv and theatre. Whatever I was chosen to be tested I did because I wanted to do it thus I knew that I not only had to be good but I had to be excellent in it! What do you think you gained from be- ing on T.V and having such experiences? Many many beautiful moments, memo- ries and huge respect towards everyone that lies behind the cameras and works so so hard so as to complete either the news broadcast or the episodes of a tv series. I was fortunate to work in both areas with people who not only gave me valuable knowledge but shared with me priceless life lessons that I follow until today. It was unbelievable sitting with the News Director and hearing this story and the other about old times, about wars and demonstrations that I only read in books. Going on set and finding a piece of choco- late cake saved for you from Mrs. Alkistis Pavlidou worrying that I did not have time to eat, made my heart melt. Thinking about it know just makes my eyes watery. We have been watching your social media posts lately and we realize that you must be in a very creative phase… Oh, I am glad that my posts on so- cial media are worthy of your notice! I post things when I want to share my thoughts, my articles on my new blog www.mybeauty-fullworld.com or when I want to promote my work. Social me- dia is a huge platform to promote your work for free and so much more. You have direct impact on a large audience worldwide and that makes it even more amazing! As for me…well yes I have to admit that I am in a very creative phase in my life without hiding that I have been through a lot lately! But with will and self-esteem i gave a lot of “fights“and I won! Now I choose to live my life based on my personal options and I am grateful that I have such a full daily schedule (like my son’s) because my work represents who I really am! Melina: The Last Greek Goddess, written by Paul Lambis… I want to know everything! How did you two got to work together? Paul is my bestie, my family, my man- ager, my director and so much more… to give you an idea, every morning he calls me and I hear a loud “Stellaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”and then I an- swer “Miltoooooooooooooooo”and we both laugh, as these are two of the main characters of a very famous Greek film by Michalis Kakogiannis that Melina Mercouri — my character — starred. Oh, we are both so crazy! We met 4 years ago through my makeup artist Ioanna Marineli and we were discussing Melina ever since. In the summer of 2017 I got a call from a previous director I worked with in New York to go back and present monologues of ancient tragedies. I ex- plained how I was working with Paul on Melina and so we got the invitation of flying to New York where we actually had our premiere on 27th October. It was such an amazing experience! We had three full house shows and every night the audi- ence gave us standing ovations! We felt so proud with Paul! That is why we are going back in November 2018, invited this time by the United Solo Drama Festival of New York. How is your son responding to all this? Constantinos is really happy and proud when mommy is acting! He has theatre culture and knows how to behave in the theatre. He did not like my black clothes and the fact that I cried on the tv s

The Royal Apollonia (issue 4, 2018) The Royal Apollonia (issue 4, 2018) | Page 50