A graduate both from college with a Bachelor of Business Administration and the prestigious Drama School of Athens, Eva-Maria Leonardou is a diversely educated artist. Six months after graduation she was handpicked by Oscar nominated Writer/Director Nikos Foskolos to play the lead in his television series, which after her arrival became the number one rated television show in her country jumping from 28 to 50% in the ratings. This led to a string of successful roles on both stage and screen. Within a year she became the lead actress of Greece's longest running prime time television show, she raised the ratings from 18 to 40% and was awarded by the network. The same year she performed at Herod's 5000 Seat Roman Theater in front of sold out crowds.Giving up a flourishing career, Eva-Maria Leonardou came to the US to fulfill a lifelong dream to bring her talent to the American screen. Being fluent both in English and Greek, she is also versed in German, Italian and Spanish.Soon after her arrival, United States recognized her as an "Alien of Extraordinary Ability in Acting" and offered her permanent residence. She became a member of the Screen Actor's Guild and jumped into work right away. She co-starred in the movie "Rivals of Jesus" for National Geographic. Her first directing attempt, the short film :Work of Art", which she also executive-produced, wrote and starred in, was selected among 12,000 submissions and made it to the second round of Steven Spielberg's directing contest On the Lot. Eva-Maria Leonardou was also cast as the female lead in the feature film "On a Dark and Stormy Night", which has won numerous festival awards. She recently acted in a feature film with Christopher McDonald and wrote her second Feature Screenplay, "Incarnated", which is in development. The Funding Trailer, which she wrote/directed/produced/edited and starred in, has attracted a lot of media attention and a team of accomplished professionals.Eva-Maria is also attached as the female lead in the movie "G in the Heart" to be directed by CAA represented director Armand Mastroianni. Show less «