Antigoni Valakou (Greek: Αντιγόνη Βαλάκου; April 1930 – 12 November 2013) was one of Greece’s most important film and stage actresses.

Biography

Valakou was born in Kavala in 1930 and her family moved to Athens when she was 16 years old.She attended the Dramatic School of Vasilis Rotas. She got her first theatrical role in 1946 and performed with the famous Grek actor Aimilios Veakis. In the early 1950s she became known as an “ingénue”, before joining the National Theater of Greece, where she starred in productions of plays by Shakespeare, Charles Morgan, Bernard Shaw and Jean Anouilh, Arthur Miller and many more. From 1958 she had her own theatrical group. She performed more than 120 roles and gave unforgettable performances as Maria Stuart, Hedda Gabler, Juliet, Nora, Bernarda Alba, Electra, Antigone, Cassandra, Medea, Agauë, Iphigenia, Jocasta etc.Amongst her most well-known performances was Ophelia in the 1955 production of Hamlet, the protagonist role in a 1957 production of Anna Frank and Electra (directed by Spyros Evangelatos) in 1972. Her most recent appearances on stage were in the title roles in Martin Sherman’s Rose in 2000 and Stephen Temperley’s Madame Flo in 2011.She also appeared in more than fifteen (15) films, Golfo by Orestis Laskos, The Skies Are Ours and The Car by Dinos Dimopoulos, Lost Dreams by Alekos Sakellarios and many more. She worked in radio and later in television, mostly in the adaptation of plays.She was a drama school teacher (National Theatre of Greece Drama School) for twenty (20) years. Her career spanned six decades and she received multiple awards for her performances throughout the years. In 1958 she was awarded the prize "Marika Kotopouli – Best actress". In 2002 Antigoni Valakou was awardes by the President of the Hellenic Republic for her lifetime achievement. In Kavala, her birthplace, there is the theatre "Antigoni Valakou" honorary named after her.
Valakou died on 12 November 2013, aged 83, following hospitalisation a week prior, in Evangelismos Hospital.