We were lucky to catch up with Konstantina Mantelos recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Konstantina, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I’ll have to be careful what I say about this because the project hasn’t been officially announced yet! But I recently had the privilege of playing the lead in an incredible horror film from an up-and-coming female horror director. Working on the film was absolutely the most rewarding experience of my career thus far. It wasn’t just the role itself, or the story, but also the experience on set, how the opportunity came about and when it happened in my life.
A few years ago I really started asking myself what I was doing this for – what I wanted out of my acting career. I had spent many years trying to establish myself in this industry – taking new classes, working my way up to bigger and bigger projects, signing with a great agent who took me seriously, etc. I had gotten to a good place. I had a few significant roles in big projects under my belt, I was auditioning consistently, but I hadn’t shaken the anxiety that each project was just a stepping stone to something else.
I realized that that feeling came down to the question of what I was looking for from my work as an actor. I found that working consistently has never felt as important as caring about the project I was working on. What I want when I think about the ideal version of my career is to be exploring characters that intrigue me, to be a part of stories that excite me and to work with writer/directors whose vision inspire me. I love the idea of being really involved in the filmmaking process and feeling like, as a team we made something significant.
A few years ago I had been touring film festivals with my biggest project to date, a horror film called Anything for Jackson. A great short opened for us at the Fantasia Film Festival, and I discovered it was directed by a local Greek female filmmaker. I remember thinking to myself “how is there another Greek woman about my age making films in Toronto and we’ve never met!?” She had a thoughtful, clever and emotionally rich approach that I love in horror films. We connected, and she must have liked my work as well, because she eventually offered me the lead in her next short. The film followed a depressed woman, slowly overtaken by the monstrosity of her inability to smile. I immediately knew I respected what she was using horror to communicate.
The short did well and we stayed in touch. We bonded over being young Greek women trying to make it in an industry we had no prior connection to. The next thing I knew, I was being invited to audition for the lead in a feature. When I found out I booked the role I was over the moon. This was her first feature film and my second lead in a feature… I knew that it meant as much to her as it did to me. Like her short, the feature uses horror to explore very real issues of mental health and emotionally abusive relationships. My character undertakes a journey of significant emotional turmoil, and I felt a lot of similarities with her experiences. I felt like her story mattered, and I wanted to do it justice. Sometimes a role comes along, and you feel like you just GET the character. This was certainly one of those situations.
In Jackson, I played a supporting lead alongside much more seasoned actors; in this film, I would be entirely on my own. The confluence of timing was amazing. I had just been working in an acting class on taking more ownership of my work and bringing more of myself to my characters. Here was my opportunity to put that into practice. Throughout the process, the director and I became good friends and worked very closely to deepen our understanding of the character. I grew to know the entire crew and had gained the confidence to speak up for myself and assert what I needed. I felt a sense of play and challenge with each new actor that joined me on set When I saw the footage, I was so impressed with the aesthetic choices and how her vision contributed to the story.
By the time we wrapped I felt like I was truly part of a team and we were all so excited to see the end result. For the first time in my entire career, I wasn’t thinking about what would come next. I just felt proud about what we had accomplished. And I had built a professional and personal relationship with someone I could not wait to work with again.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a Greek-Canadian actress, and filmmaker, represented by Monika Thomas at Creative Drive Artists. I am passionate about mining the dark corners and emotional depths of women on-screen. In 2020, I starred as Shannon Becker, the mother-to-be kidnapped-by-satanists in Shudder’s indie horror hit, Anything For Jackson. I am also starring in the upcoming debut feature from horror director Joanna Tsanis.
I trained at NYC’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts and TMU’s School of Performance, where I received a BFA in Acting. There I learned a variety of acting techniques and theatrical styles. Since graduating I have practiced at a number of acting studios with a focus on developing my work in front of the camera. Most recently I was introduced to Meisner technique through actor/teacher Shaun Benson, and since then it has become the primary process of my work.
When I got started I found a lot of success in independent film – working with film students on short films, and indie creators on low budget features and web series. Though not financially lucrative, I found this extremely rewarding. It allowed me to take on challenging, leading roles that most casting directors weren’t yet seeing me for; to develop my acting process on set; meet and work closely with talented young filmmakers; gain an appreciation for the art of filmmaking; and to build a repertoire of work that showcased my abilities. This really paved the way for the shape my career has taken thus far – even though the projects have grown, my most rewarding successes have still come from independent films and the relationships I garnered through them.
Shortly after beginning my career as an actor, I ventured into filmmaking myself. I began with screenwriting, producing and starring in my own films, as a way to take ownership of my acting by writing characters I wanted to play and stories I wanted to tell. My debut film, Lakesong, premiered at 2017’s LA Film Festival and went on to screen at festivals around the world. Through that experience I really fell in love with the filmmaking process and began to conceive of what my stories would look like entirely through my own lens, so most recently I have begun developing work which I aim to direct myself. Through my films and my acting work I aim to honestly and passionately explore the kaleidoscopic depths of the female experience. I think that we as women have a language within us that has yet to be fully explored in film – screams, whispers, moans, laughs – and when expressed truthfully, we may begin to feel like we are finally being heard and understood.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
A couple of years ago it came to light that my agency at the time, Compass Artist Management, was stealing from their clients. I had been awaiting payment for a couple of projects when the news broke. Other actors from the agency started coming out of the woodwork, no one from the agency had been paid in months. We got incoherent, defensive rambling emails from the agency before we stopped hearing from them entirely and before we knew it we were embroiled in a criminal case. It was a complete nightmare. It was towards the tail end of the covid pandemic and those projects were the first I’d booked in a year… they were supposed to be a mark of a return to normalcy. Instead I found myself robbed, and suddenly without an agent (a career death sentence for a union actor).
At that time I was in contact with many of the other actors from the agency. Quite understandably, many people were angry, stressed and dejected – they felt they didn’t have the capacity to deal with the situation. But my first priority, as opposed to pursuing my stolen money, was the future. I knew I needed to get a new agent, and fast. I put my portfolio materials together, reached out to colleagues for references and started flexing every connection I had with agents in the city. Despite being a terrible circumstance, it created a rare opportunity of generosity within the industry in Toronto. A prominent agent who wasn’t looking for clients recommended others who were. A well known casting director in the city recommended agents she thought would be suitable. Through that process I met with my current agent. And unlike previous times I had interviewed with agencies, I was further along in my career. This time, as opposed to trying to prove myself, I felt as though we were speaking as equals. We discussed the potential for my career, and creating a strong partnership. In the end I signed with the new agency and felt it was an enormous step forward in my career.
The president of Compass was arrested and has had criminal charges filed against him. Efforts were made to recover the lost payments, but in my case I had to make my bed with the fact that I will likely never see repayment for what was stolen, and consider myself lucky that the amount which was taken was something I could afford to live without. I look back on the experience and am grateful that I buckled down and prioritized what I did. It ended up pushing me to make a change that had been a long time coming
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
A few years ago, when I was feeling quite lost in my career and as an artist, I was introduced to The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. It is essentially a self guided, 12-week program for reconnecting with yourself as an artist. It is not an overstatement to say that it changed my life. I thought that I was searching for answers for my career, but what I discovered was a new perspective on my sense of self, my life, my creativity and what was holding me back from living a truly fulfilled and happy life. I can’t recommend it enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://imdb.me/konstantinamantelos
- Instagram: @konstantina.mantelos
Image Credits
Helen Piekoszewski