Chantal Contouri

Chantal Contouri was born on 8 April 1950 in the village of Agios Georgios, Vion, in Greece, the first of five children to Fotini and Konstantinos.^[1] The family emigrated to Australia aboard the Italian ship Castel Felice in 1954, and settled in Adelaide, South Australia.^[1]

Contouri attended Adelaide High School.^[1]after leaving home she started working as a go-go dancer at a nightclub in Gawler Place in Adelaide city centre; however, she wanted to act.^[1]

She left Adelaide after being verbally abused by a Greek woman on the street, and moved to Melbourne at the age of 16.

Contouri made her professional debut as a dancer on the pop music show Kommotion in 1966. After that, she moved to London, and became good friends with Olivia Newton-John.^[1]

Contouri had leading roles in Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) and the sex comedy film Alvin Purple Rides Again (1974), and later had a guest role in the Alvin Purple television series produced in 1976. She also had starring roles in horror-suspense films Thirst (1979) and Snapshot (aka The Day After Halloween) (1979).^[1] She also appeared as ‘Rosa’ in the Australian movie Is There Anybody There in late 1975.

She featured in The Sullivans (1976-1983) as Melina Tsangarakis,^[1] who married Norm Baker before her death by firing squad. Contouri appeared in US daytime soap opera General Hospital in 1988 and played a guest role in the Australian soap E Street in 1993.^[2] She featured in Timothy Spanos' series Celebrity House Cleaner playing an alcoholic acting agent and her most recent role was in a remake of Stormboy in 2019.^{[citation needed]}

Contouri remains best known however as Nurse Tracey Wilson in the TV series Number 96 (1974-75).^[3] Contouri recorded an audio commentary for a 2008 DVD boxed set release of 32 Number 96 episodes, entitled The Pantyhose Strangler.^{[citation needed]}

She continued working in Sydney, before moving to Los Angeles attending Olivia Newton-John's marriage to Matt Lattanzi, and there found work on the daytime soap opera General Hospital.^[1]

After moving into semi-retirement in Adelaide in 1998, she took acting roles in Hotel Mumbai (directed by Adelaide-born Greek Australian Anthony Maras) and Storm Boy, the 2019 remake with Geoffrey Rush. She also starred in the short film Unfinished Thoughts.^[1]

1n 1979 Contouri won a Logie Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Melina Tsangarakis in The Sullivans,^[1] becoming the first Greek Australian actress to win a Logie.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011 she won Best Actress in the South Australian Screen Awards for her performance in the short film Unfinished Thoughts (which was nominated for eight SASAs).^[4][1]

Contouri had an early marriage arranged by her parents, which broke down and she fled to her favourite uncle's house.^[1]

She spent some years in Greece in her 40s, and after a few more acting roles, semi-retired from acting in Adelaide in 1998. With her parents in failing health, she took over running their restaurant in Hindley Street, Barbecue Inn.^[1] In 2007 Contouri discussed her time Number 96 in an episode of Where Are They Now?, and talked about running the family's restaurant in Adelaide.^[5] The restaurant closed in 2014.^[1]

In 2016 Contouri was living in Torrensville, South Australia.^[6]

Contouri has had many stage roles, including:^[7]