Elena Carapetis

Stage

Carapetis has appeared onstage in numerous productions. Apart from STCSA, she has worked for many well-known Australian theatre companies, including Bell Shakespeare, Windmill Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Vitalstatistix, Brink Productions, Malthouse Theatre, and Belvoir.^[6]

Her first public performance was in Tonight We Improvise at the University of Adelaide's Little Theatre on 10 June 1987. This was followed by appearances in Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth, also at the Little Theatre, in 1988.^[7]

In 1990, she appeared in The Courtyard of Miracles at the Lion Theatre, Adelaide.^[7]

In 1993, Carapetis performed in As You Like It at the Little Theatre, Adelaide.^[7]

In 1997, she appeared in Features of Blown Youth at the Queens Theatre, Adelaide.^[7]

In 2002, she performed in Parthenon Air at the Sidetrack Theatre, Marrickville, Sydney.^[7]

In 2004, Carapetis appeared in a production of Translations^[8] and Hot Fudge with the State Theatre Company of South Australia.^[9]

In March 2005, Carapetis first performed in It's A Mother! at the Sidetrack Theatre, Marrickville,^[7] as part of the Greek Festival of Sydney.^[10] She would return to this show in 2006 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival^[11][12] and in 2007 as part of Melbourne's Arts House program.^[13]

In 2006, Carapetis again performed in Translations, this time at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne^[14] and the Beckett Theatre, Southbank. In the same year, she appeared in 4:48 Psychosis at The Queens Theatre Stables, Adelaide.^[7]

In 2007, Carapetis played in Assassins, Triple Threat, and This Uncharted Hour.^[7][15]

In 2008, she appeared in Helly's Magic Cup at The Space, Adelaide.^[7]

In 2009, she appeared in The Things We Do For Love^[7][16] at the Dunstan Playhouse.

In 2010, Carapetis performed in Ruby Bruise at the Waterside Theatre, Port Adelaide.^[7]

In 2011, appeared in transumer: deviate from the norm at the Waterside Hall, Port Adelaide.^[7]

In 2012, she played all "the other roles" in the play Truck Stop, including a doctor, counsellor, mother, and grungy teenage boy.^[17][18]

She played one of the lead roles in Theatre Republic's The Bleeding Tree,^[6] which was first staged at Tandanya in 2020, and again in 2022, after the hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia, at the Space Theatre.^[4]

Films and TV

Carapetis has acted in several feature films, including Look Both Ways (2005) and Bad Blood (2017).^[19] She featured in a small but effective role in the 2009 Adelaide film Offside.^[1]

She is also known for her work in television series, including Heartbreak High (1998–1999), All Saints (2000–2009), and The Hunting (2019).^[19] The Hunting won the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Mini-Series/Telemovie in the 10th annual Equity Ensemble Awards in 2020.^[20] She also appeared in the first series of Aftertaste (ep.4, February 2021), as Vassiliki.^[21][22]

Voice

She has worked extensively as a voice-over artist on advertising campaigns, including for Commonwealth Bank, Sunday Mail, and Stone's Ginger Beer, and for corporate videos.^[23]

Stage plays

Carapetis wrote the stage play Helen Back in 2011, which is about "the commodification of beauty and the pressure on women to remain beautiful and youthful".^[1] The play made the shortlist for the Jill Blewett Playwright's Award^[24] at the 2012 Adelaide Festival Awards^[25][26] and was performed in Adelaide and Melbourne.^[7]

Her play The Good Son had its world premiere at the Bakehouse Theatre in April 2015. Presented by The Other Ones, it was directed by Corey McMahon, and featured Eugenia Fragos, Renato Musolino, Adriana Bonaccurso, and Demitrios Sirilas.^[27][28]

The Gods of Strangers, set in Port Pirie, is based on the oral histories of Greek, Cypriot and Italian people who migrated to regional South Australia after World War II. It was staged by the State Theatre Company South Australia in 2018,^[29][30] playing at the Dunstan Playhouse in Adelaide as well as in Port Pirie. It was also filmed by local production company KOJO and intended to be shown by Country Arts SA in regional cinemas in 2020, but it was later shown online owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia.^[31]

Carapetis' rewritten version of Antigone, described as a response to the original written by Sophocles, portrays a feminist theme. The play consists of a series of monologues and vignettes, which together rail against the silencing and devaluing of women in society. The play was produced by the State Theatre Company of South Australia, directed by Anthony Nicola, at the Odeon Theatre in Norwood in June 2022.^[22]

Film and TV

In 2007, a script written by Carapetis was selected out of 1,700 submissions as an episode of the 25x5min series Marx and Venus on the SBS.^[32]

Carapetis wrote and directed the short film Blame the Rabbit, which was shown at the 2023 Adelaide Film Festival.^[33] Based on the Greek myth of the Gorgon and described as a cautionary tale, it is intended as "the first of a trilogy based on a Greek myth or tragedy that looks at the objectification of women".^[34] Blame the Rabbit recently won the Grand Jury Prize at the South Australian Screen Awards in 2024.^[35]

In 2025, Carapetis appeared in the third season of Channel 7 drama RFDS.^[36] On 20 November 2025, Carapetis was named in the cast for ABC series Treasure & Dirt.^[37]

Films

Television