Rebekah Elmaloglou

Rebekah Elmaloglou
Born	(1974-01-23) 23 January 1974 Australia
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–present
Spouse(s)	Kane Baker (m. 2009)
Children	1
Parent(s)	Gregory Elmaloglou
Relatives	Sebastian Elmaloglou (brother) Judi Dench (cousin) Jeffery Dench (cousin)

Rebekah Sophie Elmaloglou Baker (Greek: Ρεβέκκα Σόφια Ελμαλόγλου; born 23 January 1974) is an Australian actress who is currently known for her role as Terese Willis on the long-running soap opera Neighbours. She is best remembered for her portrayal of teenage tearaway and mother Sophie Simpson on Home and Away from 1990 to 1993 and again on a recurring basis from 2002 to 2005. Her brothers, Peter Elmaloglou, Dominic Elmaloglou and Sebastian Elmaloglou have also appeared on Home and Away.

Personal life

Elmaloglou was born at the Royal Women's Hospital, Paddington, New South Wales to a Greek father who was principal cello in Sydney ABC Symphony Orchestra and an English mother who was a kindergarten teacher. Her father, Gregory Elmaglou, was born in France, Elmaloglou left school at the age of 15 and trained at the Keane Kids studios in Sydney, where she studied acting, singing and dancing. Judi Dench is a cousin.

-oglou (-όγλου): a Turkish root (-oğlu, "son of") ending seen in immigrants from Asia Minor. Examples may include: "Tsolakoglou", "Ardizoglou" and "Patsatzoglou" among many others.

When working on Home and Away (from 1990–93), she suffered frequently from panic attacks. She was later diagnosed with OCD and has been open about her condition.

Elmaloglou's first child, Kai, with partner Kane Baker was born in 2008. She married Kane in 2009.

Filmography

Elmaloglou has appeared in numerous roles in various programmes and films such as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Relatives, Mack the Knife and Limbo plus the 1988 telemovie Princess Kate. From 1990 until 1993, she had a regular role in Home and Away. Since this show, Elmaloglou has appeared in the Australian film The Sum of Us (1994) and guest starred in A Country Practice as Christine Agapitos. She appeared on the stage at the Sydney Opera House in Caravan.

She relished filming The Sum of Us saying "your best work comes out of a film and you feel that you can really show your talents as an actress". She also compared filming this to when she was on Home And Away:

"You feel like you're really acting and really doing something when you do film because in television you're grinding your way through it. The moment you finish one script you're on to another one and it just goes on and on and on. (In film) you have more time to work with it - not at it - and you spend more time talking to the director about the role."

In 1993, she went to the UK for a production of Aladdin. Elmaloglou appeared in Pacific Drive in 1996, as a victim of incest, who dices with death when she turns to drugs. She appeared in an episode of Life Support as a "publicity whore". The actress later posed naked in a Gothic-themed set of photographs for the Australian celebrity nude art magazine Black+White. In a 1995 interview, she stated that she did not receive the offers she had anticipated after leaving Home and Away and that finding work was a struggle.

On 7 February 2013, it was announced that Elmaloglou had joined the cast of Neighbours as Terese Willis.

External links

• Home and Away Profile
• Rebekah Elmaloglou at the Internet Movie Database
• Aussie Actors profile