Rebekah Elmaloglou

Rebekah Sophie Elmaloglou (born 23 January 1974) is an Australian actress, known for her roles as teenage tearaway Sophie Simpson on ''Home and Away'' and Terese Willis on ''Neighbours''. She also made guest appearances in '' E Street'', '' A Country Practice'' and '' Pacific Drive''. Her film appearances include '' Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' (1985), '' Princess Kate'' (1988) and '' The Sum of Us'' (1994).

Early life

Elmaloglou was born at the Royal Women's Hospital, Paddington, New South Wales, to a Greek father, Gregory, who was principal cello in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and an English mother, Theresa, who was a kindergarten teacher. Her father 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.

Career

Elmaloglou has appeared in numerous roles in various programmes and films such as '' Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome'' (1985), '' Five Times Dizzy'' (1986) and Jocelyn Moorhouse' debut film ''The Siege of Barton's Bathroom'' (1986), ''Relatives'', '' In Too Deep'' (also known as ''Mack the Knife'') (1989) and '' Love in Limbo'' (1993) plus the 1988 telemovie '' Princess Kate''. In 1989, she had a two-week guest stint as asthmatic street-kid Simone in '' E Street'' and immediately followed this with a regular role in ''Home and Away'' as Sophie Simpson (1990–1993). She left the soap in late 1992 and travelled to the UK to appear in a production of ''Cinderella'' during the pantomime season. She later appeared in a production of ''Aladdin''.

Following ''Home and Away'', Elmaloglou appeared alongside Russell Crowe in the Australian film '' The Sum of Us'' (1994), and guest starred in '' A Country Practice'' as Christine Agapitos, a love interest for Gavin Harrison's character Hugo Strzelecki. She relished filming ''The Sum of Us'', and compared filming it to ''Home and Away'':

In 1994, she appeared on the stage at the Sydney Opera House in ''Caravan''. 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. 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''.

On 7 February 2013, it was announced that Elmaloglou had joined the cast of ''Neighbours'' as Terese Willis, a role she remained in until the show's then- final episode on 28 July 2022. Elmaloglou continued in the part when ''Neighbours'' was picked up by Amazon Freevee in 2023.

Personal life

Dame Judi Dench is a cousin. Two of Elmaloglou's brothers, Dominic and Sebastian Elmaloglou, have also appeared on ''Home and Away'', plus she has a brother who is a crew member on the show'.

When working on ''Home and Away'' (from 1990 to 1993), Elmaloglou frequently had panic attacks. She was later diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder and has been open about her condition.

Elmaloglou has been married to Kane Baker since 2009, and together they have a son born in 2008.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmaloglou, Rebekah
1974 births
Actresses from Sydney
Australian child actresses
Australian people of English descent
Australian people of Greek descent
Australian soap opera actresses
Dench family
Living people
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder