Anna Maria Kanakis was born on February 1, 1962 in Messina, Sicily, Italy. The daughter of a Greek father and a Sicilian mother, Kanakis was an avid reader while growing up. Anna was elected Miss Volcano at age fifteen after she was discovered going wild on a dance floor in Volcano Island where she was on holiday with her mother and sister. Kanakis went on to be crowned Miss Italy for the year 1977 a few weeks later. Anna subsequently worked as a catwalk model for various famous Italian stylists prior to eventually embarking on an acting career that started in the early 1980's and continued up until 2007.