Born in 1913 (or 1915, according to some sources), in Alexandria, Egypt, but raised in Marseille, France. His family moved in Athens in 1935. He studied acting at the Drama School of Giannoulis Sarantidis and made his stage debut in a 1944 Athens production of Leo Lenz's "Lady I Love You." In 1946, he became a stage sensation starring opposite Marika Kotopouli in Carlo Goldoni's "A Servant of Two Masters" (as Truffaldino). He never left the stage for the next fifty years, appearing with great success in ancient (Aristophanes' "Thesmophoriazouses") and modern Greek comedies (Dimitris Psathas' "Thanasakis o politevomnenos", Alekos Sakellarios' and Hristos Giannakopoulos' "O filos mou o Lefterakis"), musicals ("Irma la Douce", "Some like It Hot") etc. He also became one of the all-time greats of the Greek cinema, starring in about 90 films. He died of lung infection in 2001.