Biography

Georges Corraface was born and raised in Paris in a celebrated family of musicians. His father was the symphony and opera conductor Dimitri Chorafas, from the Greek branch of the Carafa family of Naples. Traveling, while his father directed the major symphony orchestras of Europe, enabled him from a very young age to appreciate many different cultures and languages. As a result, he became trilingual (French, English, Greek), fluent in Spanish and Italian, and developed a talent for foreign accents.

Beginning his career on the stage at the age of 19, he studied first at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre and then at Le Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique, notably, in the class of Antoine Vitez. He then was invited to become a member of the national theater (La Comédie Française), but decided to seek adventure « on the road » instead, traveling and doing odd jobs for a few years. When he returned to the theatre, he played a wide variety of leading roles in France and in Greece culminating in a 6 year collaboration with The Peter Brook Company.

While on tour with the company, he was spotted by David Lean, cast in the lead role of Lean’s last project, which was never made.

That led to a new path in his career, filming in English, in both starring and supporting roles. Since then, with the exception of a few independent French films, he has worked mostly abroad where he has made a number of highly successful box office movies, as well as art films awarded at film festivals.

Back home, he continued with television appearances, notably starring in many record-breaking mini-series on prime-time, which brought him broad popularity in the French speaking world.

While in Greece, his combined successes in « auteur » and mainstream films led him to become the honorary president of the TIFF, the Greek international film festival, from 2005 to 2010. He remains based with his family in Paris, and works alternatively in French and foreign productions.