Michael Zavros Portrait of Alex Dimitriades

Australian actor Alex Dimitriades first came to public attention as Nick in the feature film The heartbreak kid opposite Claudia Karvan. He later won awards for Ari in Head on, an acclaimed film that addressed the experience of Greek youth in Australia. He has also been seen on television in shows such as Wildside, GP, Blue murder and Heartbreak High.

Michael Zavros has long been interested in Dimitriades as a Greek artist of his own age working in Australia. But what actually prompted this portrait was listening to Dimitriades giving a book reading on Radio National. Zavros often listens to Radio National as he paints and happened to hear Dimitriades reading from Tony Maniaty’s book Smyrna. He was startled when he heard the name ‘Zavros’, which one of the characters in the novel decided to adopt because he was left-handed (Zavros means ‘left’ in Greek Cyprian.) ‘My pappous (grandfather) also formally adopted the name Zavros, which had been his nickname, when he emigrated here from Cyprus in 1956,’ says the artist. ‘It was so creepy because I’d been brought up on that story. It seemed like a prophetic sign and I decided that I must contact Alex and ask if I could paint him for the Archibald.’

Zavros, who is based in Brisbane, came to Sydney several times for sittings with Dimitriades. ‘I guess because Alex is an actor he has an intense gaze,’ he says. ‘It’s something I’ve noticed every time I’ve seen him on film or television, those dark hooded eyes and that intense stare. He’s a good-looking man but I wanted to avoid any kind of reference to the Greek Adonis ideal. I liked the idea of him almost taking direction. He was very good at “hitting the mark” because he’s such a good actor.’

Born in Brisbane in 1974, Zavros graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Art in 1996. In 2004 he was a finalist in the Archibald Prize with his first-ever portrait. His portrait of Dimitriades is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.