ananiadis was born in thessaloniki (greece) where he started studying theatre at the age of 12. after joining the national drama school of greece and landing an award-winning role for "this is our youth" (2004) as “breakthrough artist of the year,” he went on to perform in the opening ceremony of the 2004 olympic games as “love.” after spending a year in the army, anthimos returned to the silver screen in "loathing and camouflage" (2005), which was both a commercial and critical success. by 2006, his leading role in "straight story", the most successful movie in the history of greece, earned him a nomination for “best leading actor” in the thessaloniki international film festival. then his role as “alexis” in the hit tv series "ugly maria" earned him another nomination as “best leading man” at the tv faces award. in 2007, after a critically acclaimed performance as benjamin braddock in the stage production of "the graduate", he also went on to star in the greek version of "surfs up" (2007) and numerous other film, tv and stage productions.