Greek journalist and actress Rika Vagiani passed away on Tuesday morning after losing her battle to cancer. She was 56.
Born Marika Zoula in the Athens district of Pangrati in 1962, Rika Vagiani was the daughter of journalist Odysseas Zoulas and Varvara Drakou. Her adopted surname comprised the first two letters of her mother’s first name with the second part of her stepfather’s name - renown sportswriter Yiannis Diakoyannis.
After graduating from the National Theatre’s Drama School in 1982, Vagiani began working as a stage, cinema and television actress. Simultaneously, she started contributing as a journalist to magazines, newspapers, radio and television, following in her stepfather's footsteps. In the late 1990s, she became Editing Director of Cosmopolitan magazine and Colt Magazines, while she also wrote for Ena and Tetarto. She was also a daily columnist with the Apogevmatini and Ethos newspapers.
In 1986, she began presenting on television, featuring in regular shows on Mega, Star, Seven X, Channel 5 and then in 1997 to 2012 she hosted regular TV shows with the national broadcaster ERT. She also wrote two children’s books.
Rika Vagiani was married to Nikos Stefanis and they had one son, Odysseas.
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