Dimitra Tziova -also known as Demi Jiova- was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Both her parents are Greek and are still living in Sweden and so is her only brother with his family.
From early on Dimitra showed a great interest in the arts and especially in acting as she participated in various school plays. At the age of 8 she visited Greece for the first time in her life and fell in love with the Greek history and the Greek mythology. It was then that she was exposed for the first time to Ancient Greek Theater. It was a production of Antigone by Sophocles at the Ancient Greek Theater of Dodoni and the 8-year old Demi was mesmerized. No wonder a few years later she made her depute on stage with that very same play, landing the role of Antigone at the GCC’s (Greek Cultural Center’s) production in New York. Her reviews were excellent. She took acting classes at the Actors Studio and Acting Place in NY and also worked with a lot of well-known acting coaches in Greece.
From early on she also developed a great interest and abilities in sciences.She started reading on her own at the age of 3 ½ long before anyone taught her the alphabet. She excelled in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry and biochemistry, and won a lot of scholarships and prizes. That led her to be admitted first in rank - after competing with thousands of high school graduates from all over Greece - to the department of Chemistry at the University of Athens at the age of 17 and later at Mt Sinai Medical Center in New York with a full scholarship in their Graduate program in Biomedical Sciences at the age of 21.
For a couple of years she tried to engage in both acting and scientific research but in 1999 she realized that it was acting that had won her heart and soul. Since then she has been acting professionally in the land of her ancestors: Greece.
She has been a leading cast member of many very-successful TV series and TV movies in Greece such as: “Pethaino gia sena (Dying for you)”, “Ano kato kai teleia (Colon and Period)”, “Archipelagos (Archipelago)”, “Singles”, “To Stoixima (The Bet)”, “Pano Apo Ton Nomo (Above the Law)” to mention a few.
She has also hosted a few TV shows, been a TV spokesperson for ‘Laserline Clinics’ and done a lot of voiceovers.
In 2007 she was very proud and excited to see her first script produced and aired on Greek TV under the title “Pano Apo Ton Nomo (Above the Law)”- Genre: Crime, in which as mentioned above she also held a leading cast role - and had finally the chance to combine successfully the two loves of her life: Acting and Science!
Being a restless spirit all her life she has also traveled a lot around the world, worked as a fashion model in Europe while in college and exposed herself to a lot of different jobs, when she was young. Her motto in life is: “If it doesn’t kill you; it makes you stronger”.