by AMY BARRATT

To most of the English audience at the Centaur Theatre, Tania Kontoyanni was a brand new face when she starred in Anna in the Tropics last fall. In French Quebec, however, the actress is quite well known for her work on both stage and screen. She is perhaps most often recognized for her first television role, that of Angélique in the téléroman Watatatow.

Being up for the part of the Cuban-American Conchita (in Anna) was no surprise to Kontoyanni, who has grown accustomed to playing "ethnics." Although born in Quebec City and totally immersed in Quebec culture, she notes that she doesn't get cast as many québécoises.

"I have the accent, but I don't have the looks." The actress is of Greek extraction, but she has been cast as Spanish, Native American, Italian, Egyptian - and the list goes on.

Although she had played small parts in English before, Conchita was Kontoyanni's first principal role in an English play, and she loved it. "I would have played the role for a year," she says. "It's like an exorcism to get all of those emotions out on stage." Conchita starts off a respectable, dutiful wife and daughter, but over the course of the play, inspired by Anna Karenina, becomes the mistress of her own destiny.

Starting Jan. 11, this sultry actress will be appearing at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in La Savetière Prodigieuse, a comedy by a playwright better known for his tragedies, Garcia Lorca.

Already a published poet, Kontoyanni is currently writing her first play. She is also working on a screen adaptation of La Femme comme champ de bataille, a Romanian play that was a great triumph when she starred in it with le Groupe de la Veillée in 1998.

"I love to express myself in many ways," she says, "but acting is the love of my life."