Rika Vagiani

Rika Vagiani
Rika Vagiani
Born	Marika Zoula (Μαρίκα Ζούλα); March 4, 1962; Pangrati, Athens, Greece
Died	August 7, 2018 (aged 56)
Occupation(s)	Actress, journalist, politician, editor
Years active	1979–2018

Rika Vagiani, artist name for Marika Zoula (Greek: Μαρίκα Ζούλα; 1962 – 7 August 2018), was a Greek actress, journalist, politician, editor of magazines and children's book writer.^[1]^[2]^[3]

She was born in Athens district of Pangrati from journalist Odysseas Zoulas and Varvara Drakou. Her career as actress began on 1979 and graduated from National Theatre of Greece Drama School on 1982.^[4] Soon she started to work as editor-in-chief in the magazines Cosmopolitan and Colt, and the newspapers Apogevmatini and Ethnos as a daily columnist.^[5]

She began presenting on TV in shows on Mega Channel, Star, Seven X, Channel X and ERT, such as Panta n' antamonoume.^[6] She co-founded the news site Protagon, where she published two children's books.^[7] In 1986, she began presenting on television, with featuring in shows on Mega, Star, Seven X, Channel 5 and, since 1997, with the state broadcaster ERT, which she has remained until 2012. She also contributed to the Protagon website and penned two children's books.

Her artistic name "Rika Vagiani" came from the first syllable of the name of Barbara's mother "Va-" and the name of Yiannis Diakoyiannis' father-yanis. Her husband was Nikos Stefanis, with whom she had a son, Odysseus. She died on 7 August 2018 of lung cancer.