He grew up in working class origins, his father ran a milk bar, which he staffed sometimes from a young age, while his mother was a machinist.
Growing up at the time, Australia was a racially divided country, though in Richmond, Victoria there were a community of Greek Australian of which he was part.
He left Rusden halfway through his course when he auditioned and was accepted into the Drama School at the Victorian College of the Arts, from where he eventually graduated.
[5] After facing challenges about progressing his career, partly because casting was difficult because of his Greek origins, Giannopoulos saved up his dole cheques and put on his first show, Wogs out of work at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 1987.
[10] In 1990–1991, he toured Australia to full house audiences for eight months as the star of the stage production of Acropolis Now Live Onstage, which he co-produced.
[3][13] In 2019, Giannopopulos joined the Sooshi Mango boys and Mary Coustas on stage in a show named Fifty Shades of Ethnic.
[12] In 2004, Giannopoulos hosted and produced the TV special Greece Is The Word on the Seven Network and repeated before the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony.