He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
During the war he was a member of the left-wing resistance movement EAM-ELAS, and because of this was subsequently exiled to the Makronissos prison island.
He started his career as a director of the film Magiki Polis (1954), where he combined his neorealism influences with his own artistic viewpoint.
He cast Thanasis Veggos, who he had met at Makronissos, as one of the characters in Magiki Polis.
[1] After the release of his complex and innovative film O Drakos, he found acceptance as a prominent artist in Greece and Europe, and acquired important awards in various international and Greek film festivals.