Kliris was born in South Africa, the daughter of Greek Cypriot parents from Louvaras and Rizokarpaso.
[2] She grew up in South Africa and studied journalism at Rhodes University in Makhanda, then spent time living in Athens and London before moving to Cyprus in 2010.
[3][4] Kliris directed two short documentaries, Flame of Peace (2002) about the Olympic Truce and Unmasking Mavis (2002) about LGBT subcultures in South Africa.
Her short film The Fiddler (2010) was inspired by her grandfather's story of his desire to own a violin.
[5] Her feature film directorial debut came with the English-language romantic comedy Committed (2014) about a man pressured to propose who meets a runaway bride.