Her father used to sell watermelons, called "karpouzia" in Greek (stemming from Turkish: karpuz), in his spare time, which is the source of her last name, Karpouzi (neuter singular).
[citation needed] Her stage debut was in the Marika Kotopouli theatre in the French comedy, La belle Heléne, with Melina Mercouri and Vasilis Diamantopoulos.
She appeared for the last time in theatre in 1990 in Loula Anagnostaki's play, Diamonds and the blues; suffering from terminal breast cancer, she was in great pain and had to leave the show.
[citation needed] A metastatic cancer victim, she asked those close to her to make palliative care better known and to assist in its development so others suffering painful diseases or ailments would be able to live their last days with dignity.
The Jenny Karezi Foundation is a non-profit Cancer Pain Relief and Palliative Care organization, founded in 1992, in memory of the Greek actress.