Markus Istafanous

ActorDigital ArtistPainter

Roles I have lived before I play them..

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Portrait · Beat Mumenthaler

Acting

Film acting & Method Acting

Acting

Film acting & Method Acting

Markus trained in film acting (crash course and bootcamp) and Method Acting with Marco Hausammann-Gilardi — working with the five senses, relaxation and the seven great emotions, including scene work as Alboury in Bernard-Marie Koltès' Black Battles with Dogs. He has played roles in the short screenplays A Stranger in a Bar (Micha Meyer) and Nocturnal Animals (Giacomo Andreolli), appeared in a commercial for Coca-Cola Switzerland and a music video, and was part of the team of the International Short Film Festival Winterthur 2020. His range spans business and authority figures, military and police, craftsman, traveler and foreigner, the charming artist — and the full arc from devil to saint. Showreel, actor's portrait and scene clips are shared with agencies and productions on request.

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Acting

Actor — business, military & police, craftsman, traveler, artist, devil & saint

Markus Istafanous, actor — Portrait in Black and White — Scene 01 · Portrait in Black and White

Markus Istafanous, actor — El Guerriero — Scene 02 · El Guerriero

Markus Istafanous, actor — Milan — Scene 03 · Milan

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Digital Art

Faith, desire, cosmos and the city — each work in its own light

No. 01 / 46

Own Your Dream Magic

Digital art

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Handmade

Paintings 2020 · sculpture 2025

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Biography

Markus Istafanous as a child, school portrait in a striped shirt — Before the first role..

I paint with light, play with masks and build with people; three crafts, one fire.

I am a son of the Mediterranean, raised among the Alps; Italy lives in my gestures, Egypt in my silences (an old Coptic silence that still remembers the Nile). Switzerland taught me precision, the South gave me the fire.

My first body of work, the Winter Collection 2020, was born on paper, canvas and ceramics (acrylic, oil, collage, marbling). Then the canvas became a screen: digital works where faith and desire, cosmos and city, psalm and neon sign meet in layers of light. In 2025 the fire took shape in clay; Arise to Greatness, a figure lifting the torch for the one who is still asleep.

As an actor I trained in film acting and Method Acting with Marco Hausammann-Gilardi, and I play in German, Italian, English and French. From the business suit to devil & saint, I am drawn to characters who carry a whole story in their eyes.

What drives me? Passion, authenticity, excellence (and a good portion of holy stubbornness). Every human being carries a dream that wants to be lived; my work is an invitation to remember yours..

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Let’s create together

A canvas, a role, a room to transform; or a vision that is still looking for its form..

Galleries, collectors, casting directors, brands and dreamers: write me. Commissions, exhibitions, film and stage, (co-)creation of something nobody has dared yet; every great work starts with one honest conversation.

or write to markus.istafanous@gmail.com