Katie Chonacas aka KYRIAKI is releasing her very first poetry book entitled “A Lover’s Fairytale” on 21st of March, on World Poetry Day. In the poems, Katie discusses the experience of what love means to her while traveling the globe. The Knockturnal spoke with Katie about her new book.
The Knockturnal: How did you get your start in acting?
Katie Chonacas: First of all, thank you so much for having me on The Knockturnal! Shout out to Adam Swig from Value Culture for introducing us. I am so grateful!
I started acting by picking up the yellow pages and searching for modeling and acting agencies. The ones that were so open and wanted my money, I knew those were the ones to stay away from. The ones that didn’t respond, the 3 agencies in the Detroit, MI area, I knew those were my targets.
I met a wonderful agent Mary Fischioni, she took me on as a talent, booked me on model gigs & local commercials. My other very kind agent, Tony DiMambro from The I Group, actually booked me on my first film which was a documentary titled Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
It was SO wild. It was the end of the year, there was a snowstorm, a lot of snow, not very good weather to be going out in and or driving in but I got the call last minute, on a weekend, “are you available, do you want to go play in a movie?” I of course said yes right away.
I drove by myself to Ann Arbor, MI to this vintage record shop and my scene was this girl looking through vinyl records and maybe it was one of the Funk Brothers but he or they said to me, “Do you know of the Funk Brothers?” My answer was no…. pretty simple but this was my first legendary moment as a part of the film industry! The story gets way cooler! A year later, my first month of living in LA, I was driving down the classic Fairfax Blvd, I saw an art movie theatre and the marquee read “Standing in the Shadows of Motown”. My friend Jesse Bernstein and I went and saw it right away. I remember sitting in the seat watching the film, seeing myself on the big silver screens. I was so tickled, excited and I heard this little voice calling saying to me, see, it’s truly meant to be. From that moment on, I knew it was a sign and calling I was going to make powerful marks on the silver screens. How cool to be living in LA for one month and be headlining at a theatre!? It was so surprising and so remarkable. This is actually the first time I have told this story so I am so grateful to share it in this space. I had NO idea of the roots and all of the legendary artists that were in that documentary and for me to be apart of that collective as an artist and musician, in such great company? WOW, really really WOW. It’s another sign of how I receive it and a complete honour.
The Knockturnal: What acting project are you most proud of?
Katie Chonacas: I would say the proudest acting project that I am most proud of was working with 19 A-List stars in one year, that was pretty epic!
I really loved playing with Al Pacino in Righteous Kill. It was such a dynamic experience working with Nicolas Cage in The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. One of the most profound moments of my career, I was in my hotel, in Shreveport, LA doing a film with 50 Cent aka Curtis Jackson on Streets of Blood. After the 12 hour set, day was done, I had just gotten to my hotel room and the wonderful producer, Randall Emmett, called me and said Werner Herzog wanted to talk to me personally. I was absolutely floored, it was my Katharine Hepburn moment. One minute after, my phone in my hotel rings, I pick up the phone, a German accent, Werner Herzog speaks, and says to me.. “would you like to come to play with me and Nicolas Cage in the Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans?” I was shocked, still, frozen, numb out the outside, so excited on the inside, jumping of joy as my inner child would, saying “yes, yes, of course, it would be my honour” and the rest is history! I then flew to New Orleans and played opposite of one of the greatest actors of our time Nicolas Cage.
The Knockturnal: Tell us about your musical projects.
Katie Chonacas: I started my musical journey as a spoken word poet. I have an audio album coming out for the pieces that are in my new poetry titled book “A Lover’s Fairytale” I have produced 8 music spoken word music videos from pieces in the book and as a gift, I will send them to all of the readers, it’s a gift that they see when they get to the end of the book. Here is the playlist of ALFT
I created the duo The Sophisticated Psychos with the very intelligent and most compassionate artist, Nicky Scorpio who goes by YO Nicky Scorpio. We have music we have done together on all music streaming platforms under The Sophisticated Psychos
our website is www.thesophisticatedpsychos.com
We are now working with scientists over at Subtle Energy https://subtle.energy/
All of our music is encoded with quantum psychics – healing frequencies
I released my first solo EP titled Hypnotic Energy during the pandemic, therefore, I decided to have 639 Hz healing frequencies encoded into the music and the music videos because I felt on a planetary level we all needed to do a lot more forgiving of each other. I know I needed to forgive myself more and I definitely needed to forgive a lot of my relationships with people.
Here are the benefits of 639 Hz – fosters forgiveness, peace, and love in the relationships as well as stimulates the higher heart chakra.
639 Hz re-connects and rebalances your relationships.
My next EP is titled FULL HOUSE. This time around my vessel has called to release the songs and videos with 396 hz healing frequencies.
396 Hz – turning grief into joy, liberating guilt and fear. 396 Hz is grounding and peaceful. Wonderful for meditation. However, when used at a high amplitude for an extended period of time, it can eventually become quite stimulating.
We will be releasing all of the music and videos as NFT artists in the next coming months.
The Knockturnal: When did you start writing poetry?
Katie Chonacas: I started writing poetry at the age of 12. My very first piece is titled “The Oddball” I remember coming home from school, my back leaning up against the wall, sitting on my top bunk, with my legs curled up, holding a notebook and pen, titling the piece, feeling so misunderstood, frustrated as I began to write. First by titling the piece at the top and underlining it. I often think in a soulful cry, I wish I still had that piece of hope for one day to pop up. Would be a really sweet dream come true. 🙂
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48985/phenomenal-woman
The Knockturnal: Who are your favorite poets?
Katie Chonacas: My favourite poets of all time are Khalil Gibran and but of course Sir William Shakespeare. I also love and really admire the great Maya Angelou. My favourite piece by her is titled, Phenomenal Woman, which happens to be one of the number one poems in the world, how apropos considering it is women’s History Month.
I love the classics, William Blake, Anne Sexton, John Keats, William Wordsworth, to name a few. I have been a big fan of Prince Ea, ever since meeting him and hearing him speak at LIB ( Lightning in a Bottle Festival in 2016)
I have been recently turned on to and moved by the poet Rupi Kaur and Nicky Scorpio.
The Knockturnal: Tell us about your new poetry book?
Katie Chonacas: A Lover’s Fairytale is for a person who wants to go on a journey of love with their own soul. These love pieces were written between 2004-2012 of my in-depth experiences while traveling around the world. I share my soul with you straight from the heart from the love of nature that I experienced in this beautiful untainted world.
A Lover’s Fairytale is simple, yet deep and gifts you the opportunity to dismantle your everyday circumstances and go on your own spiritual journey with your own soul.
In addition to the poetry pieces, there are one-of-a-kind art pieces created by Chonacas and Robert Sturman. The masterpieces are very rare and were created during the time of when the pieces were actually written before Polaroid discontinued making the original polaroid in 2001. You can see more of Robert Sturman’s artwork on his website at robertsturmanstudio.com.
A Lover’s Fairytale is more than a poetry book. I hope to empower the reader through the works of art so you can apply, shift, and enhance your own life. Right now more than ever we need to speak up and share even more love with one another.
The Knockturnal: Where can people buy it?
Katie Chonacas: Pre-Order is avail now on Amazon – Paperback and or Kindle —
Merch of coffee mugs to support the book ALFT can be found on www.aloversfairytale.com
The Knockturnal: Tell us about your NFT poem?
Katie Chonacas: I am the first NFT artist who has dropped a poem on love coupled with a rare art piece that was photographed by Robert Sturman and created on an original polaroid which has now been discontinued since 2001.
This specific poem “ASC ON DA 26TH” is the very first piece in my poetry book “A Lover’s Fairytale” available on World Poetry Day. I will be releasing the whole collection of the series which will be sold as individual pieces 11 in total.
The NFT art piece is a limited edition for only one person to buy on the blockchain. It has an unlock button of gifts that will only be known and seen when the NFT is bought by someone in the marketplace.
The Knockturnal: How does it work?
Katie Chonacas: Get a wallet to partake in the blockchain. Metamask is the wallet I use and found the most friendly. Steps to take https://metamask.io/ watch the video on the opening page, it will explain it clearly. You have digital cryptocurrencies and then can go to the open market to post and or buy. I put the piece on Open Sea. https://www.instagram.com/projectopensea/?hl=en
You can find my first NFT here to see and purchase.
The Knockturnal: What’s next for you?
Katie Chonacas: Speaking my truth, standing up for myself, other artists, and humanity. Being an advocate for mental health, being an alley for the culture, BLM, LGBTQA+, social injustice, and environmental justice. Taking action and being a part of the ripple effect to support and inspire others through ethics, morals, and values.
Sharing my experiences of the world thus far and two decades in the Entertainment Industry to empower people, artists, and womxn. Paying it forward so they can get hacks and not go through some of the stuff that I went through. People can learn through my experiences the ups, downs, and in-between.
I am here for people, I am here for the artist.
In addition, I am launching season 3 of my popular podcast titled She’s All Over the Place. Season 3 will focus on poets, entrepreneurship, and the community of NFT artists.
We will be sharing insights into the wonderful opportunity for artists in the new world and where we are headed as a collective. The days of the artist creations being undervalued, logging into systems, remembering passwords, all the stuff that frustrates some of us (me), will be no more, thank goodness! It’s time-consuming and the old system that we are leaving clearly has not been working for humanity as a whole for a long while. Now will be a grand opportunity to give a loved one a meaningful gift, instead of buying cheap materialist stuff that we do not need.
How about getting a loved one something rare and cool that no one else has? I think that is really exciting and neat!! We have already shot Couples Therapy season 2 and 3 of the web series. Season 2 will launch is just a few weeks on The Sophisticated Psychos Youtube Channel.
Lastly, I audition every day and work in voiceovers for commercials, video games, animation TV & Films. I am with Vox, INC. One of the top voiceover acting agencies in the world. http://voxusa.net/
They are literally the best, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my team there! One of my most hopeful goals is to become a household name on an animation tv-series and in voice acting in animation films.
Voiceovers are the most fun for me!! My branded VO name is “Cartoon Katie” because I sound like a walking talking cartoon character some people say over the years! LOL, I am also really excited to get back on screen as an actor. I just brought on a management team for on-screen acting, I trust I will be on a network TV series in a regular role in the next coming months.
