George Michael Houvardas was born on January 3rd, 1982, in Sydney, Australia, to Anastasia Houvardas, a teacher, and Michael Houvardas, an accountant. His father, Michael, was the youngest of four children and immigrated to Australia from the Greek island of Lesvos with his family. His mother, Anastasia, was born in Australia to Greek immigrant parents from Lesvos.
George is the middle child of three, sandwiched between his eldest brother, Steven, and youngest brother, Anthony. Growing up, he worked alongside his family in various family-owned restaurants and function centers, a tradition he still continues to this day at Piato Restaurant in Sydney. He believes that working in a restaurant provides an excellent environment to observe human behavior and character.
During his school years, George's passion for acting and the arts lay dormant, as there were no drama or arts subjects offered. After completing his secondary education, he studied construction management and worked in the building industry for four years. However, it was during this time that he stumbled upon the Actor's College for Theatre and Television, located just a block away from his TAFE building. He signed up for a two-week acting course, which rekindled his passion for acting. By the end of the course, he had given notice to his construction boss and surprised his parents by announcing his decision to pursue a career in acting.
George enrolled at Screenwise and quickly caught the attention of producers, landing his first major break with the role of "Carbo" on the highly acclaimed series "Packed to the Rafters." He has since demonstrated his versatility with roles such as a psycho hit man on "East West 101," a reformed priest in the film comedy "Chasing Comets," and a cowardly bikie in the gritty drama "1% (Outlaws)."
In 2019, George returned to TV screens with the critically acclaimed British/Australian dramedy series "Frayed," playing the role of a megalomaniac politician named Chris. He will reprise his role as "Carbo" in Amazon Prime's "Back to the Rafters" in 2020.
