‘Sacred Lies’ star Elena Kampouris shares amazing experiences on set

By Colleen Bement, Aug. 28th, 2018

Elena Kampouris delivers her role as the Handless Maiden, Minnow Bly in “Sacred Lies” with such passion. In chatting with the New Jersey-born actress it is obvious how intelligent and committed to her performance she is. Elena studied with dancer and personal trainer Kristie Sita who had lost her hand in a tragic boating accident, and the two bonded like sisters. Her performance is authentic and compelling.

What happened to Minnow Bly? Well based on the Grimm Brothers tale called The Handless Maiden, and The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes, “Sacred Lies” is lighting up Facebook Watch and engaging fans. The exciting new platform is unique in the sense that the cast and crew actually interact with the fans. They are replying to comments and sharing behind the scenes, videos and pictures in the “Sacred Lies” community group that they call “Keepers”.

Kampouris is known for her roles as Allison Doss in “Men, Women, & Children”, Maya Decker in “American Odyssey”, Paris Miller from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”, and Juliet Sykes in “Before I fall”. She credits her amazing and supportive parents for helping her on this journey.

Colleen Bement: When I watched the first episode called ‘The Handless Maiden’ I caught my breath and wanted to watch more. What was your reaction when you were cast as Minnow Bly?

Elena Kampouris: Oh my gosh, I was just over the moon because reading the material for the first time, I didn’t have the full script. Then when I researched more of the story online I found out it was based on a Brother’s Grimm fairytale; one that we don’t really know about. It’s very dark. Brother’s Grimm fairy tales in general you know; witches eating children and poison apples: It’s pretty crazy, so I wanted it even more. Upon hearing the news I was just so excited because a role like this doesn’t come around very often. It was such a huge opportunity.

CB: Did you ever get the chance to read “The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly”?

EK: The second I heard that I got the role I was in the bookstore, got the book, read it, and of course I read the fairy tale too. It’s really nice because in the series that are little clever nods to the fairy tale. The name of the hospital has a fairytale nod, and the characters actually mirror the characters in the fairy tale like Angel; there was an angel that helped the maiden.

CB: In preparing for such a challenging role, what was it like to study with Kristie Sita?

EK: Kristie lost her hand in a boating accident actually around Minnow’s age so she was so vital for me getting into Minnow’s mindset and understanding her physically. Her physical challenges and her emotional challenges. Kristie was kind enough to let me know what her journey was and what she went through. No question was off limits with her. She was open to anything.

We got really close and became like sisters throughout the whole process. We met three weeks before we started shooting and it was just the two of us working together, literally going through every single scene in the script, looking at how we were going to tackle it, and how was the prosthetic rig that our amazing effects team made for me. She would meticulously watched me on set every day making sure that everything looked natural. It was so important to have her be a part of this and hopefully giving Minnow the most honest voice possible.

CB: What was it like having a prosthetic put on your hands, I mean how did you deal? I don’t even know how I’d survive an hour.

EK: It’s crazy because in doing that kind of exercise for three months straight you really appreciate your hands and you realize how much we take it all for granted. First of all, I didn’t have access to my hands during the scenes because they’d either be gloved up or they’d be wrapped up. If I had a scratch on my face or I wanted a drink of water, or if I wanted to go to the bathroom, I would try and do it myself. I’d spill water on myself or trip. There was one moment when I needed to use the bathroom and our lovely wardrobe lady Sonya helped me. It was humiliating, but it was a real epiphany moment to realize this is a glimpse into what it’s like for Kristie or what it’s like for Minnow. It’s insane.

Putting on those prosthetics was very time-consuming. The amazing wardrobe ladies made these juve sweaters that had to have four sleeves. Two for my arms and two for the stumps. Putting on prosthetics through a sweaty juve sweater is not an easy feat, I’ll tell you that. Luckily we had an incredible crew that helped me through all of it.

CB: I caught your fun video on Twitter of you and your castmates singing “We’re all in this together”. What has it been like so far working with this cast and crew?

EK: We did that in between takes because it’s very heavy material that we’re doing. Luckily again, Sonya brought in this karaoke machine. If you bring a karaoke machine to the set, we’re going to take it and we’re going to use it. The juve girls and everyone in the cast was a blast to work with. It was all love on set.

CB: Do you happen to have any hidden talents? Singing? Music? Anything quirky?

EK: Oh my gosh, well I do love Chinese traditional ballet. I speak Mandarin/ I love Chinese culture. Through song was how I would learn a lot of the Mandarin, and also through song was how I learned sign language. To me the deaf community is very overlooked. It’s all so beautiful physicalizing, is that even a word, a language. It’s like physical poetry.

CB: Do you have any other projects in the works.

EK: There are some really exciting things on the horizon that I can’t really say anything yet because it’s all in the works, but definitely keep an eye out. Connect on Twitter and Instagram.

Watch “Sacred Lies” at any time, and binge them once they have all aired.

Keep up with Elena on Twitter and watch “Sacred Lies” on Facebook Watch.