Endemol has announced the appointment of Fotini Paraskakis as Managing Director of Asian Operations. She will report to Arjen van Mierlo, CEO of Asian Operations, who will increasingly focus on exploring new opportunities for Endemol to further expand in the region.

In her newly appointed role, Paraskakis will be responsible for Endemol’s creative, production and format sales activities across Asia on a daily basis including the company’s joint venture with Astro in Malaysia.

Paraskakis was most recently Director of Content for FremantleMedia Asia, managing creative, production and content for all the company’s formats in the region including Idols, Got Talent and X Factor and supervising over 1000 prime time hours since taking the role in 2005.  She also created and supervised the first ever LIVE Asian Idol. Prior to joining Fremantle, Paraskakis held a position with BBC Drama in the UK and has been based in Asia since 1995. In addition, she has produced and managed major projects for leading networks across Asia and the UK, including Star TV, Disney, ESPN, Channel 4, BBC and MTV.

“Having someone of Fotini’s calibre helping to lead our business in Asia places us in a strong position to pursue further growth here.  She has an extraordinary wealth of experience and will be a valuable asset to our operations across the region,” said van Mierlo.

Endemol’s recent projects in Asia include a first series of Fear Factor and a second season of the game show The Money Drop on Astro and Step Right Up on Channel 9 (Thailand). In the Philippines, Deal or no Deal has returned on ABS-CBN with a new host and The Money Drop was recently launched on ABC’s TV5. Your Face Sounds Familiar have also been well received by audiences in China on Hunan Satellite TV and Vietnam’s VTV3.