Thanasis Papathanasiou was born in 1959 in Orestiada. He studied Political Sciences at Panteion University (but without graduating) and at the Lykourgos Stavrakos Film and Television School.

Before taking up writing, he wanted to be a sportswriter. Michalis Reppas and Thanasis Papathanasiou are a contemporary writing duo who have been involved in writing (as well as directing) plays, as well as television series, films, and musical theater performances. They became widely known with the now famous television series Treis Harites (1989 - 1992) and Bis hexamartein (1993 - 1996).