Meet the Characters that Star in
The Expat Files: Panama

Jessica James

Jessica left her hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa, in her mid-twenties. She spent 7 years in Costa Rica, where she met her husband--now ex-husband--Gregory James. She has lived in Panama for a decade, and she and Gregory have two twin girls that they co-parent. 

She is 5'10" tall and loves being an athlete. She speaks fluent Spanish, and works for a large real estate developer in Panama, Grupo Madrid.

She hasn't had any plastic surgery and considers herself an athlete. Her biggest indulgence is expensive stilettos.

Jack Sharrone

Jack grew up in York, England. He left the UK at the age of 50 when he retired. He moved to Panama for the warm weather and ocean view. He lives on the Causeway Islands of Amador, and publishes a society blog, "The Expat Files" to make a extra cash. He is known to be a tightwad.

He is 5'11" tall, divorced, and is a self-proclaimed rake. 

He spends his mornings staying fit, his evenings going to parties, and his favorite drinks are gin and tonic before sunset, and then red wine in the evening. 

Savannah Grant

Savannah grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and married a real estate broker in her mid-twenties. She thought they had the perfect Southern California life until she caught him in bed with his assistant. She moved to Panama for adventure, and met Benicio Braga, a Brazilian. She married him within a year, and now they own a boutique real estate business, Choose Panama, that sells exclusively to English-speaking expats.

She is 5'7" tall and enjoys wine, food, and her two little dogs...Moet and Chandon.

Benicio Braga

Benicio grew up in Rio de Janeiro. He moved to Panama in his early thirties for the business opportunity. He met Savannah Grant before he knew even one word of English. They had a three-some relationship--Benicio, Savannah and Google Translate. He is now fluent in English

​He owns Choose Panama, a real estate company focused exclusively on English-speaking expats from North America, Europe and Brazil.

He is 5'10" tall and is passionate about football (soccer!), Formula 1 racing, and meeting new people.

Carmen Acosta

Carmen is Colombian, but she has been in Panama for eight years. She speaks sultry English and is Savannah Grant's nemesis. She spends half of each day perfecting her body at the gym. She is not ashamed to steal clients, boyfriends, husbands, or anything else that she wants.

She grew up poor, so the only thing she knows is how to scrape by using her wits and her looks. 

She is 5'6" tall and has never been married.

Dr. Alastair Drakos

Dr. Drakos comes from a big Greek family and is first generation American. He is a plastic surgeon who stars in the reality TV show "Under the Knife: The Real Plastic Surgeons of America." He is married to Ariana Nash Drakos, who also stars in the show. 

He came to Panama because he wanted to expand his reality TV show footprint. He is starting a new spinoff show, The Real Plastic Surgeons of Panama. His business partner is the executive producer of both shows, Matthieu de la Roche.

He is 6'3" tall and loves to play competitive sports in his spare time. He is very close to his parents and talks to his mom on the phone several times each week.

Ariana Nash Drakos

Ariana was crowned Miss North Carolina when she was 21 years old. She spent her childhood in the pageant circuit and has had everything possible perfected in her face and body--a nose job, lip injections, two breast augmentations, and several rounds of liposuction.

She married Alastair Drakos in her late twenties. Although Alastair is the brains of the marriage, she is the ambition. She wants to build a media empire around she and Alastair.

Ariana is 5'9" tall. Her favorite treat is to spend the entire day in the spa.

Matthieu de la Roche

Matthieu comes from an upper-class French family. He moved to the US to go to Wharton business school, where he met his wife Lara Kennedy de la Roche. He met Dr. Alastair Drakos through his wife, and as soon as they met, he and Alastair knew they would do business together.

He is the executive producer of the reality TV show, "Under the Knife: Real Plastic Surgeons of America" that both Dr. Alastair and Ariana star in. He handles the business end of their partnership, and it was his idea to expand their franchise to Panama.

Matthieu is 6' tall. He enjoys yachting, golfing, and flying his twin engine Cessna.

​Lara Kennedy de la Roche

Lara grew up in Philadelphia and can trace her ancestry to the Mayflower. She went to the Ivy League School, the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, Matthieu de la Roche, who was studying at Wharton. 

She lived in Paris for five years when she and Matthieu first married. She works for Chanel. She is 5'5" tall and does charity work in her spare time, not because she has a heart for the less fortunate, but because her society roots trained her to do charity work.