WOBURN - Former Woburn State Representative Nick Paleologos has been named today the new executive director of the Massachusetts Film Office.

The formal announcement is expected from the three-member Massachusetts Sports & Entertainment Commission.

Paleologos, who now resides in Concord, was chosen for his long experience with the film and theater communities around the country and in Boston. His appointment was confirmed in an interview with Rick Krezwick, the interim commission head, in an interview with the Boston Herald.

Presently, Paleologos is the producing director at the Stuart Street Theater in Boston and last year purchased The Flea Theater in New York City.

He smiles broadly when reminded how many different film and theater ventures that he's become involved with in recent years. "Yea, it has been a bit of roller coaster," he jokingly says.

In his resume, Paleologos has credits for winning two Tony Awards for his theater, television and films. He has been closely aligned with two other classmates from Woburn H.S. in 1971 in producer Fred Zolo and actor Eric Bogossian, currently of "NYPD: Criminal Intent."

His host of credits include the recent production of "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang" on the London stage and movies with Zollo such as "Ghosts of Mississippi" and "Hurlyburly." He's earned Broadway accolades for reviving "Private Lives" and "The Ghost or Who is Sylvia."

In his seeking out the position, Paleologos had beaten out the son of former Governor Michael Dukakis, John Dukakis, who ran Overbrook Entertainment in Los Angeles.

Paleologos, 53, served on the Woburn School Committee and later from 1977-1990 in the Mass. State Legislature.

Monday, however, was a day of protocol for Paleologos, who was touching base with a host of people enroute to the new job. "I guess this makes Mahoney's Barber Shop in downtown Woburn the center of the film capital of the area," he mused in a good-natured manner.