Olympia Dukakis is one woman who has achieved quite a lot in the acting industry. The American actress of Greek heritage is vastly experienced with a long list of projects credited to her in theater, small, and big screens.
She has won a handful of the most coveted awards in the business and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Olympia has been active since 1962 and is yet to hint at slowing down in the coming years. Let’s keep up with her a bit, and tag along.
How Old Is Olympia Dukakis and Where Is She From?
Olympia Dukakis’ age is absolutely why many have been wondering when she would announce her retirement; the actress is quite an old woman at the moment as she was born in 1931, on the 20th of June.
As she is often described as a Greek American actress, it is common to come across people wondering where Dukakis is originally from. If you check her official records, you will find that her place of birth was in Lowell, Massachusetts. While this makes her a bona fide citizen of the United States of America, her roots have been traced to Greece.
Based on what we uncovered, we can confirm that her parents, Alexandra and Constantine Dukakis, immigrated to America from a southeastern European country. It is said that her mother came from Peloponnese whereas her father was originally from the Anatolian peninsula.
Olympia was raised alongside a brother named Apollo; she schooled at Arlington High School in Arlington, Massachusetts, and thereafter studied at Boston University, majoring in Physical Therapy.
Movies and Other Projects that Made Her Famous
It is not a secret that Olympia Dukakis started her career on stage before she moved on to the screens. A long time ago (1963), she received the Off-Broadway Theater (Obie) Award for Best Actress; this was for her performance in A Man’s a Man. Her filmography is made up of a long list of projects, too many for anyone to bother to count. Nonetheless, we can tell that as of 2019, she had pulled off over 110 roles in projects made for the big screen and for television.
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While her recent works in the latter include playing Doreen, Ma/Caller, and Anna Madrigal respectively in Big Driver (2014), Trip Tank (2016), and Tales of the City (2019), her most recent movie roles include playing herself in Olympia (2019), Margaret Lemke in Change in the Air, Arlene in Broken Links, and Aunt Vicky in The Infiltrator; all in 2016.
From Emmy to the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Guild, and the Satellite Award, the television works that earned Olympia Dukakis nominations for prestigious accolades include Joan of Arc (1999), More Tales of the City (1998), Tales of the City (1993), Sinatra (1992), and Lucky Day (1991).
Without a doubt, her most successful outing in films is Moonstruck (1987). Playing Rose Castorini in the romantic comedy won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. That’s not all; it equally earned her other awards like the American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Female Performer, the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, and others.
Other movie roles that earned the actress a lot of attention include playing Clairee Belcher in Steel Magnolias (1989), Lila in The Event (2003), Stella in Cloudburst (2011), and herself in Olympia.
How Much Is Olympia Dukakis Worth?
It has circulated in some quarters that the actress is worth over $200 million, this is not true as some credible sources have estimated the total value of Olympia Dukakis’ riches around $6 million. A large bulk of her wealth comes from the endeavors that revolve around her career as an actress. More than just acting, she is also into directing, producing, and teaching the ropes of the craft.
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5 Fascinating Facts about the Actress
1. She was married to Louis Zorich until he passed on at the age of 93 in January 2018. Louis was a popular American actor; he got married to Olympia Dukakis in 1962 and they had three kids: Stefan, Peter, and Christina Zorich.
2. Apart from her husband, her brother, and all her kids are also into acting.
3. The actress was once a physical therapist, it is said that she worked as such in the 1950s so as to earn money and pay for acting lessons.
4. Olympia Dukakis is related to Michael Dukakis, she is the first cousin of the popular politician known for being the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and for losing to George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election.
5. She got a nose job way back in 1949, the rhinoplasty was done to mend a bump in her nose.
