Olympia Dukakis Biography

Olympia Dukakis (born June 20, 1931) is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA nomination for her performance in Moonstruck. She received another Golden Globe nomination for Sinatra, and Emmy nominations for Lucky Day, More Tales of the City and Joan of Arc.

Personal life

Dukakis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Alexandra (née Christos) and Constantine S. Dukakis. Her parents were Greek immigrants to the United States, her father from Anatolia and her mother from the Peloponnese. She has a brother, Apollo, and is a cousin of Michael Dukakis, a former governor of Massachusetts and the Democratic nominee for president in 1988, for whom she was a delegate from New Jersey at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. She is an alumnus of Arlington High School in Arlington, Massachusetts, and was educated at Boston University.

Dukakis has been married to actor Louis Zorich since 1962. They have three children.

Career

Dukakis has held a lengthy career in a diverse range of films, including Steel Magnolias, Mr. Holland's Opus, Jane Austen's Mafia!, The Thing About My Folks, and Moonstruck, for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She also played the role of Anna Madrigal in the Tales of the City television mini-series, which garnered her an Emmy Award nomination, and appeared on Search for Tomorrow as Dr. Barbara Moreno, who romanced Stu Bergman. She appears as Dolly Sinatra (Frank's mother) in the mini-series of Frank Sinatra's life (1992). Her Broadway theatre credits include Who's Who in Hell, Social Security, and the one-woman play Rose. Her theater, film, and television work has also won her an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and a Golden Globe.

Dukakis won Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Moonstruck and was nominated for the Canadian Academy Award for The Event. She provided the voice of Grandpa's love interest for The Simpsons episode "The Old Man and the Key". In 2003, Dukakis published her national bestselling autobiography Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress. Recent films include 3 Needles, The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines, In the Land of Women, and Away From Her, the 2006 film which cast her alongside Gordon Pinsent as the spouses of two Alzheimers patients.

In 1998, she starred as Charlotte Kiszko in the British TV drama A Life for a Life (ITV), based on the real-life story of Stefan Kiszko, a man wrongfully imprisoned for seventeen years for the murder of a child, Lesley Molseed, after police suppressed evidence of his innocence.

She recently directed the world premiere production of Todd Logan's Botanic Garden at Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

In the 2008 season of Hartford Stage, Dukakis starred in the revival of Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, opposite Kevin Anderson.

In 2008, Dukakis also co-adapted and starred in the world-premiere of Another Side of the Island, based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, at Alpine Theatre Project in Whitefish, Montana.

She starred in and executive-produced the 2009 film Montana Amazon, co-starring Haley Joel Osment.

In 2011, Dukakis guest-starred on Law & Order: SVU. She played the role of Debby Marsh, an attorney.

On May 24, 2013 she was honored with the 2,498th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, in the category of Live Theater.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964	Lilith	Patient	uncredited
1964	Twice a Man	Young mother
1969	Stiletto	Mrs. Amato	uncredited
1969	John and Mary	John's mother
1971	Made for Each Other	Gig's Mother
1973	Sisters	Louise Wilanski	uncredited
1974	Death Wish	Cop at the precinct	uncredited
1974	'
1979	Rich Kids	Lawyer
1979	'	Joey's Mom
1980	'	Mrs. Vacarri
1982	National Lampoon Goes to the Movies	Helena Naxos	segment "Success Wanters"
1985	Walls of Glass	Mary Flanagan
1987	Moonstruck	Rose Castorini	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Female Performer - Motion Picture or TV Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1988	Working Girl	Personnel Director
1989	Steel Magnolias	Clairee Belcher	Nominated "? American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
1989	Look Who's Talking	Rosie
1989	Dad	Bette Tremont
1990	Look Who's Talking Too	Rosie
1990	In the Spirit	Sue
1991	Lucky Day	Katheribe Campbell	TV movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1992	Over the Hill	Alma Harris
1992	Sinatra	Dolly	TV movie Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1993	Look Who's Talking Now	Rosie
1993	'	Doris Silverman
1993	Tales of the City	Anna Madrigal	Nominated "? British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1993	Digger	Bea
1994	I Love Trouble	Jeannie, Peter's Secretary
1995	Mr. Holland's Opus	Principal Helen Jacobs
1995	Mighty Aphrodite	Jocasta
1995	Jeffrey	Mrs. Marcangelo
1995	Dead Badge	Dr. Doris Rice
1996	Mother	Mrs. Jay
1995	Young at Heart	Rose Garaventi
1996	Milk & Money	Goneril Plogg
1996	Jerusalem	Mother (Mrs. Gordon)
1997	'	Helen Rosner
1997	Picture Perfect	Rita Mosley
1998	Better Living	Nora
1998	More Tales of the City	Anna Madrigal	Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated "? Satellite Award for Best Actress " Miniseries or Television Film Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
1998	Jane Austen's Mafia!	Sophia
1998	'	Madam Chairwoman
1999	Joan of Arc	Mother Babette	TV movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
2000	Brooklyn Sonnet	Helen Manners
2001	Further Tales of the City	Anna Madrigal
2003	Charlie's War	Charlie
2003	'	Lila	Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film Nominated "? Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
2005	Whiskey School	Ellen Haywood
2005	3 Needles	Hilde the Missionary Nun
2005	'	Muriel Kleinman
2005	'	Judy Hillerman	segment "Judy's Story"
2005	'	Erina
2006	Day on Fire	Dr. Mary Wade
2006	Away from Her	Marian
2006	Jesus, Mary and Joey	Sophia Vitello
2007	In the Land of Women	Phyllis
2008	Poor Things
2008	The Price of Art	Esther
2011	Montana Amazon	Ira
2011	Cloudburst	Stella	Seattle International Film Festival Award for Best Actress (2nd place)
2010-2011	Bored to Death	Belinda
2011	The Last Keepers
2011	Outliving Emily		short
2012	Adventures of the Dunderheads	Ira
2013	Forgive Me (TV series)	Novalea