Visiting Theater Artists
Olympia Dukakis
Actress, director, producer, teacher, activist
During a career that spans over 40 years, Olympia Dukakis has worked as an actress, director, producer,
teacher, activist.
She received an Academy Award in the Best Supporting Actress category, the New York Film Critics
Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award and the Golden Globe Award for her work in the Norman
Jewison film MOONSTRUCK.
Her heart, though, has long been in the theatre and Dukakis has received two OBIE Awards, for Bertolt Brecht's A MAN'S A MAN, and Christopher Durang's THE MARRIAGE OF BETTE AND BOO at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. Other notable appearances at the Public include Sam Shepard's CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS, TITUS ANDRONICUS, ELECTRA, and PEER GYNT.
Dukakis starred in the 2001 world premiere of Timberlake Wertenbaker's CREDIBLE WITNESS at London's Royal Court Theatre. Dukakis made her London debut in 1999 on stage at the Royal National Theatre in Martin Sherman's one-woman play, ROSE, to rave reviews. Dukakis then opened ROSE on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in the spring of 2000. She also made her debut on British television (BBC) in a made-for-TV movie A LIFE FOR A LIFE (BAFTA nomination) and on BBC Radio starring in HECUBA.
As a founding member and Producing Artistic Director of the Whole Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey for 19 years (1971-1990), she directed and appeared in many productions. In 1992, she received the coveted New Jersey Governor's Walt Whitman Creative Arts Award. Dukakis taught Acting in the graduate school at New York University for fifteen years and currently teaches master classes at various universities and colleges throughout the country.
2002 will see the release of INNOCENCE which was shot on location in Borneo directed by Kristian
Levring. Recent feature film releases include PICTURE PERFECT with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Bacon
and MAFIA! for Disney. Other feature film releases include MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS with Richard
Dreyfus, Woody Allen's MIGHTY APHRODITE, I LOVE TROUBLE with Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts,
and LOOK WHO'S TALKING I, II and III with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Audiences continue to
seek out videos of THE CEMETARY CLUB, STEEL MAGNOLIAS directed by Herbert Ross, and DAD
co-starring Jack Lemmon.
On television, Dukak is recently co-starred in LAST OF THE BLOND BOMBSHELLS with Judy Dench for HBO and starred in LADIES AND THE CHAMP for ABC. TALES OF THE CITY, a 6-hour miniseries by Armistead Maupin, was a controversial ratings blockbuster for PBS. She went on to star in the sequels MORE TALES OF THE CITY and FURTHER TALES OF THE CITY (Showtime) for which she earned Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA nominations.
She starred with Frank Sinatra and Dukakis' real-life husband Louis Zorich in YOUNG AT HEART on CBS (Emmy nomination). Other TV movie projects include A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN with John Stamos and Della Reese for CBS, SCATTERING DAD with Andy Griffith, A CENTURY OF WOMEN, a 6-hour mini-series for TBS, FIRE IN THE DARK for CBS, LUCKY DAY co-starring Amy Madigan for ABC for which she received an Emmy nomination, THE LAST ACT IS A SOLO for Nederlander Television for which she received an ACE Award, and SINATRA, a mini-series for CBS in which Dukakis portrayed Frank Sinatra's mother and was nominated for an Emmy.
Dukakis actively participated in first cousin Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign in 1988. She is a founding member of The National Museum of Women in the Arts and a member of several outstanding organizations including Broadway Cares, NOW, Women in Film, Congress of Racial Equality, Amnesty International and New Jersey Choice. She continues to be a popular speaker at women's expos and conferences throughout the United States. Dukakis has participated in nationwide awareness campaigns on the issues of osteoporosis and womens' health care.
