Olympia Dukakis

Olympia Dukakis is a renowned stage, film and television actress, director, producer, teacher, activist and author (best-selling memoir, Ask Me Again Tomorrow). She has appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows, receiving 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. Other movie credits include Away From Her, Steel Magnolias, Tales of the City, Dad, and Picture Perfect. She has also performed in well over one hundred stage roles, received Obie, Drama Desk, Lost Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and Outer Circle awards, and has taught acting at New York University and Yale. Of her most recent works, she is the executive producer and co-star, with Haley Joel Osment, in Montana Amazon, scheduled for release in 2009.

MB: How long have you been performing?

OD: Since about 1958.

MB: What was the first time you were nervous?

OD: The first time I was nervous, I didn’t even realize I was nervous. It was the first part that I ever did in any play. I was Mrs. Cliveden-Banks in “Outward Bound.” I went on stage, couldn’t remember a single thing, and never moved from my chair for the whole first act. The other actors were ready to kill me, I had no idea what was happening; I was unaware of being frightened or anxious.

MB: Can you tell me what was going on in your mind then?

OD: At the time, I think it all felt very unreal.

MB: Was there anything you might have been telling yourself that contributed to the nervousness?

OD: No. I just think that it was because it was my first time in front of people. I had gone to graduate school for two years, and I had never been in a play before. I started off wanting to direct, but then ended up acting, and this was my first part. It was stunning. I still can’t believe what happened.