The story of the 2025 Gabby Awards is entitled “Goddesses in our Midst,” during which we will recognize and honor the extraordinary lives of 20 contemporary goddesses from throughout North America. During the program, with film, song and theatrical elements, we will also pay tribute to a series of dynamic women who each in her own way, left her mark on the world. We are honored to have the support of longtime foundation supporter, Anthoula Katsimatides, a student and friend of Olympia and a talented actor, herself, lead in our tribute to Olympia Dukakis on the night of June 7, 2025.
Before she was an Oscar winner or a household name, Olympia Dukakis was the daughter of Greek immigrants—raised in the working-class city of Lowell, Massachusetts, where identity, family, and resilience were passed down like heirlooms. She grew up surrounded by stories, ritual, and the unapologetic strength of women. And those women—her mother, aunts, and grandmothers—never left her. They lived in every character she brought to life.
She once described herself as “a Greek from the belly out,” and she carried that truth through every stage of her career. Olympia never conformed. She didn’t soften her accent or her politics to fit into Hollywood. She leaned into who she was—an artist, an activist, a spiritual seeker, and a relentless truth-teller.
Her rise to fame came after decades in the theater, when she won an Academy Award at age 56 for her role in Moonstruck. But that moment didn’t mark the start of her impact—it simply made the world catch up to what she had already been doing for years: challenging convention, embracing complexity, and using her voice to uplift others.
Olympia’s activism was as bold as her performances. She marched for AIDS awareness, stood with the LGBTQ+ community before it was safe to do so, and spoke out against racism, religious hypocrisy, and misogyny. She believed art was sacred—and political. “I don’t separate my life as an artist from my life as a human being,” she often said.
Nowhere was that conviction more visible than in her groundbreaking portrayal of Anna Madrigal, a transgender landlady in the 1993 PBS miniseries Tales of the City. At a time when queer representation was rare and often caricatured, Olympia brought depth, grace, and humanity to a role that many actors wouldn’t touch.
The backlash was swift. Conservative politicians, including President George H.W. Bush, criticized the program and threatened PBS’s funding. But Olympia stood firm. She defended the project, the character, and the community it represented. PBS bowed to political pressure and didn’t renew the series. Season two was picked up by Showtime and the series went on to become one of the most watched series ever.
And while she championed her Greek heritage throughout her life, Olympia didn’t limit herself to roles that reduced that identity to stereotype. She famously turned down the role of Nia Vardalos’ mother in My Big Fat Greek Wedding because she felt the role didn’t offer the depth or truth she sought in her work. For Olympia, representation had to come with substance. Her Greekness was never just a punchline—it was sacred, generational, and complex.
She never stopped pushing. She never stopped questioning. And she never stopped showing up for the people and causes that mattered.
Olympia remained deeply connected to her Greek roots, which grounded her in a lifelong sense of justice and community. Her Greekness wasn’t performative—it was ancestral. It was in her voice, her fire, her humor, her defiance. And it was in her relentless pursuit of dignity for all people.
She passed away in 2021, but her legacy lives on—not just in film or theater, but in every person who dares to be loud, different, visible, and unafraid.
Olympia Dukakis is remembered not just for her brilliance as an artist, but for her courage as a human being. She reminded us that to be Greek is not just to remember who we are—but to act on it.
Olympia Dukakis was fiercely Greek. Fiercely brilliant. Fiercely herself.
And in doing so, she made the world more just, more beautiful, and more brave.
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Anthoula Katsimatides is a New York-based actor, writer, and producer, as well as a dedicated public servant and 9/11 family advocate. A proud Greek American and advocate for her community, she has appeared in numerous television shows and films, and serves on the board of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. She was a student and friend of Olympia Dukakis.
For more information, visit https://greekamerica.org/gabbyawards2025.