Actress and Boston University alumna Olympia Dukakis told 200 students yesterday in the College of Fine Arts Concert Hall to “indulge” themselves in the joys of acting.
Dukakis graduated from BU with a B.A. in Physical Therapy but left the profession to pursue acting in the University’s graduate program for the performing arts.
Professor Scott Edmiston introduced her as a diversely talented actress who has played everything from a “pot-smoking transsexual to a steel magnolia to King Lear.”
“Olympia Dukakis loves risk the way other actresses love close-ups,” Edmiston said.
Dukakis said she spontaneously left for New York with $50 in her pocket and the hope that God protected “drunks, little children and demented actresses.” Paying the bills as a cocktail waitress, dance instructor and cashier at Bloomingdale’s, she said in order to succeed it was necessary to “stop feeling sorry for myself and get to work.”
Dukakis said she believed having a career was not enough; it was important to contribute something to “improve the quality of life in a community.” After founding the Whole Theater in New Jersey with her brother Louis in 1973, she worked as the producing artistic director for 19 years.
She advised aspiring performers “to take the time to be a great actor … Love acting. Don’t rush to make a career out of it.”
It is difficult not to succumb to universities’ attempts to “turn students into commercial viable actors,” she said, though she believes being “self-involved” and carefully fostering the growth of talent will ultimately have a more lasting effect.
Dukakis explained that exposure to theater over her lifetime was vital to her continued growth as a performer.
“Read plays, go to plays and indulge yourself in loving acting,” she said.
Amanda Monfrooe, a CFA freshman, said she came to hear an accomplished actress in the performing arts field.
“[I came] wanting some insight into the field I’m getting myself into,” Monfrooe said. “[I liked that she spoke about the] responsibility of a performer to be sensible and distinct about who they are.”
CFA freshman Chris Reed said experience could be gained by listening to anyone in the field.
“It’s always good, as a young artist, to see what someone [in the field] has to say — no matter how seasoned they are,” Reed said. “[If I didn’t come] I would feel like I had really missed out on something.”
Dukakis’ work in both theater and film has won her two OBIE awards, an Emmy for Showtime’s “Further Tales of the City,” and a Golden Globe Award. She was awarded the Boston University Distinguished Alumnae Award and visits frequently to talk with students about her career and advise them on the struggles they may face as performers in the future, Edmiston said.
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