Biography
Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not long after her arrival in New York City, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her off-Broadway performance in Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man. She later moved to film acting and won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among other accolades, for...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Not to Forget
2021
as Judge
A judge sentences a self-centered millennial to take care of his grandmother, who's affected by Alzheimer's. As he realizes the extent of the elderly ...

Cher: In Her Own Words
2021
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Cher, the star who refused to be boxed in, stood up to conformity, and championed female independence. Proving the doubters wrong with every change of...

The New Abolitionists
2020
as Self
Filmmaker Christina Zorich follows abolitionists throughout Southeast Asia that have dedicated their lives to rescuing, rehabilitating, preventing and...

The New Abolitionists
2020
Producer
Filmmaker Christina Zorich follows abolitionists throughout Southeast Asia that have dedicated their lives to rescuing, rehabilitating, preventing and...

The New Greek Americans
2020
as Narrator
A chronicle of the Greek diaspora in the United States, starting from the 60s, when young Greek Americans, despite their conservative and uptight upbr...

Olympia
2018
as Herself
Follow Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis behind the scenes in this affectionate profile of a stalwart New Yorker and beloved stage and screen treas...

Change in the Air
2018
as Margaret Lemke
A peaceful community is forever changed when a mysterious young woman moves in. As the quirky locals embrace her, their lives soon improve. But, they ...

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
2017
as Self
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin celebrates one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, following his evolution from a conservative son of the O...

The Infiltrator
2016
as Aunt Vicky
A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.

Starring Austin Pendleton
2016
as Self
A quirky and inspirational documentary film on the philosophical approach to the life and work of character actor, Austin Pendleton.

Her Secret Sessions
2016
as Arlene
After losing her daughter and a difficult divorce, an attractive woman finds herself exploring the world of online dating, but her adventures lead her...

Emily & Tim
2015
as Emily (Segment 6)
The movie is comprised of six vignettes. A look at the tumultuous marriage of Tim and Emily Hanratty over half a century.

7 Chinese Brothers
2015
as Grandma
Larry is an unqualified, unemployable, inebriated prankster who rides a tide of booze onto the glorious shores of an undiscriminating Quick-Lube. Tak...

Irene & Marie
2015
as Marie
Olympia Dukakis and Rose Gregorio play Greek-American women in their 70s who create stories to avoid the realities of growing older.

Beneath the Olive Tree
2015
The departure point for this film is a series of notebooks created during the Greek civil war of 1946-49 and first discovered years later, under an ol...

Big Driver
2014
as Doreen
Tess Thorne, a famous writer, is determined to seek revenge on the man who brutally assaulted and raped her on a desolate New England road.

A Little Game
2014
as Yaya
Ostracized at her posh new uptown school and shaken by the death of her beloved grandmother, a 10 year-old downtown girl finds an unlikely mentor in t...

The Christmas Spirit
2013
as Gwen Hollander
Charlotte Hart, a distinguished journalist, is spending time with her family over the holidays when a real estate developer approaches their small tow...

Montana Amazon
2013
as Ira
The Dunderheads are an eccentric Montana family who've been in the mountains for far too long. Now one step ahead of the law, matriarch Grandma Ira fl...

The Last Keepers
2013
as Rosmarie Carver
This romantic fantasy movie is about two people who are the last survivors of an ancient line of goddess worshipers, who sell art at a shop. When thei...

Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012
as Self
Joe Papp, the founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and, subsequently, The Public Theater—arguably the most important theatre in North America—...

Cloudburst
2011
as Stella
When Dot's granddaughter puts her into a nursing home, Stella stages a breakout, and takes Dot to Canada so they can get married. They pick up a hitch...

Birds of a Feather
2011
as Olympia
A coming of age film for 40 year olds. Three middle-aged friends reunite to put on a play and find themselves again.

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale
2009
as Self
John Cazale was in only five films – The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter – each was nominat...

Away from Her
2007
as Marian
Fiona and Grant have been married for nearly 50 years. They have to face the fact that Fiona’s absent-mindedness is a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. ...

In the Land of Women
2007
as Phyllis
After a bad breakup with his girlfriend leaves him heartbroken, Carter Webb moves to Michigan to take care of his ailing grandmother. Once there, he g...

The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines
2006
as Margie Carsen
After retrieving the Crystal Skull in Utah, Flynn Carsen receives a map in the mail with the secret location of King Solomon's Mines. When the scroll ...

Day On Fire
2006
as Dr. Mary Wade
The lives of a Palestinian journalist and a Jewish model become inextricably, and shockingly, intertwined after they meet by accident in New York.

Moonstruck: At the Heart of an Italian Family
2006
as Self
Documentary highlighting the development of the screenplay into a film with the desired cast. It also describes the closeness among Italian families, ...

Jesus, Mary and Joey
2006
as Sophia Vitello
Twenty-something and aimless, Joey Vitello still lives at home with his colorful Italian-American family when he is reunited with a childhood schoolma...
Whiskey School
2005
as Ellen Haywood
Leopold De Angeli is a talented playwright, but like many scribes he fancies the drink a little too much. In the hopes of saving Leopold's life, his t...

3 Needles
2005
as Hilde
A three-paneled look at the worldwide AIDS crisis: in Montreal, a porn actor schemes to pass his mandatory blood test; a young nun makes a personal sa...

The Thing About My Folks
2005
as Muriel Kleinman
Ben's dad Sam shows up one night with a note from Ben's mother (Sam's wife of 46 years), that she has left. While Ben's wife and his three sisters try...

The Great New Wonderful
2005
as Judy Hillerman
The Great New Wonderful weaves five stories against the backdrop of an anxious and uncertain post-9-11 New York City.

Signs Out of Time: The Life of Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas
2004
as Narrator
Weaving together interviews, archival footage, photographs, animation, and narration, "Signs Out Of Time" is an incredible journey that delves into th...

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear
2004
as Margie Carsen
When a magical artifact is lifted from his library, a meek librarian sets out to ensure its safe return.

Charlie's War
2003
as Charlie
Charlie's War is the story of Charlotte Lewis, a woman who is experiencing serious emotional and mental turmoil brought about by nightmares of increas...

Mafia Doctor
2003
as Rose Dellarusso
Growing up poor on the streets of New Jersey, Frank Siena (Danny Nucci) has little hope of realizing his dream of becoming a doctor. But "fate" has a ...

The Event
2003
as Lila Shapiro
Manhattan prosecutor Nick is charged with looking into the untimely death of city resident Matt, a musician who had AIDS. As she questions Matt's loya...

The Intended
2002
as Erina
A period drama/thriller about a surveyor and his fiancée who arrive in a remote Malaysian trading post and encounter a closed-fisted ivory trader and ...

Guilty Hearts
2002
as Amanda Patterson
Quiet and unassuming church organist Jenny Moran is depressed with her marriage to working-class Matt and leaves him. Jenny begins an affair with the ...

Ladies and The Champ
2001
as Sara Stevens
Two retired women (Olympia Dukakis, Marion Ross) find their lives rejuvenated when they decide to train a street thug (David deLuise) to become a priz...

And Never Let Her Go
2001
as Marguerite Capano
The true story of a woman's suspicious disappearance after ending an affair with a powerful, married attorney.

Strange Relations
2001
as Esther Lipman
Drama - A NYC psychiatrist is diagnosed with leukemia - and when he finds out he was adopted, he travels to England in search of his birth mother and ...

Borough of Kings
2000
as Helen Manners
Toil and trouble. Jimmy, an aspiring actor, wants out of South Brooklyn where hoods run the show. Since the death of his firefighter father, Jimmy's f...

The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
2000
as Dinah
After Elizabeth's husband dies, she begins to play her tenor saxophone again, and remembers when she was 15 and a member of the Blonde Bombshells, an ...
Crimes of Honour
1999
as Narrator
Throughout the Islamic world, each year hundreds of women are shot, stabbed, strangled or burned to death by male relatives because they are thought t...
Crimes of Honour
1999
Throughout the Islamic world, each year hundreds of women are shot, stabbed, strangled or burned to death by male relatives because they are thought t...

Better Living
1998
as Nora
A comedy about families, the elements that bind them together, and about hope in the face of hardship.

Jane Austen's Mafia!
1998
as Sophia
Takeoff on the Godfather with the son of a mafia king taking over for his dying father.

The Pentagon Wars
1998
as Madam Chairwoman
From the director of “Made In America” and “The Money Pit” comes a hilarious look at one of the most expensive blunders in military history. Over 17 y...

Scattering Dad
1998
as Dotty
An agoraphobic woman who hasn't left her home in 20 years receives a visit from the spirit of her deceased husband who reminds her of a promise she ma...
A Life for a Life
1998
as Charlotte Kiszko
The 1998 dramatization of a 1970s UK miscarriage of justice, centered around Stefan Khizcho, and his mother's subsequent battle for his freedom.

Picture Perfect
1997
as Rita
A young advertising executive's life becomes increasingly complicated when, in order to impress her boss, she pretends to be engaged to a man she has ...

A Match Made in Heaven
1997
as Helen Rosner
A dying widow plays matchmaker to her 32-year-old unmarried son and sets him up with a nurse that she meets.

Milk & Money
1996
as Goneril Plogg
When David drops out of medical school, he finds out what life isn't really like. He meets beautiful women, holds a box, helps make a movie, and takes...

Jerusalem
1996
as Mother (Mrs. Gordon)
Members of a devout Christian congregation try to start a new life in Palestine.

Never Too Late
1996
as Rose
Four old friends reunite to investigate the death of a good friend.

Mr. Holland's Opus
1995
as Principal Jacobs
In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his tru...

Mighty Aphrodite
1995
as Jocasta
When Lenny and his wife, Amanda, adopt a baby, Lenny realizes that his son is a genius and becomes obsessed with finding the boy's biological mother i...

Jeffrey
1995
as Mrs. Marcangelo
Jeffrey, a gay man living in New York City with an overwhelming fear of contracting AIDS, concludes that being celibate is the only option to protect ...

Dead Badge
1995
as Dr. Doris Rice
After a cop dies, his shield goes back on duty. They call it a "dead badge" - a way to honor a fallen officer. Badge #2424 used to belong to Many Tor...

Young at Heart
1995
as Rose Garaventi
A matriarch of three generations born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, discovers that her recently-deceased husband has lost their bar and home to a...

Mother
1995
as Mrs. Jay
Weisser is a young college bound man whose future is threatened when his mother interferes with his love life and a pending scholarship. He also disco...

Dream Journey
1995
as Self
Mime performances by the Japanese-born artist Yass Hakoshima, interspersed with video images reflecting his Japanese heritage

I Love Trouble
1994
as Jeannie
Rival Chicago reporters Sabrina Peterson and Peter Brackett join forces to uncover a train wreck conspiracy.

Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
1994
as Olympia Dukakis (uncredited)
Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he has to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for wh...

Look Who's Talking Now!
1993
as Rosie
When high-powered executive Samantha LeBon hatches a scheme to spend a romantic Christmas with her new employee – the unsuspecting, blithesome James –...

Digger
1993
as Bea
A young boy is sent to live with relatives when his parents break up. He befriends a dying boy who has an eerie connection with nature.

The Cemetery Club
1993
as Doris Silverman
The story of three Pittsburgh widows who meet every year to visit their husband's graves and talk about perspectives in their lives.

Over the Hill
1992
as Alma Harris
Alma can't stand to have one more birthday without seeing her estranged daughter, Elizabeth, who lives in Sydney, Australia.

Fire in the Dark
1991
as Emily Miller
A 75-year old widow with battles herself as she struggles with being a burden to those she loves. Though determined not to rely on her children, she i...

Lucky Day
1991
as Katherine Campbell
When 30-year-old Allison Campbell wins a $2 million lottery, her family life turns upside down not just because of her winnings but because Allison is...

Look Who's Talking Too
1990
as Rosie
Mollie and James are together and raising a family, which now consists of an older Mikey and his baby sister, Julie. Tension between the siblings aris...

In the Spirit
1990
as Sue
After her husband loses his job, Marianne moves from Beverly Hills to a nightmare New York City. She hires ditzy psychic Reva to redecorate her apartm...

Steel Magnolias
1989
as Clairee Belcher
A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friends...

Dad
1989
as Bette Tremont
A busy executive learns during a meeting that his mother may be dying and rushes home to her side. He ends up being his father's caretaker and becomes...

Look Who's Talking
1989
as Rosie
Mollie is a single working mother who's out to find the perfect father for her child. Her baby, Mikey, prefers James, a cab driver turned babysitter w...

Working Girl
1988
as Personnel Director
Tess McGill is an ambitious secretary with a unique approach for climbing the ladder to success. When her classy, but villainous boss breaks a leg ski...

Moonstruck
1987
as Rose Castorini
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, ev...

Flanagan
1985
as Mary
Aging New York cabbie Flanagan still has hopes of making it as a stage actor. He can recite any Shakespeare sonnet and is facile with accents, but he ...

The Neighborhood
1982
as Mrs. St Paul
A neighborhood in Brooklyn reacts to the first black families moving into the community.

National Lampoon's Movie Madness
1982
as Helena Naxos ("Success Wanters")
A parody of film genres composed of three shorts, spoofing personal growth films, glossy soap operas, and police stories.

King of America
1982
as Mama Nicola
Hot-tempered Greek immigrant Andreas arrives in America in 1915. He finds work on a railroad, but soon gives his corrupt foreman Mekakis a savage beat...

The Idolmaker
1980
as Mrs. Vacarri
Based on the life of rock promoter/producer Bob Marucci, who discovered, among others, Frankie Avalon and Fabian.

F.D.R.: The Last Year
1980
Though visibly frail and weary, President Franklin D. Roosevelt runs for a precedent-setting fourth term. He also oversees plans for the D-Day Invasio...

Rich Kids
1979
as Lawyer
Two 12-year-olds, the products of Upper West Side broken homes, struggle to make sense of their parents lives and their own adolescent feelings.

The Wanderers
1979
as Joey's Mother (uncredited)
The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by R...

The Seagull
1975
as Pauline
Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull" is brought to life in this acclaimed 1975 production directed by John Desmond. Seeking to reform the theater, Konst...

Death Wish
1974
as Cop at the Precinct (uncredited)
After his wife is murdered by street punks, a pacifistic New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad, prowling the streets for would-be ...
Nicky's World
1974
as Irene Kaminios
A close-knit Greek-American family, jeopardized when its Manhattan bakery goes up in flames, looks desperately for ways to solve the financial dilemma...

The Rehearsal
1974
An indictment of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. The film tries to give a reconstruction of the events during the students' uprising in the Ath...

Sisters
1973
as Louise Wilanski
Inquisitive journalist Grace Collier is horrified when she witnesses her neighbor, fashion model Danielle Breton, violently murder a man. Panicking, s...

Made For Each Other
1971
as Gig's Mother
An eccentric woman meets an equally odd man at a group therapy session and they begin a relationship.

John and Mary
1969
as John's Mother
John and Mary meet in a singles bar, sleep together, and spend the next day getting to know each other.

Stiletto
1969
as Mrs. Amato (uncredited)
A rich, jet-setting playboy has a secret life: he's also a professional Mafia hitman. When he decides it's time to retire from that life, he finds tha...

Lilith
1964
as Patient (uncredited)
Vincent Bruce, a war veteran, begins working as an occupational therapist at Poplar Lodge, a private psychiatric facility for wealthy people where he ...

Twice a Man
1963
as Young Mother
A reworking of the myth of Hippolytus, in which a chaste youth rejects the incestuous advances of his mother and is saved from death by a caring physi...