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The following is a list of notable Greek Americans.

List

Actors

  • Jennifer Aniston [1] "Her Greek father, an actor, perhaps hoped that Jennifer would follow in his footsteps, so he made Telly Savalas (TV's "Kojak") her godfather and also changed the family name from their original Greek surname Anastassakis to the more American sounding Aniston. After spending a year living in Greece, the family returned to the States, settling in New York..."
  • John Aniston [2] "John Aniston was born on the island of Crete and is fluent in Greek and Spanish."
  • Hank Azaria [3] "he is the son of Greek Jewish, Ladino-speaking parents..."
  • Tia Bella [4] "an exotic stunner of Greek and Spanish heritage."
  • Angela Bowie [5] "I am a Cypriot by disposition. I don't have a passport or Cypriot nationality but my heart is Cypriot, not Greek or Turkish Cypriot, just Cypriot. I enjoy a passionate love affair with my birthplace. I was born in Ayios Dhometios, part of the Nicosia district. My parents were American."
  • Paula Cale daughter of Greek-American Tom C. Korologos [6]
  • Gabrielle Carteris [7] "Best known for playing the Jewish character “Andrea Zuckerman” on the hit series “Beverly Hills 90210,” she describes her parents as Greek Jewish and she is an active member of the Los Angeles Jewish community."
  • George Chakiris [8] "Chakiris, the son of Greek immigrants, opposes race based casting."
  • Michael Chiklis [9] "Chiklis got his acting talent from his mother, Kate... his flamboyance from his father, Charlie, a macho second-generation Greek-American who runs a hair salon in the Boston suburb of Lowell, where Chiklis was born."
  • Michael Constantine [10] "Though frequently cast in Jewish roles, actor Michael Constantine was actually of Greek extraction..."
  • Olympia Dukakis [11] "Olympia Dukakis, Greek-American stage and film actress... will discuss the impact of her Greek-American heritage on her career, as well as past performances, particularly her lead role in the ancient tragedy "Hecuba."" [12] "The daughter of Greek immigrants..."
  • Tina Fey [13] "Fey’s mother is Greek-American and her father is German-Scottish, but she’s wary of claiming an ethnic identity. “I’ve said a few things about being Greek, and now every Greek organization wants to adopt me,” Fey told me."
  • Angie Harmon [14] "Angie Harmon: "It would be shaping my eyebrows. Being half Greek and half American Indian, I have the unibrow. So once I started working on them, I really did see a change. You create another kind of beauty.""
  • Lindsay Hartley (formerly Lindsay Korman) [15] "Her (Real) Heritage: "I'm Greek, Italian and Jewish. In TV Guide they wrote that I was French, Greek and Jewish. I am mostly Greek. I don't know where French came from."
  • Melina Kanakaredes [16] "My grandfather always told me, "You know you're American first, but you're a Greek-American, which makes you a better American.""
  • Andreas Katsulas [17] "Father: born in Greece Mother: born in USA"
  • George Maharis [18] "George Maharis was one of seven children of Greek immigrant parents. Though he could very easily have gone into his father's restaurant business, Maharis decided to try for a singing career..."
  • Demetri Martin [19] "The son of a Greek Orthodox priest (note: Orthodox priests can marry prior to ordination) and a nutritionist, Martin grew up with his brother and sister in Toms River, New Jersey. His parents co-owned a Greek diner with his grandparents and uncle. Martin, the prototypical “good Greek boy,” served as an altar boy at church and bused tables at the restaurant."
  • Maria Menounos [20] "The stunning Maria Menounos had no problem getting her Greek on for our photo shoot, but her heritage hasn’t always been easy for her. “My dad was very strict,” she says. “A guy would call the house and he would say, ‘I have a gun, and I will use it!’”... My parents said I had to marry a Greek boy. I dated them, but they weren’t for me. They want slaves. I want someone to be my slave! My mom still puts my dad’s socks on him when she wakes him up in the morning."
  • Andy Milonakis
  • Sofia Milos [21] "Though her family would ultimately settle in Italy, Sofia Milos was born to a Greek father and Italian mother in Zurich, Switzerland..." (unclear if Milos is an American citizen)
  • Elizabeth Perkins [22] Greek father "Grandparents: Greek immigrants who anglicized their surname from Pisperikos to Perkins
  • Chris Sarandon [23] "It never occurred to me that Chris Sarandon is Greek (for those that don't know, Tarpon Springs is an ethnic Greek community located just north of St. Petersburg), until I thought about it - he very much looks Greek, later explaining that his father was from a "Greek village in Turkey"."
  • Telly Savalas1 [24] "Born to Greek parents, Savalas served in World War II after he dropped out of Columbia University..."
  • George Savalas1, brother of Telly Savalas
  • Alexander Scourby [25] "Scourby... was born to Greek immigrants in Brooklyn in 1913..."
  • Amy Sedaris [26] "As far as religion goes, we were raised Greek Orthodox..." [27] "My father's mother, our grandmother, lived with us for a while. She didn't speak any English. She was all Greek and she was freaky. She had long hair, which she wore in braids..." [28]
  • Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Sephardic Jewish-Greek Grandmother: "I’m Cuban, Greek, Romanian, and Sephardic Jew, so I couldn’t get further from Italian."[29]
  • John Stamos [30] "John is also Greek and part Irish." [31] "John Stamos' original family name is Stamopolous, which was shortened by his grandparents when they came to America from Greece."
  • Mena Suvari [32] "Mena, the world traveler: Part Estonian and part Greek, Suvari was named for her godmother, who was born in the Mena House, a hotel at the base of the Pyramids in Egypt."
  • Nia Vardalos Famous for her starring role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
  • Rita Wilson [33] "Father: worked at a racetrack; changed family name from Ibrahimoff to Wilson, selecting the name from the street on which they lived in Southern California; a Greek-Pomak who was born in Greece but raised in Bulgaria; lived in Turkey before emigrating to the USA.[34] Her mother Dorothy Wilson was born and raised in a Greek village on the Albanian border.[35]. "My mother is Greek and my father is Bulgarian. I am a first-generation American and native Los Angeleno. I was born and raised in Hollywood. I would go to school and be American and then come home and be Greek."[36] "Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson is of Greek origin and took her family to see this one-woman act. She loved it so much that she went again, this time with her husband. Tom Hanks was so impressed that he offered to produce the movie. His production company Playtone Productions has produced My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
  • Billy Zane [37] "According to Kelly Brook, she and Billy Zane are going to have a traditional Greek wedding sometime in the next year, saying: "We still haven't set a firm date but the ceremony is almost certainly going to be in Greece now. Billy's mum is Greek, he lived out there for four years and speaks the language fluently. I've never been to a Greek wedding but I've seen videos and they look amazing - so lively. We'll have a really traditional ceremony with both our families around us - hopefully in 2006. We're thinking of Scotland as a honeymoon destination.""
  • Lisa Zane, sister of Billy Zane

Business

Designers

Directors

Models

Musicians

Photographers

Politics

Science

Sports

TV-Journalists

Writers

Other

Notes

[1] Deceased.

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