Famous Greek Americans

Famous Greek Americans

File:MariaCallas.jpg File:Nicholas negroponte.jpg Maria Callas . Olympia Snowe . George Stephanopoulos Alexander Frey . Jennifer Aniston . Olympia Dukakis Pete Sampras . Nicholas Negroponte . Tina Fey
Languages
American English, Greek
Religion
Greek Orthodox Christianity

Famous Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent who have made significant contributions to American culture in the arts, sciences and politics.

• Greek American novelist Jeffrey Eugenides won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex, about a Greek American family in Detroit.
• Several entertainers and other performing artists including Criss Angel, Jennifer Aniston, John Aniston, Maria Callas, Paul Cavonis, Alexander Frey, Zach Galifianakis, Melina Kanakaredes, Elias Koteas, Tommy Lee, Demitri Martin, Andy Milonakis, Amy Sedaris, and Billy Zane are of Greek descent.
• Writer, performer and radio-commentator David Sedaris satirizes growing up in a Greek American household in Suburban North Carolina in several of his essays
• The 1970s television-series Arnie depicted aspects of Greek American life.
• In 1967, Academy Award-winning film-director Elia Kazan published a novel, The Arrangement: A Novel, about a conflicted Greek American living a double life as an advertising executive and muckraking journalist. Kazan, who died in September 2003, was a Greek American.
• The popular 1970s show Kojak, featured Telly Savalas as Greek American police detective Theo Kojak, and his brother George as detective Stavros. Kojak was originally supposed to be Polish (hence the name), but this was changed to match Savalas' profile.
• The 2002 comedy film My Big Fat Greek Wedding portrayed the love story of a Greek American woman (portrayed by Greek Canadian Nia Vardalos) and a non-Greek American man (specifically a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant). It also examines the protagonist's troubled love/hate relationship with her cultural heritage and value system. The movie spawned an unsuccessful TV series, My Big Fat Greek Life.
• The Famous Teddy Z was an acclaimed but short-lived TV series about a fictional talent agent named Teddy Zakalakis, portrayed by Jon Cryer.
• The TV series Full House was about a family that included Greek American Uncle Jesse, portrayed by John Stamos. Jesse's Greek dad was also a recurring character.
• The Olympia Cafe was a recurring sketch in the early years of Saturday Night Live. More recently, Tina Fey has often joked about her Greek heritage on the show.
• Tom's Restaurant, a Greek American owned business, has become one of the symbols of urban New York life.
• Elektra Natchios is a Marvel Comics superhero, portrayed by Jennifer Garner in the 2003 movie Daredevil and the 2005 movie Elektra.
• In the 1973 blockbuster The Exorcist, Jason Miller starred as Greek American Father Damien Karras, one of the priests who exorcised young Regan. In one scene, Karras' mother, played by Greek actress Vasiliki Maliaros, is listening to a Greek radio station broadcasting the song Ιστορία μου αμαρτία μου (My Story, My sin) by the late popular Greek singer Rita Sakellariou.

Other famous Greek-Americans

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  Spiro Agnew
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  Reince Priebus
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  Tommy Lee
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  Gus Bilirakis
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  Michael Bilirakis
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  Zack Space
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  George Gekas
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  John Sarbanes
• 
  Paul Sarbanes
• 
  Dina Titus
• 
  Michael Chiklis
• 
  Constantine Maroulis
• 
  Billy Zane
• 
  Elia Kazan
• 
  Maria Menounos
• 
  Peter Diamandis
• 
  Constantine Papadakis
• 
  Dave Batista
• 
  William Pagonis
• 
  Jason Calacanis
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  Alexander Payne
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  Tino Martinez
• 
  Yanni