Mary Coustas (born 16 September 1964) is an Australian actress, comedian and television personality and writer. Originally from Melbourne, Coustas often performs as the character "Effie", a stereotypical second-generation Greek Australian prone to malapropisms. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University in Melbourne, majoring in performing arts and sub-majoring in journalism.
| Mary Coustas | |
|---|---|
 Coustas at the Killing Them Softly Australian premiere in September 2012 | |
| Born | 16 September 1964 Collingwood, Victoria, Australia |
| Medium | Film and television actress |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse | George Betsis (m. 2005) |
| Children | 1 |
| Notable works and roles | Acropolis Now (1989–1992) Greeks on the Roof (2003) |
| Website | https://maryandeffie.com/effie/ |
Coustas won the Logie Award for Most Popular Comedy Personality in 1993.[1]
Theatre
editCoustas' initial claim to fame came from the comedy stage show Wogs Out of Work alongside Nick Giannopoulos, George Kapiniaris and Simon Palomares.
In 2019, Coustas joined the Shooshi Mango boys and Giannopoulos on stage in a show named Fifty Shades of Ethnic.[2]
2024 sees Mary Coustas return to a stage tour with Effie: Up Yourselfness.
Television career
editCoustas appeared on the popular television sitcom Acropolis Now, from 1989 until 1992, in the role of Effie Stephanidis.
Since then she has appeared as Effie in other television shows and commercials. Effie also appeared in the interview show Effie, Just Quietly in 2001 and hosted her own short-lived talk show called Greeks on the Roof in 2003.[3]
Coustas played straight dramatic roles in two police series: Skirts in 1990 and Wildside in 1998. Other roles include Grass Roots, The Secret Life of Us and Good Guys Bad Guys. Her voice-over work includes The Magic Pudding, Hercules Returns and Always Greener. She also appeared as a guest on comedy game show Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation in 2012, and had a guest role in the drama Rake.
In May 2023, it was announced that Coustas would be participating in the twentieth series of Dancing with the Stars. She was paired with Aric Yegudkin.
Books and music
editIn 1992 Effie released a novelty single: a duet with another fictional character, Garry McDonald's Norman Gunston. The recording was their version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Amigos Para Siempre. Coustas's book Effie's Guide to Being Up Yourself was published in 2003.[4]
In her 2013 memoir All I Know: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Life,[5] Coustas looked back over her career, and reflected on the lives and deaths of her father, grandmother and daughter.[6]
She co-starred in two comedic, mock music video entries for Eurovision, "Electronik Supersonik" (2004) and "I Am the Anti-Pope" (2006) starring Australian comedian Santo Cilauro as a pop star character named Zladko “ZLAD!” Vladcik from the fictional eastern European country of Molvanîa.[7] Cilauro, along with Rob Sitch and Tom Gleisner, created the “ZLAD!” character to accompany their book, the parody Jetlag Travel Guide to Molvanîa.[8][9] Cilauro, Sitch and Gleisner would later co-author of similar parody travel guides for Phaic Tăn (in south-east Asia) and San Sombrèro (in Latin America).
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Mull aka 'Mullaway' | Helen | Feature film |
| 1989 | Blowing Hot and Cold | Jenny | Feature film |
| 1990 | Nirvana Street Murder | Helen | Feature film |
| 1993 | Hercules Returns | Lisa | Feature film |
| 2000 | The Magic Pudding | Ginger (voice) | Animated feature film |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-1992 | Acropolis Now | Efthimia Francesca 'Effie' Stefanidis | TV series, 40 episodes |
| 1990 | Skirts | Constable Julie Makris | TV series, 40 episodes |
| 1998 | Wildside | Louise Arden | TV series, 10 episodes |
| 1998 | Good Guys Bad Guys | Madonna Kapello | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2000 | Water Rats | Hilary Kernaghan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2001 | Effie, Just Quietly | Host (as Effie) | SBS TV series, 6 episodes |
| 2002 | The Secret Life of Us | Peace Picabo | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 2002 | Always Greener | Cher the Chicken | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | Greeks on the Roof | Host (as Effie) | TV series, 11 episodes |
| 2003 | Grass Roots | Ava Strick | TV series, 9 episodes |
| 2012 | Rake | Judge Ben | TV series, season 2, episode 5: "R v Turner" |
| 2013 | 60 Minutes | Herself - interviewee | TV series |
| 2015 | About Tonight | Guest (as Effie) | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2015 | Stop Laughing...This Is Serious | Guest | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 2023 | Dancing with the Stars | Contestant | TV series, season 20 (paired with Aric Yegudkin) |
Guest appearances as self
edit| Year | Title | Guest | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | In Melbourne Today | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1990 | Tonight Live with Steve Vizard | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1990 | 1990 TV Week Logie Awards | Guest presenter | TV special |
| 1991; 1992 | In Sydney Today | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1991; 1993 | What's Cooking | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1991; 1992 | The Main Event | Contestant | TV series, 12 episodes |
| 1991 | Celebrity Wheel of Fortune | Contestant (with JoBeth Taylor & Andrew McFarlane) | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | 1992 TV Week Logie Awards | Guest performer (as 'Effie', with Garry McDonald as 'Norman Gunston') | TV special |
| 1992; 2008; 2021; 2023; 2024 | The Morning Show | Guest | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1992; 1993 | Midday with Ray Martin | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala | Guest performer (as 'Effie') | TV special |
| 1993; 1998; 2001; 2003 | Good Morning Australia | Guest | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 1993 | At Home | Guest (with Nick Giannopoulos) | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993; 1994 | Ernie and Denise | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1993; 1994; 1998 | The People's Choice Awards | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV special |
| 1994; 1995 | Hey Hey It's Saturday | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Mulray | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1994 | Real Life | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1994 | Midday with Derryn Hinch | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1994 | 1994 Grand Prix Celebrity Race | Guest driver | TV special |
| 1994 | Denton | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1995 | Don't Forget Your Toothbrush | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1996 | Sale of the Century | Contestant (as 'Effie') | TV series, 2 episodes: "Logies Super Challenge" |
| 1996 | McFeast: Breasts | Guest | TV special |
| 1996 | Roy & HG | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1997 | Monday to Friday | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1998; 2000 | Denise | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1999 | 1999 Australian Film Institute Awards | Guest Presenter | TV special |
| 2000 | Bondi Banquet | Self | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2000 | The Morning Shift | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2000 | Laws | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2001 | Eurovision 2001: More Than Just a Song Contest | Presenter (as 'Effie') | TV special |
| 2001 | The Big Schmooze | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2001 | Rove Live | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002; 2023; 2024 | Sunrise | Guest | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2003 | Mornings with Kerri-Anne | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | Greeks on the Roof | Host | TV series, 11 episodes |
| 2003 | This Is Your Life: The Australian Women's Weekly 70th Birthday Party | Herself (with Magda Szubanski) | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2004 | George Negus Tonight | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2005 | Australia Unites: Reach Out to Asia | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV special |
| 2008 | Sunrise | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2012 | Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation | Guest panellist ('Baby Boomers' team) | TV series, season 4, episode 1 |
| 2013 | 60 Minutes | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2015 | About Tonight | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2015 | Stop Laughing... This Is Serious | Guest | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 2017 | Is Motherhood Overrated? The ABC Radio International Women's Day Comedy Debate | Guest Panellist | TV special |
| 2021 | News Breakfast | Guest (as 'Effie') | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2021 | Today Extra | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2021 | Studio 10 | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2023 | Dancing with the Stars | Contestant | TV series, season 20, 7 episodes (paired with Aric Yegudkin) |
| 2024 | Shaun Micallef's Eve Of Destruction | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
Theatre
edit| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Wogs Out of Work | Melbourne International Comedy Festival |
Personal life
editCoustas was born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood.[10]
Coustas married George Betsis in 2005. After six years of in vitro fertilisation, their first child was stillborn at 22 weeks.[11] In August 2013, Coustas and her husband announced in an interview with 60 Minutes[12] that she was 22 weeks pregnant and expecting their second child in early December 2013. Their daughter Jamie was born on 28 November 2013.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ "Speaker Profile of Mary Coustas". Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
- ^ "Sooshi Mango - Fifty Shades of Ethnic". Off The Leash. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ "AAPT thinks Effie's in touch with her publics". The Age. Fairfax. 10 July 2003. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- ^ Coustas, Mary (2003). Effie's Guide to Being Up Yourself. Mark McLeod. ISBN 0-7336-1761-1.
- ^ Coustas, Mary (2013). All I know: a memoir of love, loss and life. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781743315651.
- ^ "Mary Coustas – ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler". ABC.net.au. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ "MOLVANIA DISQUALIFIED FROM EUROVISION!". Jetlag Travel. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016.
- ^ Genevieve Dwyer (15 April 2016). "13 Times Australia Loved Eurovision Harder Than The Europeans!". sbs.com.au. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ "Elektronik Supersonik - Zladko Vladcik | EarBleed.com". www.earbleed.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016.
- ^ "Mary Coustas". ABC Classic FM. ABC Australia. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
- ^ Coustas, Mary (22 June 2013). "The children I've never known". Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^ "Mother Mary". 60 Minutes. ninemsn. 1 August 2013. Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
- ^ Staff Writers (28 November 2013). "Effie's a mum: Mary Coustas gives birth to baby girl". News Ltd. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- ^ Rowlands, Letitia (18 March 2014). "Mary Coustas 'How having a baby changed me'". Essential Baby. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
The much-loved comedian [...] endured a long and heart-breaking journey to become a mother – firstly to stillborn daughter Stevie in 2011, and then to baby girl Jamie in November last year at age 49.
External links
edit- Mary Coustas at IMDb