Spending time with model and actress Patricia Kara: a very good deal
by Ken Kassakhian
Upon its initial airing in 2005, NBC's Deal or No Deal became a television phenomenon, and since day one the gorgeous Patricia Kara has been making contestant's dreams come true as briefcase model #9. In addition to Deal or No Deal, Patricia, who was born and raised in Chicago, has worked as a special correspondent on Extra, hosted numerous shows and events, and starred in hit shows such as NBC's Las Vegas, All of Us, Passions, Mad TV, The Young and the Restless and Beverly Hills 90210. She has appeared in dozens of commercials and modeled for major magazines from Cosmopolitan to Forbes.
Patricia also devotes an immense amount of time and energy to charitable causes including the Make A Wish Foundation, the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Salvation Army, the American Heart Association, and Read Across America among many others.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Kara in Los Angeles to ask her a few questions and gain some insight into how her Greek heritage has informed and shaped her life and career.
How did you get started in the entertainment business?
My sister Joanna is the reason I got into the business. She is a hair dress, and my organizer, my stage mom, and accountant- she is my everything basically. We started as a team doing everything.
Where is your family originally from?
My family is from the Peloponnese. My mother is from Paleochori and my father is from Ayios Vasilis. They’re two towns one mountain over from each other. My mom currently lives in Athens in Peristeri. I’m the only American in my family, born and raised in Chicago. My oldest sister is an elementary school teacher in Greece and my older sister Joanna is a stylist in Chicago.
Were any relatives involved in the entertainment industry?
Recently my mother was telling me that my uncle John used to do theater in their chorio. It was cool to learn about someone else in my family who did something different, off the beaten path.
What does being Greek mean to you?
Everything about me is Greek. I try to keep up with my Greek heritage as much as I can. It was a bit easier in Chicago because everyone speaks Greek; it’s different in LA but the community is growing. I speak Greek fluently, but I try to keep up and I don’t ever want to let that go. That’s a bigger part of me more than anything else. I think there’s so much passion in being Greek.
What do you think it is about the Greeks as a people that makes them passionate?
It’s innate. It’s not something you can explain. It’s something that just is. It’s an internal thing. You’re born with it. It is very much about being in the moment with everything in life. It’s something that comes alive in everything we do from our work, our dancing, our relationships; there is a certain energy we all have that is unexplainable.
When you go to Greece do you feel you connect with that charge, that energy?
Yes! Every time, I go to Greece. When you’re in Greece you feel so alive, you feel like you’re being your true self. Coming back, I feel sometimes you have to put up a guard because people aren’t so free and easy going here sometimes. And with all my work, with everything I do, my focus is at some point to be able to be based in Greece 3-4 months out of the year. And to be here too! Get the best of both worlds!
How do the Greek communities in LA and Chicago differ?
Chicago has a bigger Greek community. It’s harder here because everybody is so spread out. In the past few years, we’ve been coming together more often. Anytime there is a Greek festival or event, I try to be a part of it. The last couple of years, I’ve seen things change here a lot. There’s talk of more Greek schools, I go to Tuesday night Greek dancing classes taught by a man who teaches old village dances that we didn’t even have in Chicago and I thought the LA Greek festival this past summer was great! There are more people here getting involved with the churches and festivals and entertainment groups coming together. A lot of people especially appreciated the LA Greek festival that brought a lot of filmmakers from Greece to honor their work and connect them with folks here. I’m excited to see Greece and Hollywood brought together on this scale.
What was your favorite film at the Los Angeles Greek Festival?
OPA! with Matthew Modine. It was about a stiff American archeologist who shows up on an island to dig at a site that sits beneath a house that belongs to a woman. He falls in love with her throughout the movie and she teaches him to see beyond his blinders and enjoy the Greek way of life as their two worlds collide. He ends up saving her place and learns to relax and really enjoy life.
How often do you get to go back to Greece? Where do you go when you visit?
I love Athens of course. I visit Peristeri to see the family. When we go to Athens, my sister knows the best places to go to: all the best restaurants and bars down by the beach. My sister was a teacher in Santorini for a few years so I got to spend a lot of time there too. I also love Mykonos.
Who are your favorite Greek musical artists?
Anna Vissi, Rokkos, and Vandi. I love the classical music too- the bouzoukia. I love it when you’re able to do the traditional Greek dances. In my car and in my house, I have Greek music on all the time. If I’m having a good day or bad day, I play Greek music to make it that much better. One of my favorite CDs is of zembetiko and the tsifteteli.
I learned all my dancing from my sisters- all those Greek weddings in Chicago.
What would you do if you chose the suitcase with the million dollars?
That one is easy. It would go to my family. We’d rebuild our family home in Peristeri. That’s just the way my family is.
Ken Kassakhian is a writer in Los Angeles where he also directs a non-profit focused on increasing awareness about issues that affect the Greek American community.
Helena Gregorian, a published photographer and graphic artist, resides in Los Angeles.
