Theodore Bouloukos defies the pecking order

Name: Theodore Bouloukos

Age: 48

Hometown: New York, NY

Job description: Actor, writer

Upcoming projects: Journey, directed by Malachi Roth; The Evangelist, dir. Nate Chapman; Public Hearing, dir. James N. Kienitz Wilkins; Days Gone By, dir. John Zao; Belief, dir. Stephen Stifano; Projections: The Marcus Garland Story, dir. Joshua Paul Johnson; and exploratory rehearsals for Ronald Bronstein's next feature film.
Select links: "A Slew of Characters From Various Neighborhoods" (NY Mag), Aestheticism column (YourItList), Hiding My Candy: The Autobiography of the Grand Empress of Savannah, Portrait by Jon Wasserman, Portrait by Joon-Hyun Hwang, YouTube, IMDb, MySpace

Describe your current state of mind.

Hopeful. Anticipatory. Harried. And probably exhausted.

What is your idea of happiness?

I think happiness is a state of mind far too multitudinous to locate to one moment or within a single experience. Happiness is: security; love; victory; triumph; resourcefulness; friendship; family.

What's your greatest fear?

Fear of not succeeding. And the fear of not living up to the exceptionally high standards set by me, by my family and by the culture within which I was raised. One must live according to the precepts of his integrity, his character, [and] the cut of his cloth. So falling short of any of it is tantamount to failure.

What's the most difficult thing that you've ever had to do?

I don't know that I've come across it. I've had many difficult things but no more so than the average person.

Do you have any obsessions?

Passions. Hobbies. I love typography. I love industrial design. I love advertising jingles. I love art. I'm wed to a very fastidious aesthetic as defined by the era of my youth and a time when formality was a more prevalent barometer of the ways in which society conducted itself.

What's your fondest childhood memory?

I have so many. I don't have a best, favorite, fondest; I'm not one of those people. To me, that's very limited thinking. I can't list them as an errand or a grocery list. I have many memories - family memories, friend memories, school memories. They're all part of this cornucopia we call a life. So even some of the worst ones are moments that I look back on with a certain degree of fond reminiscence.

How would you describe your childhood?

Happy. Abundant. Loving. Safe. Privileged.

How many siblings do you have?

I have three brothers.

And you're the -

Eldest.

What was it like being the eldest?

I never paid attention to those kinds of templates of family order. Sweetie, I'm an iconoclast. I'm idiosyncratic. I don't follow the beat of anybody's drum but my own; I have since Day One. I don't have favorites any more than I would watch American Idol. I just don't. I'm sui generis. Do you know what that means? It's Latin. It means unto its own. I never followed the code of what the eldest brother is supposed to be and I probably wasn't a good one as a result. But I have good loving relationships with my brothers and we don't worry about the pecking order.

Did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up?

No. But I knew it would be something in which creative expression would have a place front-and-center.

Did you study acting?

No.

At what point did you decide to become an actor?

Eight years ago. After 9/11. I took stock of what I was doing and I said, You'd be happier making movies.

And before acting were you strictly a freelance writer?

I worked in advertising and publishing. But I found that confining. I've always wanted an independent life. I've never wanted to be anything. I don't even want to call myself an actor any more than I want to be called a writer. My ideal life is to be a performer who makes films and writes books. I don't want any orthodox hours, punching a clock. I hate cubicles. I hate office culture. I work best independently, collaborating with like minds. But I am not someone who likes any kind of institutional membership, save for clubs and good schools.

Where did you attend school?

The Albany Academy and Columbia University.

What was it like going to school there?

One was a boys' school that was rigid and had outmoded notions of masculine temperament and male development; so it was oppressive. But I had wonderful friends, whom I still have.

And Columbia was intellectually liberating, stimulating, and one of the 

best experiences of my life.

As an actor, what kind of roles do you gravitate towards?

Interesting, complex characters. Villains. Perverts. People with textured, varied psychological resumes. 

I understand that the industry can pigeonhole actors into certain 

roles. Do you ever feel that pressure?

Not from the start. I was never going to be a character actor, specifically; though I would play characters. And I look for leading and strong supporting roles that could be played by a woman [or] by someone much younger. So I avoid any kind of typecasting whatsoever, when I can. For commercial things or advertising campaigns I realized [that] type falls into that line of casting. That's fine, because they tend to pay lucratively. I'm not doing, say, the NyQuil or Lamisil print campaigns that I currently appear in, for any artistic purpose. But in terms of art itself, yeah, I look for roles that are challenging, and that aren't necessarily written for me or for whatever my type would be. I try to defy the odds, which isn't always easy.

What's it like auditioning?

Auditions suck. They're a cattle call. But I go into them not caring, unless I really want the part. I go in and do the very best job that I can do within the surroundings - how I'm greeted, whether or not there's a firing squad of 20 people or if there are just two, or if the camera's being operated by the same person reading the script with me; I can size it up pretty quickly. I go in not giving a shit. And that helps me not to stress out. You understand that you have a talent and it's not for everyone. You don't expect it to be for everyone. But for everyone who appreciates it you bring something to the table. So why shouldn't you feel confident? I mean, why go to the audition if you don't feel that you can do the job?

Have you always been a confident person?

It's not so much confidence so much as I know who I am.

Do you prefer film or theater?

I don't do any theater. I wasn't trained in theater. I'm not interested in theater except experimental theater and theater that verges on art world projects that interest me. But, no, I like the medium of film. I'm a film person.

Do you go to see a lot of films?

I don't go to them so much as watch them. And I watch a lot of old 

films, too.

Which films?

Don't ask me about favorite films. I like too many to even begin to 

name any.

Is there anything that bores you?

Stupid questions. And stupid people, in general. I'm not one to suffer fools. I don't like the quotidian. I think the culture settles so much for the lowest-common-denominator entertainment and it saddens me more than it bores me. The big to-do about Lindsay Lohan: Who gives a shit? This is a person who had the world handed to her, who had every opportunity in the world and she squandered it - not once, but several times now. I don't care how much talent she has. She's not very bright. And I don't feel sorry for her, you know?

I feel sorry for people who live in oppressed cultures where they are political prisoners, where they're silenced for their voice, for whom they love. Those who live in dictatorial societies, who have no rights. Women who are treated like second-class citizens. Those are the people I feel for. Lindsay Lohan? A privileged, over-indulged, ungrateful brat? No. I think our values are very misplaced in our society. I want to know why women are being sexually molested and then stoned for it in Afghanistan. They aren't given the same front-page coverage as that little twat has.

I believe crimes against humanity are the things that we need to focus on instead of worrying about who won American Idol. Who cares? And who gives a shit who judges it? It's all garbage anyway. The extent that I even know about it is a byproduct of the fact that we're so barraged with information that we don't give a damn about because we can't escape it. There's no place to run to unless you just shut everything off. And I can't. I'm not a misanthrope. I'm not someone who wants to live my life in isolation. Part of what I do requires that I be culturally savvy. I'm just disgusted with the things that people think are important when there are so many injustices in this world, where people can't have food taken in by the UN because rebel fighters are keeping them from eating. We're a fucked up culture and I think our priorities are very misplaced.

Do you ever feel like you want more?

Yeah. I want security. But if I ever had a great deal more I would be completely philanthropic. I was born to affluence and privilege, and never wanted for anything in my childhood. I was always aware of the benefits of money, schools, the right summer camps and all the rituals of growing up wealthy. But as I've grown up and chosen artistic professions that have left me a little more impoverished I've seen just how unjust our world is. So I think if I were to ever have a great deal of money I'd want to help others somehow. I don't need as much as I thought I might have. That's the real lesson. You have to have it taken from you so you can see what it is that you really need. You can afford those things [that] you really need. 

I always need little trappings like stationery. I wouldn't dream of writing on a piece of paper that didn't have my name embossed at the top or engraved. Certain luxuries I can't live without. I'm just a byproduct of a certain kind of upbringing. And I tend to be formal by nature. I wouldn't show up at something important without a tie on. But I don't need 2,000 neckties. I have too many as it is.

You want to know what two dreams of mine are?

Tell me.

One is to do Habitat for Humanity one day. And my most fervent dream is to do the Peace Corps.

Where would you go if you could choose?

Wherever they need me most.

As a person who grew up privileged and culturally aware, why do you think there are privileged people who aren't as sensitive?

I think those are people who have never had their foundations shaken. If you've never gone without, you don't understand what it's like to have compassion for people who only know what it's like to be without. You see, rich people tend to be insulated because that's the way it is. Even well-to-do suburban people, like upper-middle class Americans, are typical of this. They go off to good schools, get good jobs and live in this bubble where they're never really exposed to people who are - not even underprivileged, [but] impoverished, where they've never had the loving guidance of a good parent. Nevermind an abundant Christmas tree, I'm talking about someone coming home from school and taking an interest in their homework, making sure you do well; somebody who doesn't touch you inappropriately or hits you.

Rich people have rich peoples' problems - alcoholism and the residue of too much idleness. So they don't have a lot of empathy for people who are very different from them. And it takes living in a city, like New York, where you live adjacent to less-privileged neighborhoods - even as there is so much privilege here - [to] see a whole different world, culturally. The best thing that can happen to you is that you learn, foremost, compassion. And then after that if you can do something with it, hoorah.

There are things that my friends do that I don't do, or can't do. I don't need to necessarily join a club, go to the most fabulous restaurants in the city three nights-a-week, or go to a country house. Well, my family has one. I mean, I'm not without the appurtenances of a privileged life.

Most of my friends aren't artists. Many are but I have as many banker and lawyer friends, and they live a different life than I do. But we share values that are similar and they're the good ones among that group. Not all rich people are bad. Many are wonderful. The same way that you can say that there are bubbles for wealthy people, there are bubbles for poor people who don't understand racial differences any more than the other end of the spectrum. It works both ways. Ignorance is really the most dangerous thing that the planet really has to fear. And we see it constantly.

What do you think of the term post-race?

My brother is married to a Chinese architect. And I have two Mandarin nieces; they're Eurasian, basically. I don't even think of them being of another race but they are. I mean it's being very Eurocentric. I have to stop and think, Will they speak Mandarin? Yeah, of course. But they also speak French.

This is what the future's going to look like. Mixed-race families are the future. In many ways that's really sort of a great thing. Because the more we mix it up the better off we all are. You can't call somebody the N-word, if your brother's married to a black person, you know what I mean? [If] you have black nephews and nieces, just as I have Asian nephews and nieces, it's sort of like, "Excuse me, you don't know this about me, but please watch what you say because they're my family." It's the idea that the family now becomes more global looking.

Can I ask what your heritage is?

We're Greek. Pure, 100 percent.

When did your family emigrate to the United States?

They were both early Greek emigres on both sides, before the turn of the 20th-century.

Do you speak Greek?

I don't. I'm very acculturated Greek, but in the era in which I grew up, speaking the language was not considered essential. But in terms of my heritage, my culture and being aware of my ethnicity, very much so.

If you didn't live in New York, where would you live?

Paris.

Is there a place that you haven't visited that you'd like to visit?

Too many.

What would you change about New York?

I would remove Duane Reade and Chase Bank from every corner and return the small mom-and-pop shops that they've replaced. I would remove all of the finance people from inhabiting neighborhoods they don't belong in, and return the real estate to sane market rates that artists can live and thrive in; and thereby contribute to the city as they always do. So that they're not exiled to the outer boroughs.

Do you remember a time when the city was a bit more idyllic?

Yeah, even 15 years ago. The Lower East Side was still no man's land and the East Village didn't suck and the West Village didn't suck and New York was still doable.

How long have you had your apartment in Carnegie Hill?

[Since] '96 or something. [It's] rent-stabilized. We got it from a friend who had another friend who was moving to Stamford.

How would you describe your style?

American preppy. I dress appropriately [and] conservatively. That's the way I was raised and how I would always dress. It's sort of formal but utilitarian.

What inspires you?

People like Peter Seeger. People who do humanitarian work are the people I admire the most in this world because I'm so busy focusing on myself. I admire people who make a living giving their lives to others in the broadest sense of the word.

Do you have health insurance?

Medicaid.

Do you prefer debit cards or credit cards?

Cash and carry, Sweetie. I prefer them but they don't prefer me.

Is there anything that you would like to add?

I don't think there is anything that I could possibly add that you 

haven't covered, except my thanks.