Milky Way: Who is the eccentric “Joe” – The “closed” kid who left the seminary for the theater

Konstantinos Georgopoulos is the protagonist of the series “Milky Way” where he plays the eccentric “Joe”. Who is the young actor who declared to the Panhellenics to become a priest so that his family would let him work in the theater.

On Thursday night, the series of Golden Palm winner Vassilis Kekatou, “Milky Way”, premiered and one of the roles that aroused the interest of the television audience is “Joe”. 17-year-old Joseph, who likes to be called “Joe” and has been sent by his mother to the remote village just before he reaches adulthood, to meet his rude but deeply sensitive father. Joe is an openly queer gay boy in a very conservative society. Those around him are alarmed by his different style, painted nails and seemingly defiant demeanor – which is his defense to survive in such a foreign environment – according to his role description.

The eccentric “Joe” is played by the young actor, graduate of the Athens Conservatory, Konstantinos Georgopoulos, who managed to win impressions through his role. After all, the actor has acted in the theater alongside Laki Lazopoulos and Sofia Filippidou, while this year he is participating in the theatrical performance “Twelfth Night or Whatever You Desire”, at the Art Theater directed by Yannis Kakleas.

“I declared the priestly school so that my family would say to me, ‘instead of becoming a priest, get involved in the theater'”

Konstantinos Georgopoulos is a charismatic young actor who enjoys being on stage and playing roles. Although a very “closed” child, he found the strength to get out of the “safety zone” and unfold his multifaceted personality and talent.

A few months ago I met him, for an interview on Bovary.gr, and when asked how he got involved in acting, he answered: “I got involved in acting completely by accident. I always wanted to act, but I was a very withdrawn child, I sat at the last desk alone, I wasn’t sociable and I didn’t have many friendships. When I was alone at home I got out everything I had inside me: I acted, I danced, I acted.

When I was 16, a friend suggested that we play at a school festival. When I got on stage and performed, I was shocked. It was like taking some powerful stimulant. I had gone numb really losing track of time. I liked it all so much that we participated the following year as well. Somewhere there I said that I probably want to be an actor. I could hear them saying “you’re good” and it had a positive effect on me. After finishing school, I took exams at the Giorgos Armenis drama school, without having the money to pay my tuition, since the family didn’t want me to work in that field.”

In order to let him become an actor he declared to enter the school for a priest. “I wanted to bring it to them before it’s done, so they don’t have a choice. In the pan-Hellenic exams, I only declared the priestly school, where I passed, only to be told by my family “rather than becoming a priest, you’d better deal with the theater”. Despite this, I was told to attend school as normal – without wanting to, of course. Honestly, I deliberately declared only priestly studies, because I thought my folks wouldn’t want it.

I signed up to get the pass. At the same time, I also enrolled in drama school, hoping to find a job to be able to pay the tuition. I couldn’t find a job, I was very stressed because I had to pay the registration and I asked my aunt for a loan, begging her not to say anything. Time passed, I couldn’t find a job, so I talked to Mr. Armenis, who gave me a scholarship. When I told my family they were shocked. Along the way, I didn’t go on to that particular acting school—it wasn’t what I wanted. I took the exams at the Athens Conservatory and after three years I got the degree. Since then I started working” the actor said in the same interview.

As he could not make a living from the theater alone, he started working in nightclubs building another persona. “You can’t live on theater money, it’s not easy at all. For an actor, like me, who is not well-known, nor does he belong to a group that puts on plays, it is not easy to get a job just by auditioning.

I do not make a living exclusively from the theater nor do I have financial support from my family. At 23 I started working at night. All these years I had been involved in dance, I did everything from contemporary to ballet, and I was in Cinderella, in Kolonaki, for many years. By chance one night I went for fun, I danced like crazy and the manager told me that the next night I was getting a job as a dancer in the store. I was a bit of an entertainer. For five years it was my main job and the theater was something extra. I have worked at night in many shops, from Athens to the region. In fact, I had been once and Mykonos – I left very quickly, I didn’t like it at all.

I really loved this job and it gave me a lot of resources in terms of theatre, exhibition and even transformations. It is not easy to dance on a stage and have everyone looking at you and of course to keep them interested. After a while, I started experimenting with costumes. I started with a t-shirt, sneakers and shorts and then put on heels. Now, if I don’t dance in heels I think I’m missing something. I dyed my hair, bought clothes, so I created my own persona. I had a really great time. Now I do it very rarely,” said the actor.

Konstantinos Georgopoulos: “I have accepted my sexuality”

The actor has accepted himself as a result of which he speaks freely without hiding. He himself had mentioned to me: “My own journey is a little special in terms of understanding who I am. We are all trying to figure out who we are and change over time. We are not one thing. All humans have both masculine and feminine traits within us – understanding and accepting the feminine within me remains a journey and one of great interest. I would suggest everyone to do it to find out who they really are.

For me, it’s important that I’ve accepted my sexuality, that I’ve been able to express myself, be good with myself and negotiate when I’m faced with racist attitudes. The other day, I was walking down the street hand in hand with my partner and an elderly lady was looking at us very intensely. When I asked her if there was a problem, she replied very ironically “I’m looking at you because you’re beautiful”. I deal with such attitudes almost every day – not only me and women. A woman wears a short skirt and they make a very vulgar comment -sorry that’s not a harpoon. It does not mean that the woman put on a skirt to provoke or hear vulgar comments from men. Neither do I who walk with my boyfriend on the street want to provoke. It happens because there is no acceptance.

Let’s all take a journey within ourselves to understand that society has a problem and considers many people “minorities”, but if we “minorities” don’t come forward, if I don’t answer every lady, what will happen? It is important to understand each other, to shut up a little and not disturb others. I don’t understand many things either, I need time, but my intention is to understand and not to judge. We don’t need to say our opinion on everything.”

“‘Joe’ is a role that concerns me personally. I’m playing the person I’d like to be…”

Konstantinos Georgopoulos had mentioned the role of “Joe” in the same interview: “When I read the play I was fascinated by how well written the text is. At the same time, for me it was very emotional because it is a role that concerns me personally. “Joe’s” issues are difficult and I have negotiated them.

As I told you, when I was little, I was a closed child and I thought that I would like to be more rock, more outgoing and say “this is who I like”. So, this role clicked for me and it gave me an insane satisfaction to play the person I wanted to be. Surely, when the series starts airing, the issues it deals with will be discussed as they concern society.