Mary Coustas reveals how childhood bullying inspired beloved comic character Effie

She’s the self-assured, self-described “Greek Goddess’’ of Australia but beloved ­comedy hero Effie was born out of schoolyard bullying.

She’s the self-assured, self-described “Greek Goddess’’ of Australia, but beloved ­comedy heroine Effie was born out of a terrible campaign of schoolyard bullying.

Logie award-winning actor and comedian Mary Coustas, who plays Effie, has recalled how her iconic character would never have appeared without her own experiences as a young bullying victim.

Mary Coustas as Effie.

The Sydney-based star told The Daily Telegraph that years of bullying during her childhood, coupled with a chance encounter at a Melbourne cafe, inspired her to create the TV character, who she made famous on beloved Aussie sitcom Acropolis Now in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

“I felt like I belonged wholeheartedly for the first decade of my life when I was in Collingwood in Melbourne because it was so multicultural and everyone was ­working class and everyone was from somewhere else,” Coustas, 56, said.

“Then we were ripped out of the working class and thrust into the white middle class and it was a horror show for me because there was a lot of racism and I got bullied for the first time in my life and I got judged.

“I was only one of three kids in my primary school that were Greek.’’

Australian writer and performer Mary Coustas. Picture: Christian Gilles

Effie.

Coustas’ family relocated in pursuit of a better ­education, which was difficult for her at the time.

Years later, but with the effects of her experience still fresh in her mind, Effie was born while Coustas was having coffee at a cafe on Melbourne’s famous Lygon St.

“I went to the bathroom and I overheard a conversation with these girls and their accents stood out. That’s where I first heard the accent,” Coustas said.

Mary Coustas with her husband George Betsis and daughter Jamie.

“I came out and they had the big hair and the hairspray and were putting on makeup and just chatting about nonsense really and I thought ‘this would’ve been me if I had not moved out of Collingwood’ … Effie was born out of that discovery and it went back to the essence of me as a child.

“The survivor attitude that was so concentrated in great pride, great work ethic … and not apologising for who they are, or how they looked and spoke, and that’s the ­essence of Effie.”

Coustas will star in her post-lockdown comedy show — Better Out Than In — in Sydney next month.