Interview by Jeffrey Barker
Some artists are just perform, and some artists perform and reveal. Speaking with Vicky Dalli, you quickly realize she belongs to the latter. She acts and she translates. She translates cultures, languages, emotional truths, and contradictions into something audiences can feel long after the screen fades to black.
When we connect, she is in Athens, preparing to begin filming a new comedy for Greek cinemas. There is excitement in her voice, but also reverence for the craft, for the opportunity, and for the endless mystery of becoming someone else.
What follows is a conversation about acting and about identity, courage, intellect, and the fragile, powerful act of remaining oneself in a world that constantly asks you to conform.
Jeffrey Barker: Vicky, thank you for joining us. I’d like to begin with something many creatives experience being the only one in the room. The only immigrant, the only woman, the only artist. How have you learned to navigate those moments?
Vicky Dalli: But this is exactly what makes someone successful, to be different, to have something special about them, to be unique. If everyone is considered successful, then success itself changes meaning. The goal moves higher again, so that only some can reach it.
Difference is the qualification.
There is a strange strength that comes from standing alone. When you are the only one, you are forced to understand yourself. You cannot hide inside the comfort of similarity. You either shrink, or you expand. And if you are brave enough, you expand.
Barker: Tell us more about where you are in your journey right now.
Dalli: I work across film, television, and theatre. Each medium gives you something different. Theatre gives you discipline and immediacy. Film gives you intimacy. Voice work gives you imagination.
Right now, I am in Athens, about to begin filming a new comedy for the Greek movie theaters. I feel anxious but it is a good anxiety. The kind that reminds you that you care.
If you stop feeling that you should probably stop acting.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Dalli’s work is her ability to move between artistic traditions.
Barker: You’ve spoken about blending European and American cinematic styles. How does that influence your performances?
Dalli: I use the best of both worlds.
European cinema has realism, authenticity, and a kind of emotional nakedness. It is not afraid of silence, not afraid of imperfection. American cinema has power, individuality, and movement. It celebrates action and presence.
When you combine those, you create something complete.
The more cultures, ideas, and experiences you carry inside you, the more lenses you have to see a character. And acting is seeing, deeply.
Dalli’s intellectual depth is not accidental. Before fully committing to acting, she studied law — an experience that permanently shaped her mind.
Barker: How did studying law influence your creative process?
Dalli: Law trained my mind to think analytically, thoroughly, and in detail. When I study a character now, I examine them the same way.
Why did they do this? What were they thinking? What did they fear?
Law gave me structure. Acting gave that structure a soul.
It also gave me confidence, the confidence to trust my thoughts, even when they differ from others.
In an era overwhelmed with advice, Dalli believes the essentials remain simple and demanding.
Dalli: First, knowledge. You must know your craft. Knowledge gives you confidence. Confidence gives you power.
Second, fearlessness. Tell the world who you are. They may hate you but what if they love you instead?
And third, independence from opinion.
People’s opinions are limited. Your true supporters will be your family, your friends, and some rare, beautiful strangers who admire you without envy.
If you are not something different, then what is there to admire?
Dalli is known for her physical and artistic versatility, movement, voice, action, language.
But for her, skills are not about impressing, they are about understanding.
Dalli: Every skill you learn becomes another way to understand humanity.
If your character plays the violin, and you know how to play, you don’t have to imagine, you remember.
Skills expand empathy. And empathy is everything in acting.
Barker: You’ve described yourself as both disciplined and rebellious.
Dalli: We are all contradictions.
I am disciplined because I work hard. But I am rebellious because I choose when and why I obey.
I am competitive because I want excellence. But I am compassionate because I would never harm someone to achieve it.
We are not one thing. We are many things and they move in cycles.
As a multilingual performer, Dalli experiences language as more than communication.
Dalli: Language is rhythm.
Greek, English, French. They each carry different emotional textures.
When you speak another language, you do not translate words. You translate feelings.
Each language opens a new emotional door.
And as an actor, you need as many doors as possible.
For many artists, fear is the enemy. For Dalli, fear is a compass.
Dalli: The biggest fear is not doing something and missing out.
Deep down, you always know what is right for you.
Not what your parents want. Not what society wants.
What you want.
Regret is heavier than failure.
Despite her strength, Dalli is honest about her personal challenges.
Dalli: I am too proud to ask for help.
I try to do everything alone.
But I remind myself, when someone asks for my help, I don’t feel bothered. I feel honoured.
So why shouldn’t I allow others to feel the same?
It is a lesson I am still learning. (laughs)
Humour is notoriously difficult to translate across cultures, but Dalli has embraced the uncertainty.
Dalli: I don’t adapt. I just exist.
Some people understand me. Some don’t.
Some think I am normal. Some think I am strange.
That’s human.
You cannot belong everywhere. And you don’t need to.
Dalli credits much of her international success to authenticity — though she insists it wasn’t strategic.
Dalli: I stayed myself because I didn’t know how to be anything else.
Luckily, audiences appreciate authenticity.
It makes life simpler.
You don’t have to remember who you pretended to be.
Beyond performance, Dalli sees art as a moral act, a bridge between people.
She recalls participating in artistic initiatives in Beverly Hills that emphasized connection and environmental awareness.
Dalli: Art is not just entertainment.
It is responsibility.
It reminds us that we belong to each other.
Despite international recognition, Dalli remains grounded.
Dalli: Awards are beautiful, and I am grateful.
But the real reward is when someone tells you:
“You made me feel less alone.”
That is everything.
Dalli: Freedom.
Freedom to live their lives honestly.
Freedom to act.
But also compassion.
Freedom without compassion is dangerous.
The two must coexist.
Her advice to emerging artists is both practical and poetic:
Dalli: Be kind. People remember kindness.
Expect rejection. It is part of the process.
Do not listen to opinions that limit you.
Even your disadvantages can become your signature.
Your accent.
Your difference.
Your story.
These are not weaknesses.
They are your identity.
As our conversation closes, one thing becomes clear: Vicky Dalli is driven not by ambition alone, but by curiosity.
Dalli: People are full of contradictions.
That will never stop fascinating me.
As long as there are stories that challenge me, I will continue.
Art is the bridge between who we are…
…and who we might become.
Jeffrey Barker: Vicky, thank you for sharing your mind and your spirit.
Vicky Dalli: Thank you. It was a pleasure.
