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Melina Mercouri has often attracted scholarly interest as regards the construction and development of her public image as a star. The origins of her stardom are to be found in her role in Mihalis Cacoyiannis Stella, a film that paved the way for her international career as an actress, and in the role of Ilya in Jules Dassin’s Never on Sunday that established her as a symbol of contemporary Greece. The type of dynamic woman she represented became the core trait in most cinematic characters she performed. In association with her role as a ‘cultural ambassador’ of contemporary Greece they became the prominent characteristics of the public image she promoted in her political career in the 1970s and 1980s. Focusing on I was born Greek, my intention is to discuss how Mercouri in her autobiographical text presents and reworks the key elements of her image as an actress and incorporates them in her identity as a political activist. Her autobiography is a reference text that she ‘quotes’, when, as a politician, she performs and readjusts her star image in the 1970s and 1980s. My discussion is informed by the recent emphasis on performativity and agency regarding women’s – and in particular actresses’ – autobiographical writing and the construction of stardom.