Good Deed
Frank Dicopoulos (Frank, GL) is doing good from the dog house in his newest off-screen adventure as the voice of Dean the dog in Loukoumi’s Good Deeds, the third installment of Nick Katsoris‘s Loukoumi book series for children. Dicopoulos dishes to Digest about the audiobook project and working with an all-star cast, including the book’s narrator, Jennifer Aniston. 
Soap Opera Digest: What’s the book about?
Frank Dicopoulos: The name of the [main character] is Loukoumi, a little lamb. He lives in a neighborhood and has friends. Each character is voiced by a star. Last year, it won the iParenting award which is huge for children’s books. It’s for little kids up to 10 years old. We’ve put the book on CD and it’s about making someone smile. I’m Dean the dog, he’s a policeman and a good guy. He gets kids to do the right thing and believe in themselves. It’s fun.
Digest: Aside from Jennifer Aniston, who else lends their voice to the characters in the book?
Dicopoulos: It’s very exciting. The people involved are Jennifer Aniston and her father [John Aniston, Victor, DAYS], Olympia Dukakis, Gloria Gaynor and Constantine Maroulis [ex-Constantine, B&B] from AMERICAN IDOL and Alexis Christoforous who does CBS financial reporting. It’s such a great, eclectic group of people that are so much fun. [The author] Nick Katsorsis put together this whole team and Gloria Gaynor came up with a song specifically for the book [“Make Someone Smile”]. It’s on the CD which comes with the book.
Digest: How did you get involved?
Dicopoulos: The author is Greek and I did a Greek parade a couple of years ago — I was grand marshall — and I met him in that. We became friends and we kept in communication with each other. He said he was doing this book and he just asked me. I was honored to do it. Then I saw who it was with. It doesn’t get any better than that!
Digest: Had you met anyone before the project and how does it work?
Dicopoulos: We were all together and each person went in [to the studio] and did their thing. I’ve known Olympia for a while and I knew Constantine as well. Not really from his stint in daytime but from IDOL. We also met during the Greek parade. He was another honored guest. My daughter [Olivia, Maureen, GL] was totally in love with him and she was all embarrassed. I said, “Oh, come on! Meet Constantine!” Now we’re all really good friends! We hang out and we’re all part of this project and believe in it. It’s wonderful.
Digest: Did you hang out with the Anistons much?
Dicopoulos: I did not. Jennifer just came on-board this year. They were in L.A. when they did their recording. They’re very much behind the project because [Jennifer’s] a big proponent of St. Jude’s. I was very happy to see that she volunteered her time to narrate this book and I thought that was great. She’s very, very busy. I mean, I don’t think anyone’s hotter right now than Jennifer Aniston, so for her to do something for free and for kids, that’s really cool.
Digest: Have you worked for St. Jude’s before?
Dicopoulos: Yes I have. I’ve volunteered a lot of different times for golf tournaments and benefits. It’s great.
Digest: What do you enjoy most about being part of this?
Dicopoulos: The best part is that all proceeds of the sale of this book go to St. Jude’s Hospital. It sends such a wonderful message out to kids. It’s a great book for children. Last year, for the second book, Growing Up With Loukoumi, they held a contest where kids had to draw a picture and tell us what they want to be when they grow up. So all the participants of the book had to pick three winners. One winner was a girl who wanted to be an astronaut and she got to go to Cape Canaveral and watch the landing on Mars. How great is that?! We’re doing another contest this year and we’ll pick three more winners.
Digest: This is the third book in the series. Are there more to come?
Dicopoulos: I’m sure! The dream is to get a cartoon series out of this. That’s the objective.
Dicopoulos will be attending the book’s live reading and signing, alongside author Nick Katsoris as well as John Aniston, Gloria Gaynor and Constantine Maroulis at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble (1972 Broadway) in New York City on Saturday, April 4. The event kicks off at 11 a.m. For more information, call (212) 595-6859 or e-mail Loukoumi@aol.com. $2 from the sale of each book will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.