Actress and comedian Mary Coustas and her husband George Betsis welcomed their daughter Jamie on November 28. In August, Mary went public about her long struggle with infertility, involving IVF treatment, multiple miscarriages, and the stillbirth of Jamie’s sister Stevie, so the arrival of a healthy baby is incredibly good news at last.

Mary is best-known for her character Effie Stephanidis, a stereotypical second-generation Greek-Australian with big hair and the catch phrase “How embarrassment”. Mary started out in the stage show Wogs Out of Work, then appeared in the television sit-com Acropolis Now as Effie. “Effie” also had an interview show, called Effie, Just Quietly, and a chat show, Greeks on the Roof, as well as a novelty single with Norman Gunston, and a book: Effie’s Guide to Being Up Yourself. Mary has also played dramatic roles on television, and done voice-over work. Recently Mary brought out a book called All I Know: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Life.

George Betsis is an advertising executive. He has a son named Tomas “Tom” (Jamie’s brother) from a previous relationship to mezzo-soprano Priscilla Dunstan, who developed the Dunstan Baby Language system of understanding baby’s cries. Priscilla now lives in Los Angeles, and she and George have since been in a custody dispute over Tomas, with George claiming he has been denied access to his son. George and Mary were married in the Greek Orthodox Church in Rose Bay in 2005.

(Photo of Mary and George from Essential Baby)