- Nia Vardalos
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Nia Vardalos 
Vardalos at the Connie and Carla premiere on the Universal City Walk, Los Angeles, April 2004Born Antonia Eugenia Vardalos
September 24, 1962
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaOccupation Actress, director, producer, screenwriter, singer Years active 1996–present Spouse Ian Gomez (1993–present) Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos[1] (born September 24, 1962) is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, singer and producer. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award–nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Contents
Personal life
Vardalos was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the daughter of Greek Canadian parents Doreen, a bookkeeper and homemaker, and Constantine "Gus" Vardalos, a land developer.[2][3][4][5] She attended Shaftesbury High School and Ryerson University.[6] Vardalos married actor Ian Gomez on September 5, 1993 (her husband converted to her Greek Orthodox religion prior to marrying her). In 2008, they adopted a daughter, and she wrote a post with advice about the adoption process at The Huffington Post.[7] She became a citizen of the U.S. in 1999.
Career
Vardalos had many small roles in television, most notably on The Drew Carey Show and Two Guys and a Girl. She gained overnight success with her movie about a woman's struggle to find love in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which was based on a one-woman show Vardalos had previously written and starred in. This sleeper hit, which quickly became one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time, led to the unsuccessful CBS spin-off series, My Big Fat Greek Life. The show was cancelled after seven episodes and featured the entire cast from the film, excluding John Corbett who was working on his own show, Lucky.
Her next film, released in 2004, was Connie and Carla, a musical about two women pretending to be drag queens. It also featured Toni Collette, David Duchovny and Debbie Reynolds.
Vardalos made her directing debut in 2009 with the independent feature I Hate Valentine's Day. The film, about a florist finding romance, received only a limited release and was a massive box-office failure. This was followed by the critically panned work, My Life in Ruins, about a misguided tour-guide travelling around Greece and featuring Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss. The film was the first American production given permission to film at the Acropolis; Vardalos sought the approval from the Greek Government.
Vardalos is among many celebrities helping to produce The 1 Second Film art project.
Vardalos was featured in The Dialogue interview series. In this 90 minute interview with producer Mike DeLuca, Vardalos talks about how her experiences in The Second City comedy troupe helped her as an actress and a screenwriter, and how the unofficial "tell-the-Greek" word-of-mouth program had a hand in catapulting her movie to such great heights.
She performed The Beatles song "Golden Slumbers" on the 2006 charity album Unexpected Dreams – Songs From the Stars.
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes 1996 No Experience Necessary Sheila 1997 Men Seeking Women Iris 1999 Meet Prince Charming Jennifer 2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding Toula Portokalos also writer
American Screenwriters Award – Discover Screenwriting award
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture2004 Connie and Carla Connie also writer 2009 My Life in Ruins Georgia 2009 I Hate Valentine's Day[8] Genevieve also writer and director 2010 A Wilderness of Monkeys 2011 Larry Crowne Map Genie (voice) also writer 2012 Talk of the Town Television
Year Title Role Notes 1996 High Incident uncredited Episode: "Father Knows Best" 1996 Common Law uncredited Episode: "In the Matter of, Acceptance" 1997 Men Seeking Women Iris 1997 The Drew Carey Show Grace Almada Episode: "Strange Bedfellows" 1997–98 Team Knight Rider Domino (voice) 22 episodes 1998–99 Boy Meets World uncredited Episodes: "You're Married, You're Dead" (1998) and "Can I Help to Cheer You" (1999) 1999 It's Like, You Know... Mindy Episode: "Memories of Me" 1999 Two Guys and a Girl Evelyn Episode: "Career Day" 2000 Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry's Lawyer Episode: "Interior Decorator" 2002 Saturday Night Live Host 2003 My Big Fat Greek Life Nia Portokalos Writer and executive producer; 7 episodes 2008 My Boys Jo Episodes: "Spit Take," "Take My Work Wife...Please," and "Dudes Being Dudes" 2009 Drop Dead Diva Lisa Shane One episode 2010 The Good Guys Eileen Pilot episode 2011 Cougar Town Andy's sister in law One episode References
- ^ Greek: Αντωνία Ευγενία "Νία" Βαρντάλος
- ^ "Greek goddess: but it wasn't always that way. Once told she was too frumpy to be a star, Nia Vardalos proves them wrong.(Interview)(Cover Story)". Redbook. April 1, 2003. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-22860427_ITM.
- ^ "Sending up the Greek in spirit". The Age (Melbourne). October 6, 2002. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/05/1033538810677.html.
- ^ Nia Vardalos Biography (1962–)
- ^ Seiler, Andy (August 28, 2002). "'Greek Wedding' marches on, much to Hollywood's surprise". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/2002-08-27-greek-side_x.htm. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ Nia Vardalos Biography – Yahoo! Movies
- ^ Nia Vardalos. "The List". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nia-vardalos/the-list_b_161241.html. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ^ Nia Vardalos To Reunite With John Corbett In Another Romantic Comedy | AHN | August 9, 2008
External links
- Nia Vardalos at the Internet Movie Database
- Nia Vardalos at Yahoo! Movies
- Nia Vardalos's Executive Producer Profile on The 1 Second Film website
- Nia Vardalos on Twitter
- Nia Vardalos on Facebook, fansite
- Nia Vardalos on Charlie Rose
- Works by or about Nia Vardalos in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Categories:- 1962 births
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American people of Canadian descent
- Eastern Orthodox Christians from Canada
- Canadian film actors
- Canadian television actors
- American people of Greek descent
- Canadian people of Greek descent
- Canadian emigrants to the United States
- Greek Orthodox Christians
- Living people
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- People from Winnipeg
- Ryerson University alumni
- Second City alumni
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