fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Antonia Eugenia Vardalos[1] (born September 24, 1962) is a Canadian actress, director, producer and screenwriter. She is best known for starring in and writing the romantic comedy film My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), which garnered her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

Nia Vardalos
Vardalos in 2011
Born	Antonia Eugenia Vardalos (1962-09-24) September 24, 1962 (age 60) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Alma mater	Toronto Metropolitan University (BFA)
Occupation	Actress director producer screenwriter
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Ian Gomez ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2018)​
Children	1

Early life

Vardalos was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on September 24, 1962.[1] She is the daughter of Greek Canadian parents Doreen Christakos, a bookkeeper and homemaker, and Constantine "Gus" Vardalos, a land developer who was born in Kalavryta, Greece.[2][3] She attended St. George School and Shaftesbury High School in Winnipeg and Ryerson University[4] in Toronto.

Career

An alumna of the Chicago-based Second City comedy repertory company, Vardalos wrote and performed in over ten revues of sketch comedy and won Chicago's Joseph Jefferson award for Best Actress. Vardalos had many small roles in television shows such as The Drew Carey Show and Two Guys and a Girl; in addition, she provided voices for the 1996 radio adaptation of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi which Brian Daley had written for National Public Radio.

She gained fame with her movie about a woman's struggle to find love in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The film was a critical and commercial success. The film earned Vardalos an Academy Award Nomination for Best Writing, a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a Screen Actors Guild Award Nomination.^{[citation needed]}

The sleeper hit quickly became one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time, and the number one romantic comedy of all time. Vardalos hosted Saturday Night Live in the fall of 2002.

The next film she starred in, which she also wrote, and in which she also sang and danced, was Connie and Carla, released in 2004; this became a cult-hit musical, and is about two women pretending to be drag queens.[5] (The plot has been compared to that of Some Like It Hot, the 1959 American romantic comedy film which Billy Wilder directed, produced, and co-wrote, which had starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, in that as with the two male leads of Some Like It Hot, the female leads of Connie And Carla did what they did to hide from criminals whose crimes they had witnessed and who could still kill both of them had they been found.)

Vardalos made her directorial debut in 2009 with the independent feature I Hate Valentine's Day. The film, about a florist finding romance, was made for less than $400,000 and on only a limited release grossed $1,985,260 at the international box-office. This was followed by My Life in Ruins, about a misguided tour-guide traveling around Greece and featuring Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss. The film was the first American production given permission to film at the Acropolis; Vardalos personally sought the approval from the Greek government and credits her years of Greek School for helping her be fluent in the language.

In 2011, Vardalos collaborated with Tom Hanks to write the romantic comedy film Larry Crowne for the screen. The film was a commercial success, grossing $59.8 million; Vardalos also voiced the character Map Genie in the film.

In 2016, Vardalos adapted Cheryl Strayed's beloved book, Tiny Beautiful Things, and starred in the sold out run of the play at The Public Theater in New York, directed by Thomas Kail. The play received outstanding reviews and is the New York Times Critic's Pick. Vardalos reprised her role in 2017 in another sold-out run at The Public, and again at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. Published by Samuel French, the play was quickly licensed by many theaters and is on the list of Top Ten Most Produced Plays.

Vardalos joined many celebrities helping to produce The 1 Second Film art project; she herself was featured in The Dialogue, an interview series. In this 90 minute interview with producer Mike DeLuca, Vardalos talked 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 sang The Beatles song "Golden Slumbers" on the 2006 charity album Unexpected Dreams – Songs from the Stars.

Vardalos starred in and wrote My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which was released in March 2016. It earned over $60 million domestically from an $18 million budget and much more internationally and in home box office sales.

From 2015 to 2017, Vardalos and Gomez co-presented the first two seasons of The Great American Baking Show, formerly known as The Great Holiday Baking Show, for ABC-TV.[6]

In 2018, Vardalos guest-starred in an episode of The CW series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.[7]

In 2019, Vardalos played Faye Anderson in the ABC television holiday film Same Time, Next Christmas.[8] In 2020, in what was, for her, a rare turn to both serious, non-comedy acting and impostures of real people, she impersonated convicted poisoner Stacey Castor in the made-for-television movie Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story,[9] which Lifetime Television transmitted.

In September 2022, Vardalos, along with comedian Rob Riggle, created, wrote, and starred in the 10 episode comedy podcast Motivated! for Audible Original and Broadway Video.[10]

She is scheduled to reprise her role as Toula Portakalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 in which she will serve as director and screenwriter.[11][12]

Personal life

In September 1993, Vardalos married American actor Ian Gomez.[13] After trying for nine years to conceive through IVF and surrogacy, Vardalos and Gomez adopted their daughter, Ilaria, in 2008. At the time Ilaria was three years old and part of the foster care system.[14] In 2013, Vardalos wrote a book about the experience, a New York Times bestseller she titled Instant Mom, and she donates all the proceeds from its royalties to adoption groups. Vardalos also posted an advice column about the adoption process in The Huffington Post.[15]

On July 3, 2018, it was announced that Vardalos had filed for divorce from Gomez after 23 years of marriage, and that they had already been separated since June of 2017.[13][16] The divorce was finalized two months later.[13]

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	As Writer American Screenwriters Association Award – Discover Screenwriting Award Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated — Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Writer Nominated — London Film Critics' Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay As Actress Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Newcomer Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Female Breakthrough Performance Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004	Connie and Carla	Connie	also writer
2006	Greece: Secrets of the Past	Narrator
2009	My Life in Ruins	Georgia Yanokoupolis
2009	I Hate Valentine's Day[17]	Genevieve	also writer and director
2011	Larry Crowne	Map Genie (voice)	also joint screenwriter with Tom Hanks
2012	For a Good Time, Call...	Rachel Rodman
2012	An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars	Mrs. Brooks
2013	Dealin' with Idiots	Ava Morris
2014	Helicopter Mom	Maggie
2015	Car Dogs	Sharon
2016	My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2	Toula Portokalos	also writer
2018	Charming	Nemeny Neverwish (voice)
2019	Wonder Woman: Bloodlines	Julia Kapatelis (voice)
2022	The Curse of Bridge Hollow	Madam Hawthorne
TBA	My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3	Toula Portokalos	also writer & director

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	High Incident	Uncredited	Episode: "Father Knows Best"
1996	Common Law	Uncredited	Episode: "In the Matter of, Acceptance"
1997	The Drew Carey Show	Grace Almada	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"
1997–98	Team Knight Rider	Domino (voice)	22 episodes
1998–99	Boy Meets World	Miss Gallagher (uncredited)	2 episodes
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	Episode: "Nia Vardalos/Eve"
2003	My Big Fat Greek Life	Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos	Writer and executive producer; 7 episodes
2008	My Boys	Jo	3 episodes
2009	Drop Dead Diva	Lisa Shane	Episode: "What If?"
2010	The Good Guys	Eileen	Pilot episode
2011	Cougar Town	Angela Torres	Episode: "Damaged by Love"
2012	Grey's Anatomy	Karen	Episode: "Hope for the Hopeless"
2013–14	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Attorney Minonna Efron	3 episodes
2015	Marry Me	Pam	Episode: "Mom Me"
2015–19	Star vs. the Forces of Evil	Angie Diaz	Voice role; 10 episodes
2015	Jane the Virgin	Barbara Stanbrook	Episode: "Chapter Nineteen"
2015	The Great Holiday Baking Show	Co-presenter	Baking competition
2016	The Catch	Leah Wells	3 episodes
2016	Graves	Annie Spiro	7 episodes
2016	The Great American Baking Show	Co-presenter (with Ian Gomez)	Baking competition
2017	Dr. Ken	Tiffany	Episode: "Ken's Big Audition"
2018	DuckTales	Selene	Voice role; 4 episodes
2018	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	Wendy Legrand	Episode: "I'm On My Own Path"
2019	Same Time, Next Christmas	Faye Anderson	Television Film
2020	Poisoned Love: The Stacey Castor Story	Stacey Castor	Television Film
2021	Station 19	Patricia	Episode: "100% or Nothing"
2022	Love, Victor	Theresa	Episode: "Fast Times At Creekwood High"

References

External links

• Nia Vardalos at IMDb
• Nia Vardalos's Executive Producer Profile on The 1 Second Film website
• Nia Vardalos on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Nia Vardalos in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

На других языках

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[de] Nia Vardalos

Antonia Eugenia „Nia“ Vardalos (griechisch Αντωνία Ευγενία «Νία» Βαρντάλος, * 24. September 1962 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) ist eine griechisch-kanadische Schauspielerin.

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- [en] Nia Vardalos

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[es] Nia Vardalos

Antonia Eugenia Vardalos (en griego Αντωνία Ευγενία Βαρδάλου, Winnipeg; 24 de septiembre de 1962), más conocida como Nia Vardalos (en griego Νία Βαρντάλος), es una actriz y guionista canadiense de origen griego. Fue nominada a un Globo de Oro en 2002 como mejor actriz de comedia por My Big Fat Greek Wedding y a un Óscar al mejor guion original por la misma película.

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[ru] Вардалос, Ниа

Ни́а Варда́лос (англ. Nia Vardalos, греч. Νία Βαρντάλος, урожд. Антони́я Евгени́я Варда́лу, греч. Αντωνία Ευγενία Βαρδάλου; род. 24 сентября 1962, Виннипег) — американо-канадская актриса, сценаристка, режиссёр и продюсер греческого происхождения, номинантка на премии «Оскар» и «Золотой глобус»[3].

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