Nia Vardalos Biography

Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos (born September 24, 1962) is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer of Greek descent. Her most notable work is the 2002 Academy Award-nominated film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which was based on a one-woman stage play she dramatized and in which she starred.

Early and personal life

Vardalos was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on September 24, 1962. She is the daughter of Greek Canadian parents Doreen Christakis, a bookkeeper and homemaker, and Constantine "Gus" Vardalos, a land developer. She attended St. George School and Shaftesbury High School in Winnipeg and Ryerson University in Toronto. She married American actor Ian Gomez on September 5, 1993. Gomez converted to Greek Orthodoxy prior to marrying her. In 2008, they adopted a daughter named Ilaria. She posted an advice column about the adoption process at The Huffington Post. She became a U.S. citizen in 1999.

Career

An alumna of the Chicago-based Second City comedy repertory company, 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, which was based on a one-woman show which Vardalos had previously written for the theater and starred in onstage. The film was a huge 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.

The 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, aside from John Corbett.
Her next film, released in 2004, was Connie and Carla, a musical about two women pretending to be drag queens.

Vardalos made her directorial 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 grossed $1,985,260 at the international box-office. This was followed by 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. The film was a moderate success at both the international box-office and DVD sales.

In 2011, Vardalos collaborated with Tom Hanks to write the romantic comedy film Larry Crowne for the screen. The film received moderate reviews and was a commercial success, grossing $59.8 million; Vardalos also voiced the character Map Genie in the film. As of 2013, Vardalos was slated to star in the upcoming films Talk of the Town (2012) and A Wilderness of Monkeys (2013).

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 performed The Beatles song "Golden Slumbers" on the 2006 charity album Unexpected Dreams - Songs from the Stars.

Vardalos's struggle to become a mother, which ultimately led her and husband Ian Gomez to adopt after thirteen distinct in vitro fertilization attempts had failed, made its way into a book she wrote, Instant Mom, which was published in 2014.

Vardalos starred in and co-wrote the sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which was released in March 2016. It was less successful than the original had been; however it earned over $60 million from an $18 million budget.

Since 2015, Vardalos and her husband Ian Gomez have co-presented The Great American Baking Show, formerly known as The Great Holiday Baking Show.

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	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
2015	Helicopter Mom	Maggie
2015	'	Sharon
2015	'	Catherine
2016	My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2	Toula Portokalos	also writer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	High Incident	Uncredited	Episode: "Father Knows Best"
1996	Common Law	uncredited	Episode: "In the Matter of, Acceptance"
1997	'	Grace Almada	Episode: "Strange Bedfellows"
1997-98	Team Knight Rider	Domino (voice)	22 episodes
1998-99	Boy Meets World	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	'	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	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 husband Ian Gomez)	Baking competition
2017	Dr. Ken	Tiffany	Episode: "Ken's Big Audition"