Nia Vardalos

**Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos** (born September 24, 1962; Greek: Νία Βαρντάλος) is a Canadian-American actress, screenwriter, and producer of Greek descent. Her most notable work is the 2002 film *My Big Fat Greek Wedding*, which was based on a one-woman stage play she dramatized and in which she starred. 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, basing it on her own personal experiences, 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.[*citation needed*]

The sleeper hit, which quickly became one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time, led to the unsuccessful CBSspin-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.[8]
Her next film, released in 2004, was *Connie and Carla,* a musical about two women pretending to be drag queens.[8]

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.[8]

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).[8]

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 then 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 likewise starred in and co-wrote the sleeper hit *My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,* which was released in March 2016.[9] It was less successful than the original had been; however, it earned over $60 million from an $18 million budget.

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.[10]

In 2018, Vardalos guest-starred in an episode of The CW series *Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*.[11]