Nia Vardalos Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Nia Vardalos
OCCUPATION: Actress
BIRTH DATE: November 24, 1962 (Age: 50)
EDUCATION: Ryerson University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Winnipeg, Canada
Full Name: Antonia Eugenia Vardalos
ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

Best Known For

Actress Nia Vardalos appeared on TV's Team Knight Rider before making her hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding in 2002.

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Nia Vardalos

APA Style

Nia Vardalos. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:41, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592.

Harvard Style

Nia Vardalos. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592 [Accessed 21 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Nia Vardalos." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 03:41 http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592.

MHRA Style

"Nia Vardalos," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592 [accessed May 21, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Nia Vardalos," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592 (accessed May 21, 2013).

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Nia Vardalos [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592.

Bluebook Style

Nia Vardalos, http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592 (last visited May 21, 2013).

AMA Style

Nia Vardalos. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/nia-vardalos-9542592. Accessed May 21, 2013.

Synopsis

Born in Winnipeg, Canada on September 24, 1962, Nia Vardalos got her start by performing at a local theater before joining the Second City comedy troupe. She then moved to Los Angeles for a variety of bit parts on television shows, including a longer stint in Team Knight Rider. Her one-woman play, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, was made into a hit independent film in 2002, and a TV show a year later.

Profile

Actor, writer. Born Antonia Eugenia Vardalos on September 24, 1962 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. An outgoing girl since childhood, Vardalos began her professional acting career at the Rainbow Stage, a local theater company that helped her land a scholarship to Toronto's Ryerson University in 1986. Two years later, she join Toronto's Second City theater troupe, moving to Chicago's Second City stage shortly thereafter. After moving to Los Angeles to continue acting, Vardalos received bit parts on such sitcoms as The Drew Carey Show.

Drawing on her eccentric Greek upbringing, as well as stories shared by her Greek friends, Vardalos soon began penning a stage play entitled My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The one-woman play drew the attention of actress Rita Wilson and husband Tom Hanks who agreed to turn it into a film. For a paltry $5 million, My Big Fat Greek Wedding debuted in 2002 to become the sleeper hit of the year. With virtually no television or buildboard advertising, the independent film drew record numbers by sheer word-of-mouth momentum. In February 2003, CBS briefly ran a follow-up sitcom My Big Fat Greek Life, which featured much of the same cast. In 2004, Vardalos wrote and costarred in another film, Connie and Carla, about two women who go undercover as drag queens.

Vardalos married actor Ian Gomez in September 1993.