Nia Vardalos

Antonia Eugenia Vardalos, known as Nia Vardalos, is a Greek-Canadian actress, screenwriter and film producer. She made her first television appearances in the series “Missing Persons” in 1994 where she played the role of a barwoman. She appeared in small roles in other series such as “The Drew Carey Show” and “Two Guys and a Girl”. In 1997, Nia Vardalos starred for six weeks in the play ” Marriage in Greek” at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles. There she played the role of Toula, a 30-year-old single woman whose family of Greek descent pressures her to marry. Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks were enthusiastic about the play and decided to help her in order to bring it to the big screen and so in February 2002, “Marriage in Greek” was released in cinemas with Nia Vardalos starring again in the film. The film belongs to the “sleeper hit” category as it managed to be on the list of the highest grossing independent films of all time. It won 20 awards and has a total of 29 nominations with one of them being Best and Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards.