Background
Vardalos was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on September 24, 1962. She is the daughter of Greek Canadian parents Doreen, a bookkeeper and homemaker, and Constantine "Gus" Vardalos, a land developer.
Vardalos was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on September 24, 1962. She is the daughter of Greek Canadian parents Doreen, a bookkeeper and homemaker, and Constantine "Gus" Vardalos, a land developer.
She attended Saint George School and Shaftesbury High School in Winnipeg and Ryerson University in Toronto.
In 2008, they adopted a daughter named Ilaria. She posted an advice column about the adoption process at The Huffington Post. She became a United States. citizen in 1999.
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 sleeper hit, which quickly became one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time, led to the unsuccessful Columbia Broadcasting System 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.
She made her directing 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. 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 Digital Video Disc 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 is among many celebrities helping to produce The 1 Second art project
Vardalos was featured in The Dialogue interview series. In this 90 minute interview with producer Mike DeLuca, Vardalos talks 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.
In May 2015, she commenced filming My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 in Canada.
Married Ian Gomez, 1993.