“Don’t settle; don’t compromise. Freeze your eggs, get your sociology doctorate, worry more about war and pestilence and the incredible inequality of geographical birth than finding your soulmate.”
― Nia Vardalos
“There’s a feeling sometimes in motherhood that you’re alone in what you’re going through, and none of us are alone. We’re all going through the same thing.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I consider myself a fearless idiot.”
― Nia Vardalos
“America was founded on immigrants. The immigrant experience is common to all of us.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Like most women, I thought it would be easy once I decided to start a family. I was surprised that Mother Nature kept poking me in the eye, saying, ‘Nope, nope, nope.’”
― Nia Vardalos
“Absolutely, I don’t believe in rules. As I tell my daughter when she is mischievous, ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history.’”
― Nia Vardalos
“I have found that every family has a strange remedy for any situation – from ‘Use Fantastic to get the scuff off your patent leather shoes!’ to ‘Soak an aspirin in a glass of water to get rid of a migraine.’”
― Nia Vardalos
“The media was always so focused on the money a movie makes. But I was in Times Square, and a bunch of Japanese tourists looked at me and started shouting, ‘Toula!’ I loved it. It’s these tiny moments of connection that register with me the most and always have.”
― Nia Vardalos
“You’re never too fat for a new purse.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I thought I was attractive when I shot ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ Studio executives and movie reviewers let me know I had a confidence in my looks that was not shared by them.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My daughter is a preschooler but I have only known her for a while. She is adopted.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My New Year’s Resolution List usually starts with the desire to lose between ten and three thousand pounds.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I believe that there are moments in everyone’s lives where a door flings open, and if you’re terrified of what’s on the other side, you must walk through it.”
― Nia Vardalos
“It was a sad process for me to become a mom, and a long process. I felt so embarrassed that I couldn’t have a biological child.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I did go through a bit of a dark time during the years I was trying to be a mom. But I’m basically a very positive person.”
― Nia Vardalos
“On my daughter’s first day of kindergarten, another mom said something that made me realize I had become my own Greek, suffocating mother. She said, ‘Just think, in 13 years they’ll leave us and go to college!’ And I went, ‘Gulp.’”
― Nia Vardalos
“The candid and honest and pure heartedness of children has strengthened my views that we are all equal and should be afforded the basic human rights that we all deserve.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Our daughter was not damaged or hurt in any way. She was simply relinquished to foster care by two people who were not ready to be parents. I admire them for giving her the chance for a better life. And I am grateful they gave my husband and me the opportunity to be parents.”
― Nia Vardalos
“When I used to do musical theatre, my dad refused to come backstage. He never wanted to see the props up close or the sets up close. He didn’t want to see the magic.”
― Nia Vardalos
“We were so unprepared that when my husband took off to get groceries, and we’d adopted a 3-year-old, he came back with baby formula, a steak and a teething ring. We had no idea what we were doing. But you learn. There’s no way to fully prepare. Just eyes wide open – jump.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I do recommend it for all girls, and boys, out there: put on a pair of fishnet stockings and find your inner sexiness!”
― Nia Vardalos
“You only get one life so you might as well make it a happy one, and that’s why I tend to just jump into things. I’m sort of a fearless idiot that way.”
― Nia Vardalos
“In many ways we are all sons and daughters of ancient Greece.”
― Nia Vardalos
“You’re not ethnic enough. You’re not fat enough. You’re not thin enough. You’re not blond enough. You’re not dark enough. You’re not young enough. You’re not old enough.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I’d been raised by my parents who taught me not to think you’re better than you are.”
― Nia Vardalos
“It’s not like suddenly, when you become a working actor all your friends are in the same situation. I have friends who are still handing out flyers for their one-woman show and trying to make ends meet.”
― Nia Vardalos
“What I wish I had, is that I wish I was a little more Greek, in that I wish I could lose my North American driven attitude and that I could be a little bit more poetic and laissez faire.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I don’t card out my screenplays ever. I just have an idea I just sit down and write I don’t edit.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I couldn’t get an acting job to save my life when I moved to L.A.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I think our skin clears up and we’re nicer when you are in love.”
― Nia Vardalos
“On the publicity tour of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding,’ I was asked over and over again, if, as the writer, I felt it was a fair depiction of real life to have someone of my er, below average looks, hook up with hottie John Corbett.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Socially, the issue of men’s weight is simply not a big deal.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Let’s face it: Russell Crowe is fat and no one ever talks about it.”
― Nia Vardalos
“And (cue music swell) motherhood turned out to be the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done with my life. Really.”
― Nia Vardalos
“It wasn’t easy to adopt an American child. Actually it’s quite simple, but finding out how to do it was the hard part.”
― Nia Vardalos
“On November 15th, 2008, in over 300 cities, 4,000 children were adopted in one day.”
― Nia Vardalos
“We live in an unsafe world.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I’ve had designers say to my face, ‘Oh, I want to dress you now that you’re skinny.’ And that’s really rude.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I grew up looking for myself onscreen and never could find myself. And I believe that I am supposed to be Toula to show people that it’s O.K. to be different.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I think it’s almost easier to do a kissing scene with someone you don’t know.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Because I am a character actor, I thought I would be the fourth or eighth banana on a sitcom, and that would be OK.”
― Nia Vardalos
“The white hot publicity that came from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ was appreciated but not sought, so I was happy to walk away from it and then write.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I do get approached every day by people who say, ‘Why don’t you make more movies?’ I don’t really miss it when I get to go and watch my daughter in the Christmas pageant.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I had worked for ten years in theater; I had worked at Second City in Chicago. Then I got to Hollywood, and I was like, naively, ‘Where’s my pilot?’”
― Nia Vardalos
“I don’t temper how I feel. I’m Greek. I’ve got emotions.”
― Nia Vardalos
“There are benefits to adopting a toddler. They can tell you what’s wrong. And – everything we did with our daughter was a first. Her first tooth fairy. Santa.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I feel that the industry can be sliced into two categories – grateful actors and non-grateful actors.”
― Nia Vardalos
“It’s impossible for success to go to your head with a Greek mom – no way.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I think there is a moment in every parent’s life where we realize that we have lost ourselves a little bit. It’s a moment of looking in the mirror and going, ‘I need to put on some lipstick.’”
― Nia Vardalos
“I never card out a movie. You know how people will outline or card? I don’t do that. I tend to start with an idea and go.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I think it’s probably a universal experience that all parents think they’re not hovering, but perhaps we all are.”
― Nia Vardalos
“We absolutely have to support our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. We just must. It’s not fair that they don’t get to live an authentic life.”
― Nia Vardalos
“You’re as strong as the actors you’re working with, your partners.”
― Nia Vardalos
“When I write something, I constantly rewrite.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I have had the same person show up in a few cities with flowers. A lovely gentleman who gave me a picture of himself. I came home, gave it to Ian, and said, ‘If I go missing, here’s the guy.’”
― Nia Vardalos
“I believe that you will not get what you want unless you ask for it.”
― Nia Vardalos
“We must make choices that are outside of the familial expectations of us, or we’ll just be repeating the mistakes. Our parents came here to give us better choices.”
― Nia Vardalos
“There’s this constant guilt that comes with parenting. You always feel like you’re never enough. If you’re confident in your parenting, you probably suck at it.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Women are so many things. We’re sisters, mothers, wives. There are so many things we encompass.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Women have to write for each other; we have to hire each other.”
― Nia Vardalos
“It’s called show business for a reason. The theater owners want to make money, and understandably so.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Lately, I’ve been in meetings regarding a new script idea I have. A studio executive asked me to change the female lead to a male, because… ‘Women don’t go to movies.’ Really?”
― Nia Vardalos
“I have no idea how to use social media for anything other than forwarding a good fart joke.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I’m not proud of this, but I had a lot of misconceptions about American foster care. To me, foster care meant that a child would be placed with you, then taken away. I didn’t want to go through all of that.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I was worried if you adopted a foster child, someone from the birth family could still come and take her back. I was afraid that any child in foster care might have suffered such trauma or neglect that she would be impossible to reach. I’m not proud of these fears. But I understand now when others ask me the same questions.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I’m a private person who doesn’t relish making her personal life public.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Ever since I became a parent, time moves far too quickly. My vision always feels like I’m wearing giant kaleidoscope-goggles.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My favorite part of any playdate comes later when I get to carry my exhausted and sleeping daughter to the car. Is there anything more trusting than a sleeping child completely and utterly leaning into your body?”
― Nia Vardalos
“I don’t like it if I act anything other than the humble Winnipegger I was raised to be.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Every time I sign a contract, I donate something to charity and buy a piece of jewelry. Whether the movie gets made or not, it’s a celebration.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My heroes in real life are definitely my mom for being true to herself, for having a foot in both worlds, for being so very polite – Canadian and also such a traditional Greek woman. I would sum it up this way: the life lesson she would say is be polite while you’re breaking the rules.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I believe that if I come home from a stressful day on the set, I just have to leave it there.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I write through improvisation. I never card out a movie. You know how people will outline or card? I don’t do that. I tend to start with an idea and go.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I was in a fertility situation publicly, so I disappeared. I was very satisfied just being to able to creatively express myself with writing. The white hot publicity that came from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ was appreciated but not sought, so I was happy to walk away from it and then write.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I have always written from a personal place.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I feel that the industry can be sliced into two categories – grateful actors and non-grateful actors. I’m always so appreciative that this has happened for me – and against all odds – as a middle child from Canada. I’m very grateful.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I was a very studious student and usually got A’s. I did not like school, because I wasn’t popular – I was a nerd.”
― Nia Vardalos
“The popular girls let me hang out with them because I was funny. They told me that. ‘You’re not popular, but you’re funny.’ Now all my friends are funny.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My husband is an only child of only child parents.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My mum came to the set of my second movie ‘Connie and Carla,’ and she had made food for the whole cast, including mini bun cakes with little flowers sticking out of each one.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I think the goal is parity: I try to be pro-woman without being anti-man, and I hope and wish that men could do the same in that when they look at the screenplay, they say, ‘Wait, wait, wait – is my daughter represented here, is my wife represented here? Is my sister represented?’”
― Nia Vardalos
“I started in Shakespeare. I’m classically trained, which, how hilarious is that? Then one night, I saw Second City and thought, ‘Wow, that’s what I want to do.’ But I never thought it would morph into screenplay writing.”
― Nia Vardalos
“If you create a fun environment, people will take liberties and grow and expand. And then you’ll get your final screenplay in my favorite style, which is ‘tossed away’ – as if the actor just thought of it.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I don’t work that much because I am selective.”
― Nia Vardalos
“You can spend an entire summer in Europe, and no one will ask you what you do for a living.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I love romance. I think our skin clears up and we’re nicer when you are in love.”
― Nia Vardalos
“We would not have ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ without drunk brides and grooms falling into cakes.”
― Nia Vardalos
“Socially, the issue of men’s weight is simply not a big deal. Let’s face it: Russell Crowe is fat, and no one ever talks about it. Alec Baldwin just orders his suits a size bigger, and we continue to swoon.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I thought I was attractive when I shot ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ Studio executives and movie reviewers let me know I had a confidence in my looks that was not shared by them. In other words, they labeled me with words like overweight, unattractive, unappealing.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My blood sugar went out of control. Diabetes runs in my family, so I went to see my doctor. He was like, ‘Buck up,’ and it was sort of the wake-up call that I needed to hear.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I’m not one of those people that can suddenly start running and hire a Pilates trainer; it’s just not my thing.”
― Nia Vardalos
“I’m only happy when people are eating.”
― Nia Vardalos
“My family knows everything about me. There are no secrets, which can be suffocating, but I also find comfort in it. You can always reach out an arm, and an aunty will be close by to tell you that your skirt is too short.”
― Nia Vardalos
“When I wanted to go away to college in Toronto, my dad said, ‘You can’t go.’ When I got to Toronto, I bought a couch, and my dad cried for the whole weekend because, as my mum told me, ‘Now you have furniture; he knows you are never coming back.’”
― Nia Vardalos
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