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
I'm only happy when people are eating.
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.
I love romance. I think our skin clears up and we're nicer when you are in love.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
I'm a private person who doesn't relish making her personal life public.
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.
It's called show business for a reason. The theater owners want to make money, and understandably so.
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.
I believe that you will not get what you want unless you ask for it.
When I write something, I constantly rewrite.
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.
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.
I'm not one of those people that can suddenly start running and hire a Pilates trainer; it's just not my thing.
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.
You can spend an entire summer in Europe, and no one will ask you what you do for a living.
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.
My husband is an only child of only child parents.
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.
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.
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.
Ever since I became a parent, time moves far too quickly. My vision always feels like I'm wearing giant kaleidoscope-goggles.
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.
I have no idea how to use social media for anything other than forwarding a good fart joke.
Women have to write for each other; we have to hire each other.
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.
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.'
You're as strong as the actors you're working with, your partners.
I think it's probably a universal experience that all parents think they're not hovering, but perhaps we all are.
Absolutely, I don't believe in rules. As I tell my daughter when she is mischievous, 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.'
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.
We would not have 'America's Funniest Home Videos' without drunk brides and grooms falling into cakes.
I don't work that much because I am selective.
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?'
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.
I have always written from a personal place.
I believe that if I come home from a stressful day on the set, I just have to leave it there.
I don't like it if I act anything other than the humble Winnipegger I was raised to be.
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.'
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.
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?
Women are so many things. We're sisters, mothers, wives. There are so many things we encompass.
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.
I consider myself a fearless idiot.
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.
