It seems like just yesterday we met Toula Portokalos and her big, loud, loving family.
However, it wasn’t always that way.
Vardalos' transformation from unknown to Hollywood heavy hitter was even more impressive than her character’s movie glow-up.
When she couldn’t land a movie role, she wrote her own.
When she struggled with infertility, she pivoted.
When health issues arose, Vardalos made significant life changes.
Well, except for the occasional bout of imposter syndrome.
As she admitted inParadein 2023, “I still feel like an outsider in Hollywood.
I’ll never feel like I fit in.”
Outsider or not, Vardalos sure paved her own way.
Here’s how she got to where she is today.
She and her three siblings were raised in Canada, but kept with the traditions of their Greek heritage.
“In our family, everyone is funny,” she told Parade.
“That’s the way you got attention.”
And while good-natured jabs were welcome at the table, cruelty was not.
“It was genial; nobody was mean,” she said.
“We poked fun at each other, but we were never rude.
If you ever hurt anyone’s feelings, you’d gone too far.”
“We were all very, very supportive of each other.
After graduating from high school, she moved to Toronto to study acting at Ryerson University.
“I watched improv theater after being trained in Shakespeare and the classics,” Vardalos told the outlet.
“I saw people become anyone or anything they wanted to be, not held down by physicality.
That’s when I realized I was home.”
She also found love in the form of fellow actor Ian Gomez.
The two eventually moved to Los Angeles, hoping to make it big in show business.
Professionally, they found success both individually and as a couple.
The couple shares a daughter named Ilaria.
She told Parade that she got rejection after rejection based largely on her appearance.
“I went to Los Angeles thinking I’d get a part in a sitcom,” she says.
“I was shocked.
People are mean.”
As she told the audience, the agent said, “1.
Because you’re not pretty enough to be the star.
Because you’re not fat enough to be a character artist.
But mainly 3. because you are Greek.
So, you don’t belong to one of the big minorities like Puerto Ricans, Hispanics, etc.
Therefore, you are fired.”
Alas, yet again, she faced multiple rejections.
Little did she know that one decision would change the trajectory of her career and her life.
“And Tom called me and said, ‘I’m gonna make your movie.'”
Luckily, she realized she’d made a mistake and got back in touch.
While the Portokalos family may be fictional, they are certainly rooted in reality.
But what about the rest?
Did her aunt really have a tumor that turned out to be her twin?
Did her father really think blue glass cleaner could solve any problem?
“My dad actually put Windex on everything,” she said.
Vardalos underwent over a dozen rounds of IVF and went through multiple surrogacy attempts, but none were successful.
The trauma of the experience made her hit pause on penning the movie’s highly anticipated sequel.
“I wouldn’t know the emotions of what to write,” she said.
“I just said, ‘I can’t do it.'”
After that life-changing phone call, Ilaria joined the family.
“I am so grateful and can’t imagine my life without her,” Vardalos gushed to People.
“I did feel beautiful.
I felt ‘everywoman beautiful.’
My family never put a value on being thin,” she told theDaily Mailin 2009.
Sadly, she also felt “invisible” during her early days in Tinseltown.
Years later, Vardalos’ doctor recommended shelose weight for the sake of her health.
“Am I beautiful now because I am thin?
I am the same person,” she said.
“I had a blood-sugar problem it wasn’t about losing weight, it was about getting healthy.”
The screenwriter echoed this sentiment in a separate interview withPeople.
“It was never about that Hollywood pressure to lose weight, I laugh at that.
It was always just an issue of health,” she said.
To reach her goals, Vardalos didn’t rely on an army of personal trainers and chefs.
True to form, she did it herself the good old-fashioned way by cutting calories and moving her body.
“I did break up with cheese during the process,” she admitted to the Daily Mail.
The actor lost 40 pounds, but the number on the scale isn’t what matters to Vardalos.
Rather, it’s all about feeling good.
She has starred in numerous movies, television shows, and plays.
What’s more, she hasn’t let up off the grindstone.
