What Happened to Nia Vardalos Eye?

Vardalos first shot to prominence with her autobiographical 2002 film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, in which she played Toula Portokalos – a single 30-something who marries an outsider but struggles to reconcile herself with family traditions – as Toula Portokalos and grossed $53 million at domestic box office sales, garnering Vardalos Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for both writing and acting roles. The movie earned a total domestic box office take of $55.3 million while earning her nominations from both Academy Award and Golden Globe awards as well.

Vardalos’ real-life experiences preparing for motherhood served as inspiration for this film. She and husband, Cougar Town actor Ian Gomez, spent 10 years trying to have a baby, going through fertility treatments and being put off many adoption waiting lists in that time. Finally in 2008 they were finally matched with an infant through foster care adoption; following that she became an advocate for foster care adoption by appearing on talk shows and speaking publicly about it.

Though she wrote and starred in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, based around Toula’s next steps as a parent, it took her an entire year before she felt prepared to write and star in its sequel. “I couldn’t authentically write about it unless it had been my experience first-hand,” she explains.

Now that she has both her long-awaited daughter and My Life in Ruins under her belt, Vardalos believes her life has come full circle. “I am more content than ever before,” she notes, noting “that my body is toned, healthy-looking and I have my daughter. Besides all of my hard work I don’t worry about facing double standards that women may encounter anymore.”

As she remarks, however, being a working mom isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. “Balancing work and home is really challenging for me; without Ian I would be lost!” Ian is her rockstar who lets her do whatever needs doing without complaining or micromanaging; yet always there when she needs some alone time.