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.”

“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.”

“I have always written from a personal place.”

“I'm only happy when people are eating.”

“I think our skin clears up and we're nicer when you are in love.”

“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.'”

“I don't card out my screenplays ever. I just have an idea I just sit down and write I don't edit.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Socially, the issue of men's weight is simply not a big deal.”

“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?'”

“You can spend an entire summer in Europe, and no one will ask you what you do for a living.”

“Women are so many things. We're sisters, mothers, wives. There are so many things we encompass.”

“My husband is an only child of only child parents.”

“It's called show business for a reason. The theater owners want to make money, and understandably so.”

“I believe that if I come home from a stressful day on the set, I just have to leave it there.”

“I'd been raised by my parents who taught me not to think you're better than you are.”

“I've had designers say to my face, 'Oh, I want to dress you now that you're skinny.' And that's really rude.”