Quotes from Nia Vardalos

I don't temper how I feel. I'm Greek. I've got emotions.

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.

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.

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?'

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.

You're never too fat for a new purse.

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

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'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.

And (cue music swell) motherhood turned out to be the most meaningful thing I've ever done with my life. Really.

I couldn't get an acting job to save my life when I moved to L.A.

Absolutely, I don't believe in rules. As I tell my daughter when she is mischievous, 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.'

I feel that the industry can be sliced into two categories - grateful actors and non-grateful actors.

It's impossible for success to go to your head with a Greek mom - no way.

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

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.

Time can turn a scab into a beauty mark.

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.

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.

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.

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 have to write for each other; we have to hire each other.

I don't like it if I act anything other than the humble Winnipegger I was raised to be.

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.