Top 110 Quotes & Sayings by Nia Vardalos - Page 2

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.

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

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 have always written from a personal place.

We would not have 'America's Funniest Home Videos' without drunk brides and grooms falling into cakes.

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 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.

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?

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.

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.

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.'

My husband is an only child of only child parents.

I don't work that much because I am selective.

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

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.

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.

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'm a private person who doesn't relish making her personal life public.

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.

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

I'm only happy when people are eating.

I'm not one of those people that can suddenly start running and hire a Pilates trainer; it's just not my thing.

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.

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

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.

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.'

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.

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

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.

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

Ever since I became a parent, time moves far too quickly. My vision always feels like I'm wearing giant kaleidoscope-goggles.

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.

Becoming a mother is the best thing that has ever happened to me, I am happy to once again be a part of National Adoption Day. We were matched with our daughter through the U.S. foster care system, and my goal is to share information about the more than 120,000 foster care children in this country who are waiting for a family.

I would rather be called funny than pretty.

Now that I'm experiencing motherhood, I'm ready to write the next chapter of my family story. Of course a few jaded folks in the press corps will claim I ran out of money or just want to kiss John Corbett again. One of these things is true.

As we know, there are companies like Monsanto filling the Earth with their genetically-modified poison, which makes me wonder how many people share our belief that it's better to be good.We have to change the world!

Time can turn a scab into a beauty mark.

Sometimes if something scares me, I lean right into it . I’m not a brave person— I’m more of a fearless idiot.

If the standard route for creating a family had worked for me, I wouldn't have met this child. I needed to know her. I needed to be her mother. She is, in every way my daughter.

My singing - it's who I am, it's all of me and it's my soul. The self expression of using your vocal equipment is not only physical and spiritual, but it's something you can't explain. It's your heart and soul together. Yes, I enjoy acting, but I portray other people. But when I sing, it's just me on that stage, communicating how I feel, how I think and what I believe.

I feel the same way when I meet somebody in Los Angeles, because I'm from Winnipeg. I'm just a very ordinary girl that something extraordinary happened to. So, I'll go to an event and, say, stand next to Charlize Theron and be like, "Oh my God! This is incredible!" And then you get to talk to her and you find out she's a real person. She's a mom and very interesting. I'm constantly thunderstruck by people that I admire.

Anyone who ever wondered how much they could love a child who did not spring from their own loins, know this: it is the same. The feeling of love is so profound, it's incredible and surprising.

I don't card out my screenplays ever. I just have an idea I just sit down and write I don't edit. Sometimes the first draft will come out at 200 pages. I think and think and I go, "um this story is about the brother that appears on page 178." I go back and I rewrite.

I am not anti-man. I am married to a man... I have a father and a brother... I love men. But there is something really lacking when Cake is nominated. How does Julianne Moore win for Best Actress but her film isn't nominated for Best Screenplay? How does Gone Girl become such a critically-acclaimed and box-office hit but its scriptwriter, Gillian Flynn, isn't nominated for Best screenplay. It's disgusting!

Sometimes I'm surprised when someone who has achieved success is incredibly Machiavellian in their manipulations. So, while I want to believe it's integrity, that might just show how naïve I am. I sometimes worry that I might not be shrewd enough to maneuver myself through the Hollywood system.

I look at Playtone, the company that produced My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I call them my Playtoners. They are the kindest people who treated me like gold before that movie made a dime. We became personal friends. When I think about how lovely and wonderful they are that convinces me that you don't have to make a deal with the devil to succeed. It's a choice.

The man may be the head of the household. But the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head whichever way she pleases.

Being an actor/ writer is a responsibility and a burden and a gift. The responsibility to me is that you can't just wait to be cast into something and then you create the role. You almost have a voice inside of you telling you what you might want to play and be able to play. It's hard, but once that thing comes out of the printer and you hold those warm pages to your cheek it's great. It's a huge sense of accomplishment.