Nia Vardalos: "I couldn't find a job in Hollywood because I was Greek"

The trailer looks good. Movie opens 8 September.

Once they come out and say #1, there are no other reasons. Self-persecution ain’t pretty in any culture.

Seriously, another sequel?! My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 sucked ass.

I meant # 2 sucked ass.

Why did Nia forget to make My Life in More Ruins 2: Electra Boogaloo?

Well she did largely create a franchise out of thin air, so she has a point. She is one of those ethnicities that's hard to cast in Hollywood; she's not Latino, not Italian, not Jewish or Middle Eastern, but clearly... [italic]something[/italic]. She couldn't pass for WASP/generic white like Tina Fey or Jennifer Aniston. And she's not a conventional beauty, either. Not laugh out loud funny, either.

Maybe be grateful you got to create your own franchise?

She did really well for herself, considering she's a one-trick pony with... unconventional looks.

Hire the Greeks!! The last of the discriminated against minorities.

#1 is definitely true and usually all it takes to never get a job in Hollywood.

…and an extremely basic, bordering on shitty actress.

Oh, I thought it was because she had no talent.

Well, the only thing she's done are those Greek wedding movies, so looks like the agent was right.

[Quote] I meant # 2 sucked ass.

#1 sucked ass.

She's a one trick pony. Stop trying to blame your non existent minority status.

Is she Greek active or Greek passive?

Has anyone suggested "The Nana Mouskouri Story" to her?

Jennifer Aniston, Tina Fey, John Stamos, Zack Galiafinakis, and Amy Sedaris are also Greek-Americans.

They found plenty of jobs.

You motherfuckers are brutal. Nia isn’t ugly.

People will come up with any excuse as to why they don't succeed: they will never admit it's bacuse they do not have the right stuff.

Years ago, I remember someone posted on DL that he was certain he never found an academic job with his Ph.D. in English only because he was Italian-American, and he claimed the market was fatally biased against him as a result.

Someone else then proceeded to name Italian-American English professors in the English departments at almost every prestigious major research university, and he still doubled down, even faced with all that evidence to the contrary. He had made up his mind as to why he had failed, and nothing was going to change his mind that it was only because he was Italian-American, even though he had no proof that was the case.

I didn’t realize you were in a minority group if you were Greek...

I guess that agent never heard of Olympia Dukakis.

Nia is doing the best she can.

Those darn feta eaters.

She's not pretty, she doesn't have a good figure, nobody in Hollywood gets work when they're unattractive and fat. It has nothing to do with her family being Greek.

She is fat.

[quote]nobody in Hollywood gets work when they're unattractive and fat

Oh yeah?

THey never told her it was becasue she was Greek. There was an anti-Greek race riot in Omaha iun 1909, but because Greeks sometimes have gangsters to protect them they are rarely singled out for discrimination.

“Those big minorities” meanwhile they were being played by Italians half the time.

Jennifer Aniston is a huge star, so I don’t buy the “it’s because I’m Greek” sob story. Let’s face it, Nia is chubby and talentless.

μελάνι.

Good people? They're Greeks, and Greeks are just Jews without money.

Jerri Blank

Yes, the Italians were popular because they made such excellent American Indians in westerns.

She’s a one-trick Trojan horse.

Nia is Greek. She wouldn't be playing Indians, she'd be playing East Asians with heavy eye makeup.

Poor Nia.

r34 I thought those parts were reserved for Puerto Ricans.

I don’t remember Rossano Brazzi, Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren or Gina Lollobrigida playing Indians. Must have missed that.

"My Big Fat Chip On the Shoulder"

She's still bitter about that time all of America stood up and said "NO" to My Big Fat Greek Life.

Maybe she and Yahoo Serious can start a support group.

One of the kindest, most generous and down-to-earth people you’ll ever meet.

She should stop being nice and stick to writing!

r31, it was Amy Sedaris's brother David who wrote that in one of his early books. That "Greeks are just Jews with no money," he attributed to a redneck neighbor in North Carolina. It sent me into a tailspin. My Greek-American Mom and I couldn't stop laughing. I ended up taking her, my stepfather, who'd never been on an airplane since WWII, and my partner to my grandparent's village on a remote island in the Aegean about a year later (late1990's) where we were joined by some of my best friends and a few cousins. We met my Mom's surviving first and second cousins. Every local was related to us in some way, which was genetically frightening. It was absolute chaos, drama, and joy -- but just another day in my family.

The preview of Nia's third installment reminds me of that visit. Looks like a high production. Can't wait to see it. MBFGW pretty much bored me. It was filled with cliches -- most of them completely identical to my Greek experience (ex, I painted my own house blue and white and my name is Nick, for starters). My partner and friends thought it was a scream - the movie came out after our trip to Greece and they ate it up. Skipped the second film due to bad reviews. This third one one looks fun. Andrea Martin deserves Greek citizenship.

She must have made over half a billion from MBFGW.

What a complainer.

She looks like a cross-eyed horse. Maybe she should have auditioned for Equus.

Greeks are usually just cast as Italians in movies.

I think the problem is she looks like Kathy Najimy and tried to go for leading lady roles.

That's funny. I work all the time because I do lots of greek.

R17, every one of them is half Greek by ancestry, unless I'm mistaken. Given that she's talking about the "ambiguity" of the Greek ethnic phenotype in America, that's relevant.

None of that statement makes sense. You're not one of the big minorities like Puerto Ricans or Hispanics. Um - Puerto Ricans ARE Hispanics?

Most character actors are not fat.

Lastly, "Therefore, you are fired." - So she GOT jobs and then they fired her for being Greek?

This sounds all completely made up.

She blames her being ugly on Greek ancestry. This is self-loathing. She made a choice to get that terrible perm.

No it’s because she was almost fat for white girl Hollywood standards. I wish people would just be real.

I liked the one where she's a tour guide. That movie was actually funny so I'm guessing she didn't write it.

Her pussy smelled like Tzatziki, but at least she was hideous than Sarah Jessica.

It's just a rehash of Mamma Mia 2. They should sue Nia for plagiarism.

So she's trying to blame "Hispanics and Puerto Ricans"....not cool.

Jennifer Aniston is Greek

Melinda Karmakesikis and John Stamosthemopolis did okay.

“Nia Vardalos claims work dried up, cancels herself in the process…”

I find it funny that her Melinda's wiki she was originally going to play the lead in My Big fat Greek wedding but she couldn't because of her pregnancy which I guess would have made her too fat for the role but then they replace her with the fat girl anyway so

She isn’t pretty enough for Hollywood (or possessed of a unique talent that would make up for a lack of looks). It sucks, but it is what it is.

I didn’t make it I music for the same reason. You have to be decorative, and you have to suck the right dicks.

Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is also Greek. And she found plenty of jobs.

She doesn’t look Greek. Neither does Jennifer Aniston.

Yeah, as a Greek-American man I have to say this is ridiculous. There is a certain amount of WASP bigotry against us. But overall we have white privilege and only an idiot would treat us as a nonwhite minority.

And yes, Jennifer Aniston looks Greek. She has that 'look'. Lol. I guess you have to be Greek to see it.

But she has always played non-Greeks.

Why does Nia make herself the most boring and unsympathetic character? And why does Armenian Andrea Martin always get the best lines?

"I'm persecuted. People judge me. The system is broken."

next.

She’s so full of shit she should be ashamed. She’s too damn old to join the victim Olympics and use that as a marketing tool for herself like these younger generations. She didn’t get work because she’s average looking with an average screen presence. She’s had tremendous success compared to 90% of the people who come to Hollywood hoping to have a career in acting.

[quote]It's just a rehash of Mamma Mia 2. They should sue Nia for plagiarism.

Then the writers of "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell" can sue the writers of "Mamma Mia."

What R66 said. The bitch is 61 and got extremely lucky, late in failed career, and now has a greek oil tanker sized pool of money. Shut up.

I think that Dump told Putin, who told Iran, who told Hamas on how to get around Israeli defenses. I am 100 percent sure of this. Putin is running the show. He is sowing chaos around the world where he can and is biding his time re Ukraine. He’s betting there is no appetite for two wars and the US will focus support in Israel.

This is the conversation Dump had privately with Putin. I can’t figure out any way this can be investigated or proven, but I’m so sure this is what happened.

I know you posted on the wrong thread r69, but I have to ask. You really think Jared would have no knowledge of trump’s wheeling and dealing with Putin in regards to Israel?

Hah r70 that’s hysterical! Makes me really realize how diverse the threads on DL are. Rather than post my answer here, I’ll repost the above in the latest Treason thread as well as my answer.

CHEEBUGGER, CHEEBUGGER, CHEEBUGGER!

r6,r16, r45, r62 are spot-on. You look "ethnic," and yet White. Big nose, big eyes, unibrow, and many of us have jet black hair until a certain age, of course. I'm often confused with being Jewish or Palestinian. There's something that's just slightly off. Grew up in a mostly Asian (Chinese and Japanese Americans) neighborhood in San Francisco and my best friends constantly joked that when God invented me, he just chose a random (oversized) nose to stick on me, as if I were a Mr. Potato Head. Greeks do have a particular "look" and we do recognize each other, like Greekdar.

Nia Vardalos opened up many dialogues for Greeks. My long-time partner was Chicano. I took him to Greece and he took me to Mexico to meet our respective families in the 1990's. While neither family accepted each other as being of each others' ethnicity and that each of us were supposed to just marry women (especially second or third cousins) and bear children, the family vibe was identical.

I enjoyed MBFGW 3 and wish Nia Vardalos well. She's probably the most influential Greek person at the moment. My current hezbear, who's French Canadian, say that she needs to do produce and star in a documentary about Nana Mouskouri ASAP. Wear those goddamned glasses and speak the 43 languages, now, guurl!

Greece is The Word!

Jews without money. Accurate. The two women I know of Greek backgrounds are the nastiest women I’ve ever met. And they’re no oil paintings either.

Big deal! I can’t get any roles because they keep telling me I look too young!!

No it's because your dancing is too advanced for the choreographers available for hire CZJ!

r73 My mother's side of the family are San Francisco Greeks too.

r73 Great to see a Hellenic brother here!

But I don't have a unibrow! I dunno, the Greek look to me is something about the eyes and cheek bones. And many of us are quite fair.

There is a certain amount of bias against non-Anglos in American society. That is true.

I live in Hollywood and we used to get roles playing Latinos! But now with diversity awareness they're leery of casting white Greek actors in those roles.

But overall, I don't think we can complain.

No wonder John Stamos has trouble finding work! He’s Greek!

R78 = George Chakiris

God, you people! You think she doesn't know she's successful? She's not complaining just to hear herself talk (like some of you make a lifetime's habit of doing). It's an excellent lesson: don't take no for an answer if you are passionate and believe that you have something to give the world. Practice, stick to it, don't give up, and success will follow. It's inspiring.

Would she have had more success as Nia Vardaliani?

She could have had a great career playing the fat, funny girlfriend. The only way to get a romantic lead was to produce it herself. Somebody went to see them.

Theo James had to drop his very Greek surname to get into Hollywood. No one would take him and once he was simply “Theo James” that changed.

Translation - I am not really talented but will blame it on being discrimination.

She's as dry as Greek yogurt.

Whatever that means.

… and ugly!

These victim excuses are tiring.

[quote] You have to be decorative, and you have to suck the right dicks.

Tell me about it. I've had to live with TMJ for the past 50 fucking years!

[quote] My mother's side of the family are San Francisco Greeks too.

Does that make them doubly gay?

Stupid Greek troll! Fuck off!

Nina, we all know why you couldn't get a job in Hollywood.

r90 There are 13 in my generation (my mother had seven siblings; we're their children). As far as I know, only two turned out to be gay.

I was friends with her in high school. She was warm, overweight, and hilarious at 16. I am not surprised by her success and she actually did a fact stand out as ethnic then. It was Winnipeg after all.

The most Greek looking person was George Michael

[quote]She's as dry as Greek yogurt.

[quote]Whatever that means.

No whey, r86.

anti-Hellenism is a huge problem.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Connie and Carla" yet...