Nia Vardalos

The candid and honest and pure heartedness of children has strengthened my views that we are all equal and should be afforded the basic human rights that we all deserve.

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.

America was founded on immigrants. The immigrant experience is common to all of us.

I think there is a moment in every parent's life where we realize that we have lost ourselves a little bit. It's a moment of looking in the mirror and going, 'I need to put on some lipstick.'

On my daughter's first day of kindergarten, another mom said something that made me realize I had become my own Greek, suffocating mother. She said, 'Just think, in 13 years they'll leave us and go to college!' And I went, 'Gulp.'

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

The media was always so focused on the money a movie makes. But I was in Times Square, and a bunch of Japanese tourists looked at me and started shouting, 'Toula!' I loved it. It's these tiny moments of connection that register with me the most and always have.

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

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.

There are benefits to adopting a toddler. They can tell you what's wrong. And - everything we did with our daughter was a first. Her first tooth fairy. Santa.

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

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 think it's almost easier to do a kissing scene with someone you don't know.

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.

I grew up looking for myself onscreen and never could find myself. And I believe that I am supposed to be Toula to show people that it's O.K. to be different.

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

There's a feeling sometimes in motherhood that you're alone in what you're going through, and none of us are alone. We're all going through the same thing.

We live in an unsafe world.

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.

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