VIDEO: Nia Vardalos Accepts BroadwayWorld Award For Best Performance by a Female in a Featured Role (Musical)

BroadwayWorld Toronto is pleased to bring another video in a series of acceptance speeches from our 2014 BroadwayWorld Award Winners! The BroadwayWorld Awards are an award decided by the fans - from nominations all the way to selecting the final winner.

Nia Vardalos accepts her award for Best Performance by a Female in a Featured Role (Musical) for Theatre20's production of COMPANY in the video!

Nia Vardalos was born on September 24, 1962 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. An outgoing girl since childhood, Vardalos began her professional acting career at the Rainbow Stage, a local theater company that helped her land a scholarship to Toronto's Ryerson University in 1986. Two years later, she join Toronto's Second City theater troupe, moving to Chicago's Second City stage shortly thereafter. After moving to Los Angeles to continue acting, Vardalos received bit parts on such sitcoms asThe Drew Carey Show.

Drawing on her eccentric Greek upbringing, as well as stories shared by her Greek friends, Vardalos soon began penning a stage play entitled My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The one-woman play drew the attention of actress Rita Wilson and husband Tom Hanks who agreed to turn it into a film. For a paltry $5 million, My Big Fat Greek Wedding debuted in 2002 to become the sleeper hit of the year. With virtually no television or buildboard advertising, the independent film drew record numbers by sheer word-of-mouth momentum. In February 2003, CBS briefly ran a follow-up sitcom My Big Fat Greek Life, which featured much of the same cast. In 2004, Vardalos wrote and costarred in another film, Connie and Carla, about two women who go undercover as drag queens.

Vardalos married actor Ian Gomez in September 1993.

Check BroadwayWorld Toronto soon for more awards coverage, including acceptances from more winners