Rita Wilson
| Rita Wilson | |
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 Rita Wilson, September 2008 |
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| Born | October 26, 1956 (1956-10-26) (age 52) Los Angeles, California, United States |
Rita Wilson (born October 26, 1956)[1] is an American film and stage actress and producer. She is the wife of actor Tom Hanks.
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Biography
Early life
Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimov in Los Angeles, California. Her father, a Pomak (Muslim Bulgarian)[2] who worked at a racetrack, was born in Greece; he later converted to Orthodoxy. Before emigrating to the U.S., he had lived in Bulgaria and Turkey;[3] her mother, Dorothy, was born and raised in a Greek village on the Albanian border.[4] Wilson's family changed their surname from "Ibrahimoff" to "Wilson," which was a name of a local street in Southern California.[5]
Career
Wilson's career began with a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch, and was followed by appearances on several shows during the 1970s and 1980s.
She has also appeared in several movies, including Volunteers, Teen Witch, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Barbarians at the Gate, Mixed Nuts, Sleepless in Seattle, Now and Then, That Thing You Do!, Frasier, Jingle All the Way, Runaway Bride, Invisible Child, The Story of Us and Raise Your Voice. She played Susan Borman, wife of astronaut Frank Borman, in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
Wilson has also performed on Broadway, where she performed the role of Roxie Hart from June-August 2006 in the revival of Chicago.
She is often credited with being the driving force behind Nia Vardalos's movie deal for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which became the highest-grossing independent film of all time, and for which she served as a producer.
Personal life
She has been married to Tom Hanks since April 1988, and has two children. She contributed to the Moffitt Cancer Center by donating "True Hearts" jewelry made of sterling silver and 14k gold. The proceeds will benefit several charities. Wilson credits good friend Rosie O'Donnell as inspiration for her charitable work, particularly with cancer and children's charities.[6] She is also a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Wilson is reported to have coached her husband, actor Tom Hanks, to speak basic Bulgarian phrases which he used in the film The Terminal to portray the fictional Krakozhian language.[7]
In the director's cut of her husband Tom Hanks' movie That Thing You Do!, her brief appearance as a cocktail waitress named Marguerite has another scene, in which main character Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) drunkenly calls her Margarita, a play on Wilson's real-life first name.
References
- ^ Birth date confirmed at the State of California, California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Date of birth for Margarita Ibrahimoff in Los Angeles, California is 26 October 1956.[1]
- ^ Welkos, Robert (2002-10-06). "Sending up the Greek in spirit", The Age. Retrieved on 10 October 2008. "… my father is Bulgarian."
- ^ "Rita Wilson", Yahoo!. Retrieved on 7 October 2007.
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- ^ H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
- ^ "Tom Hanks Career Highlights". Who's Dated Who?. Retrieved on 2008-09-04.
External links
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