Rita Wilson (born October 26, 1956)
[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 October 26, 1956.[1]] is an American actress and
producer.
Early life
Wilson was born
Margarita Ibrahimova in
Los Angeles, California. Her father, a
Pomak (
Muslim Bulgarian)
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;
her mother, Dorothy, was born and raised in an ethnic
Greek village (Sotira) on the
Albanian side of the border.
["My Big, Fat, Greek Mystery" – Terry Mattingly on religion.] Wilson's family changed their surname from "Ibrahimoff" to "Wilson," which was a name of a local street in
Southern California.
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 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!,
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 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' 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, with whom she has had 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.
[H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute] She is a member of the
Greek Orthodox Church.
In the director's cut of the Tom Hanks film
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 reference to Wilson's real-life first name.
Filmography
