Nia Vardalos Quotes

I'll never forget the day when a woman came up to me and said, 'No, you could never be on a magazine cover. Your face features don't work; your eyes are small, you have a small face but a big nose.' I was only 14 and I had never noticed any of that stuff, you know?

It's ridiculous that we are in a place where we feel like we can classify and dismiss certain groups of people just because of the way they look, or we have these standards of health - like, cellulite is something you need to get rid of. No, it isn't. It's just a part of people's bodies.

There was a solid six-month period where I was going out on castings and I was laughed out of the room because I'm much more petite than other models.

Every agency would mention my hips. I remember looking at the other models and thinking, 'I do not look like these girls.'

A lot of beautiful women that I have come across are the most insecure.

I grew up with a lot of body image issues - not just about my weight, but I would always see these perfect orb, domed boobs on television, and think, "Mine don't look like that." I thought there was something wrong with me.

As an actress, I was never thin enough, never pretty enough. My boobs weren't big enough.

We are a nation of people who are afraid we are not enough.

Sweden is a great country. What is not so great is that we have a society that, in a way, says it's great if you don't look right, if you don't look left, if you just look straight forward.

I was known for being talented, but I was still the fat girl. And it wasn't what people were looking for. There's a lot that you hear. There's a lot of cruelty out there. Some of it comes from the executive offices. It comes from other artists at times. It was a very difficult thing to overcome.

Our idea of a healthy body is so destabilised that insecure people have come to bolster their own bodies by deeming others - those with fat bodies - less worthy, less capable and less employable.

I'm being mocked because I don't live up to a socially determined view of what other people think a person should look like.

My goal was always to be recognized as a good actor but no one was interested in that, simply because society just wants to warm towards your appearance. This is the great blemish of society.

Beverly Hills is too intimidating. Everyone's got lovely teeth, so you don't want to smile. Everyone's ripped, so you start working out at 4 in the morning and eating egg white omelets.

As long as ugly people are not on TV, you should only ever have interesting people on TV.

I have this complex that if I walk into a place wearing a colorful shirt someone will stop me and say, 'I'm sorry, but the Latin band comes through the other door.'

In Hollywood, no one is happy with who they are. When they're young, they want to look older. When they're older, they're getting botox shot in their face to look younger.

But I've lost parts because of my looks. I auditioned to star with Richard Dreyfuss in 'The Buddy System.' The producers said no one would believe he would leave me for another woman. They just couldn't see me with him.

We see these cute, perfect bombshells that make me feel like I'm not good enough, I'm not pretty enough. I don't think I could pull off playing a person like that, and do I want to? I don't know.

I felt ashamed about everything. Me dropping out of high school, me not, you know, just not being beautiful enough. I just didn't feel like I was smart enough or beautiful enough, you know, for years.

If I were old, fat and ugly, I don't know if anybody would be interested in me.

Why would anyone want to be called a size zero or even aspire to being a zero? I don't even understand the thinking behind it, let alone the practicalities. What is all that about?

Guys blow my looks up more than I ever would. I guess I have issues with myself. I don't think I'm as pretty as everybody thinks.

Pretty people aren't as accepted as other people. It's like, 'She's pretty and thin and she's got to have problems. She's messed up.'

Until the '90s, major labels were looking for a certain look. This Sony guy told me I was 'too black, too fat, too short, and too old.' Told me to go and bleach my skin. Told me to step in the background and just stay back. I had the voice, but I didn't have the looks.