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Rita Wilson Biography & Facts

Margarita Wilson Hanks (née Ibrahimoff; October 26, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and producer. Her film appearances include Volunteers (1985), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Now and Then (1995), That Thing You Do! (1996), Jingle All the Way (1996), The Story of Us (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), It's Complicated (2009), and Larry Crowne (2011), and she appeared in the television series The Good Wife and Girls. Wilson has performed on Broadway and produced several films, including My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). As a singer-songwriter, Wilson has released the albums AM/FM, Rita Wilson, Bigger Picture, and Halfway to Home. In March 2019, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Early life Rita Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimoff in Los Angeles where she grew up. Her mother, Dorothea Tzigkou (Greek: Δωροθέα Τζίγκου), was Greek, raised in Sotirë near Dropull i Sipërm in Albania, close to the border with Greece. Her father, Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff (Bulgarian: Хасан Халилов Ибрахимов; 1920–2009), was a Bulgarian Muslim (Pomak) born in Oraio (Breshtene), Greece, close to the border with Bulgaria. Her father's family moved to Bulgaria when he was a child. He moved from Bulgaria to the US in 1949. He converted from Islam to Orthodox Christianity upon his marriage and changed his name to Allan Wilson in 1960, choosing his name after a local street. The family lived in Los Angeles, where Wilson's father worked as a bartender. Wilson was raised in the Greek Orthodox faith. In addition to Bulgarian, her father could speak "Russian, Turkish, Polish, Greek, a little bit of Italian, a little bit of French" according to Wilson's husband Tom Hanks, who said he modeled his portrayal of the character Viktor Navorski in the film The Terminal on his father-in-law. Career Film, television, theater Wilson's career began with a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch in the 1972 episode "Greg's Triangle," where she played Pat Conway, one of the candidates running against Marcia Brady for head cheerleader. She also twice appeared on M*A*S*H in 1982 as Nurse Lacey as well as the sitcoms Three's Company and Bosom Buddies starring her future husband Tom Hanks, and as Hester Rose Crane, the deceased mother of Frasier Crane on Frasier. In the 1980s, Wilson attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in England. She has appeared in numerous films, including Volunteers, Barbarians at the Gate, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Mixed Nuts, Sleepless in Seattle, Now and Then, That Thing You Do!, Jingle All the Way, Runaway Bride, Invisible Child, The Story of Us, Raise Your Voice, It's Complicated, and Larry Crowne. On television, she played Susan Borman, wife of astronaut Frank Borman, in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. She guest starred in many series, including Frasier, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Body of Proof, and had recurring roles on The Good Wife and Girls. She was instrumental in helping actress-playwright Nia Vardalos get the 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. Wilson produced two stage productions of the play, as they were developing the film. A sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which Wilson co-produced and in which she had a supporting role, was released in 2016. Wilson's own Greek heritage was honored in 2016 when the Greek Postal Service ELTA commemorated her with a stamp along with five others. The other four depicted on stamps were the filmmaker Costa-Gavras, engineer and entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, journalist George Stephanopoulos, and billionaire businessman John Catsimatidis. In 2008, Wilson produced the film Mamma Mia!, and eight years later its sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. In 2006, Wilson made her Broadway debut where she performed the role of Roxie Hart in the revival of Chicago. In April 2015, Wilson announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. After a one-month hiatus, she returned to Larry David's Fish in the Dark Broadway show. Off Broadway, she played various roles in Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's play Love, Loss and What I Wore. She reprised her roles in the Los Angeles production at the Geffen Playhouse. Also at the Geffen, Wilson performed in Daniel Margulies' Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Dinner with Friends, directed by Tony Award winner Dan Sullivan. Wilson originated the role of "Mama" in the world premier of Lisa Loomer's play, Distracted, at the Mark Taper Forum, also in Los Angeles. In March 2020, while filming in Australia, Hanks announced through his Instagram profile that the couple had contracted COVID-19 and were experiencing minor symptoms while he was shooting an upcoming film Elvis (as Colonel Tom Parker) with director Baz Luhrmann in Australia. Before they were returned to quarantine, they were admitted to the Gold Coast University Hospital. On March 27, Wilson and her husband returned home to Los Angeles after they recovered from the virus. The couple decided to donate their blood antibodies for virus research. Wilson produced the film A Man Called Otto, initially released in December 2022. Wilson became interested in producing the film after watching A Man Called Ove, the Swedish film upon which A Man Called Otto is based. The film was sold to Sony Pictures in February 2022 for $60 million, at that time the largest deal to date at the virtual European Film Market. In December, Wilson launched her production company Artistic Films, with A Man Called Otto as the company's first project. Music Wilson's debut solo album AM/FM was released on May 8, 2012, on Decca Records. The album featured classics from the 1960s/70s, including a cover of "Wichita Lineman" that she performed with the song's writer-composer Jimmy Webb. She also performed a duet of "All I Have To Do Is Dream" with former Soundgarden and Audioslave musician Chris Cornell. Additional harmonies on the album come from Faith Hill, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, and Patti Scialfa (who also produced the track "Come See About Me" with Ron Aniello). At the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC on December 4, 2014, she performed for President Obama and Michelle Obama, and served as co-host of the event. In 2016, Wilson began writing her own songs with the help of co-writer, the Grammy-nominated Kara Dioguardi. The first song she wrote and sang was "Grateful" (later appearing on the self-titled album, Rita Wilson) with Dioguardi and Jason Reeves. Earlier, in 2014, Wilson wrote the song "Bad Things" with Matt Nathanson, for the Scott Eastwood film Dawn Patrol, in which she also starred. That same year, her second album, Rita Wilson, was released. Wilson co-wrote all the songs on the album with Dan Wilson, Kara Dioguardi, Jason Reeves, Darrell Brown, Sugarland's Kristian Bush, Richard Marx, Lauren Christy, Mikal Blue, .... Discover the Rita Wilson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Rita Wilson books.