Biography
Who is Rita Wilson?
Early life and heritage
Rita Wilson was born Margarita Ibrahimoff on October 26, 1956, in Hollywood, California. Her mother, Dorothea Tzigkou, was of Greek descent and grew up in Albania near the Greek border. Her father, Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff, was a Bulgarian Muslim born in Greece who later moved to Bulgaria before settling in the United States in 1949.
After arriving in America, her father converted to Orthodox Christianity and changed his name to Allan Wilson in 1960. The family lived in Los Angeles where her father worked as a bartender. Rita was raised in the Greek Orthodox faith and attended Hollywood High School. Her husband, Tom Hanks, later noted that her father spoke multiple languages including Russian, Turkish, and Polish, and he used this as inspiration for his character in the film The Terminal.
Acting career and television roles
Her professional acting career began with a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch in 1972. Throughout the 1980s and beyond, she appeared in various television series, including M*A*S*H, Three's Company, and Bosom Buddies. She also played the deceased mother of Frasier Crane on the show Frasier. Later, she took on recurring roles in the television series The Good Wife and Girls, and portrayed Susan Borman in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
On the big screen, her film credits are extensive. She appeared in Volunteers, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Mixed Nuts, Sleepless in Seattle, Now and Then, That Thing You Do!, Jingle All the Way, Runaway Bride, The Story of Us, It's Complicated, and Larry Crowne. Her stage work is equally well-known, including her Broadway debut in 2006 as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago. She also starred in Larry David's play Fish in the Dark on Broadway in 2015.
Production and music work
Rita Wilson became a significant force as a film producer, most especially for the 2002 movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which became a highly successful independent film. She also produced its sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, and the musical films Mamma Mia! And Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. In 2022, she founded her production company, Artistic Films, and produced the movie A Man Called Otto.
As a musical artist, she released her debut solo album AM/FM in 2012, which featured covers of classic songs. She followed this with her self-titled album in 2016, where she co-wrote the tracks. Her third album, Bigger Picture, arrived in 2018, followed by Halfway to Home in 2019. This fourth album included a song called Throw Me a Party, which was inspired by her personal experience surviving breast cancer.
Personal life
She is married to actor Tom Hanks, and the couple has two children named Chet and Truman. In 2015, she publicly shared that she underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after a breast cancer diagnosis, which required her to take a hiatus from her Broadway performance in Fish in the Dark.
In March 2020, while in Australia for the filming of the movie Elvis, she and her husband announced they had contracted COVID-19. They were treated at the Gold Coast University Hospital and subsequently returned to Los Angeles after recovering. Following their recovery, the pair donated their blood antibodies to assist with ongoing virus research.
Birthday and age
Rita Wilson was born on October 26, 1956, which makes Rita 70 years old today. That birthday falls under the Scorpio sign. Rita shares the date with 53 other famous people.
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