Share on Facebook
50 facts you didn't know about actress and singer Rita Wilson.
1. Rita Wilson first donned her producers cap for the record breaking box-office hit, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
2. Wilson was the driving force behind bringing Nia Vardalos' semi-autobiographical story to the screen with Vardalos as the lead.
3. Rita was honored with the Visionary Award from the Producer's Guild of America, and the film won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy, as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.
4. Rita is the producer of the 2008 Universal Studios film version of the hit ABBA stage musical Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.
5. Seeing the play Mamma Mia!, in London soon after it opened, and loving the energy of ABBA's music, Rita felt immediately that it could be a wonderful movie. She got the ball rolling on the film before the play made it to audiences outside of the U.K.
6. As an actor, Rita has starred in Homework, Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams, and starred in Beautiful, Ohio with William Hurt.
7. Some of her other film credits include The Chumbscrubber, with Ralph Fiennes, Raise Your Voice with Hilary Duff, Auto Focus with Greg Kinnear, The Story of Us with Michelle Pfeiffer and Bruce Willis, Runaway Bride with Richard Gere, Gus Van Sant's Psycho, Nora Ephron's Mixed Nuts with Steve Martin.
8. She starred in Sleepless in Seattle in which she captured the hearts of film audiences everywhere with her now classic, crying scene.
9. On stage, Rita recently starred in the world premiere of Lisa Loomer's DISTRACTED, directed by Leonard Foglia at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
10. She also starred in the Pulitzer Prize winning play DINNER WITH FRIENDS in Los Angeles and Boston, directed by Dan Sullivan.
11. In 2006, she made a personal dream come true and made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in CHICAGO, THE MUSICAL.
12. Rita works with the Shakespeare Festival/LA, a charity that provides free Shakespeare to the citizens of Los Angeles, as well providing educational programs for youths in the community.
13. On television, She has appeared this season in The Good Wife, has foiled Larry David in "The Doll" episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", has been girlfriend and mother to Kelsey Grammar's "Frasier", and co-starred as Susan Borman in HBO's Emmy award winning miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon".
14. Rita has "The Brady Bunch" to thank for her first professional acting job.
15. In 2007 Rita made her directorial debut for Glamour Magazine's Reel Moments.
16. The Trap, starring Jeanne Tripplehorn and Channing Tatum also includes the song "Lessons Learned" by Grammy award winning songwriter Diane Warren, and is performed by Rita.
17. Rita has been a contributing editor to Harper's Bazaar since 2006.
18. She has also written for Oprah Magazine, as well as appearing on The Oprah Show Fabulous at Every Age, talking about style and fashion.
19. She is Editor at Large of Huff/Post50, a new vertical on the Huffington Post related to Baby Boomers.
20. Rita is currently writing her first screenplay Terms Of Embarrassment for Fox 2000.
21. Her mother was Greek, born and raised in Sotire near Dropull i Sipërm in Albania, near the border of Greece.
22. Her father, Hassan Halilov Ibrahimoff, was a Pomak, born in Breshtene in the province of Western Thrace, Greece.
23. Her father's half-brother Ferhat lives in Bulgaria.
24. Her father changed his name from Hassan Ibrahimoff to Allan Wilson in 1960, choosing his name after a local street.
25. Wilson's career began with a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch in the 1972 episode "Greg's Triangle," where she played one of the candidates running against Marcia for head cheerleader.
26. 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.
27. She played Susan Borman, wife of astronaut Frank Borman, in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
28. On television, she guest starred in many television series, including Frasier, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Wife, Body of Proof, and Girls.
29. Wilson's long-standing interest in singing led her to record a debut solo album, AM/FM, which she released May 8, 2012, on the Decca Records label.
30. 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.
31. Rita was raised in the Greek Orthodox faith.
32. Her father in addition to his Bulgarian could speak "Russian, Turkish, Polish, Greek, little a bit of Italian, little a bit of french" according to Rita's husband Tom Hanks, he based his character from the movie The Terminal on his father-in-law.
33. Wilson married actor Tom Hanks in 1988.
34. The couple have two sons, Chester and Truman.
35. Wilson has two stepchildren, Colin and Elizabeth Hanks.
36. She contributed to the Moffitt Cancer Center by donating "True Hearts" jewelry made of sterling silver and 14k gold.
37. Wilson has credited Rosie O'Donnell as inspiration for her charitable work, particularly with cancer and children's charities.
38. She is a devout member of the Greek Orthodox Church.
39. In April 2015, Wilson announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had undergone a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
40. After a one-month hiatus, she returned to Larry David's "Fish in the Dark" Broadway show.
41. In 2015 Wilson signed an open letter which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively, which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.
42. Her son, Colin Hanks directed a new documentary on Tower Records called All Things Must Pass. It opened on Friday October 16, 2015.
43. Met her husband Tom Hanks on the set of Bosom Buddies.
44. Their relationship was kindled when Hanks and Wilson reunited on the set of Volunteers.
45. Her father worked at the racetrack.
46. She has older sister and a younger brother.
47. Her sister Lily is a teacher.
48. Her brother Chris Wilson is one of the composers for My big fat Greek wedding.
49. She never wanted to be a big star, she just wanted to keep on working.
50. Attended Hollywood High School in California and later studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in England.
