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Sofía Vergara
Sofía Vergara at the 2009 American Music Awards
Born	Sofía Margarita Vergara July 10, 1972 (1972-07-10) (age 37) Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia
Other name(s)	La Toti
Occupation	Actress/Model
Years active	1995–present
Official website

Sofía Margarita Vergara¹ (born July 10, 1972) is a Colombian model, actress and entrepreneur. She was raised bilingual in English and Spanish, making her transition simple from being a performer in Latin America in Spanish to becoming one in the United States in English. Dubbed "Sofia Viagra",²³ Vergara was already rather well-known in North America from her modeling work, and her first notable acting job in English was in the movie Chasing Papi.

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Career 3 Filmography 4 References 5 External links

Personal life

Vergara was born in Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia.² Her mother is a homemaker and her father produced cattle for the meat industry.⁴⁵ "Toti"¹ was the nickname given to Vergara by her five brothers and sisters and many cousins, including television news anchor and reporter Carlos Vergara, who works for WTVJ in Miami, Florida. She grew up in her hometown of Barranquilla and was raised in a well-off family, attending a private bilingual Spanish/English school. Vergara was married at the age of 18 to her childhood sweetheart,² and she gave birth to her son Manolo Gonzalez-Ripoll Vergara September 16, 1992⁶ at the age of 20.⁴ After her divorce, Vergara studied pre-dentistry at a university in Colombia for three years.⁴ Then, many opportunities arose to work in modeling and in show business, and Vergara decided to pursue these in Latin America. Soon she decided to move to Miami, Florida, to take advantage of opportunities and to move away from unrest in Colombia (her older brother⁷ had been murdered in 1998¹ during an attempt to kidnap him that went awry).⁴ She brought her son, mother, and sister with her.

Career

Vergara was discovered by a photographer while walking on a Colombian beach. Soon she was presented with attractive offers in modeling and television work, and she considered accepting them. Having been raised rather conservatively and religiously, this was confusing at first. According to an article in the January 2002 issue of Maxim, Vergara was "apprehensive about doing her first television commercial—until her Catholic schoolteachers gave her their personal permission to take the assignment."⁸ Vergara made her first appearance as a performer at the age of 17 in a Pepsi commercial that was widely broadcast in Latin America.⁹ In order to support her son, mother, and younger siblings who needed her financial support in the absence of her father, who had left the family, Vergara dropped out of college to earn an income.

Vergara moved to Bogotá Colombia, at the age of 20, where she worked as a model on the runway and on television. From 1995 to 1999, she was co-host with Fernando Fiore on Fuera de Serie ("Out of the Ordinary" or "Over-the-Top"), a travel series that sent her to exotic places around the world. It was telecast on the international Univision Spanish-language television network, and it made her a star in the Latin American market. It also gave Vergara television exposure in the United States via the Univision stations there. She co-hosted the Univision show A que no te atreves ("I Dare You"). She appeared as a guest star in the season-four opening of the HBO series Entourage.

Besides runway and catalog modeling work, Vergara did independent projects. She was photographed for posters and swimsuit calendars in 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Vergara is 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) tall, and she has naturally light brown/sunbleached-blonde hair⁶ (for movies and television, she is sometimes asked to color it brunette to make her look more typically Latina). Vergara was under an exclusive television contract with Univision for several years, and after it expired she accepted a role with the ABC network in the United States. Vergara appeared on the ABC situation comedies Hot Properties and The Knights of Prosperity. She currently stars on the ABC sitcom Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett.

Vergara plays Alicia Oviedo in the Colombian version of the television show Desperate Housewives, which is called Amas de Casa Desesperadas—her character is the equivalent of Mary Alice Young. She also appeared on the ABC drama Dirty Sexy Money as Jeremy Darling's love interest. Vergara has made guest appearances in the Mexican telenovela Fuego En La Sangre.

In 2002, Vergara was diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer.²

In 2008, Vergara was 62 on Maxim magazine's "Hot 100" list.

In 2009, Vergara had a five-week stint on Broadway as "Mama" Morton in the revival of Chicago.

In November 2009, Vergara appeared as a guest on U.S. television talk show The View. During her appearance the women asked her how she handles looking so young and having an 18-year-old son. She then made a joke saying she can just say she was raped when she was thirteen, to explain why she looks so young. It was meant as reference to typical storylines in Spanish soap operas.¹⁰ In the awkward video footage Vergara is seen laughing while host Whoopi Goldberg gasps in astonishment.¹¹

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Big Trouble	Nina
2003	Chasing Papi	Cici
2004	The 24th Day	Isabella
	Soul Plane	Blanca
2005	Lords of Dogtown	Amelia
	Four Brothers	Sofi
2005	Grilled	Loridonna
2006	National Lampoon's Pledge This	Herself
2008	Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns	Cheryl
2009	Madea Goes to Jail	T.T.
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Baywatch	Herself	1 episode
2002	My Wife and Kids	Selma	1 episode
2004	Eve	April Perez	1 episode
	Rodney	Carmen	1 episode
2005	Hot Properties	Lola Hernandez	Main Cast
	Punk'd	Herself	1 episode
2007	Entourage	Jungle Girl	1 episode
	Amas de Casa Desesperadas	Alicia Oviedo	Main Cast
	The Knights of Prosperity	Esperanza Villalobos	Main Cast
	Dirty Sexy Money	Sofia Montoya	4 episodes
2008	Fuego En La Sangre	Leonora	10 episodes
	Men In Trees	Pilar Romero	2 episodes
2009	Dancing with the Stars	Herself	Guest Appearance
2009 - Present	Modern Family	Gloria Delgado-Prichett	Main Cast

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sofía Vergara

• Sofía Vergara at the Internet Movie Database
• Sofia Vergara at Fashion Model Directory
• Sofia Vergara at TV.com
• Picture Gallery Sofia Vergara
• "Interview with actress Sofia Vergara", So Hood Magazine, October 15, 2008
• Churchville, Sarah. "Sofia Vergara", South Beach Magazine, no date
• "Q&A Sessions: Sofia Vergara", nocheLatina.com, May 5, 2009

Persondata
NAME	Vergara, Sofía
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Vergara, Sofía Margarita
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Model and actress
DATE OF BIRTH	July 10, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH	Barranquilla, Atlantico Department, Colombia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH