Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara (born July 10, 1972) is a Colombian-American actress, television producer, presenter and model. She has been the highest paid actress in American television for seven consecutive years, from 2013 to 2020.
Vergara rose to prominence while co-hosting two television shows for Spanish-language television network Univisión in the late 1990s. Her first notable acting job in English was in the film Chasing Papi (2003). She subsequently appeared in Four Brothers (2005) and the comedies Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (2008) and Madea Goes to Jail (2009), receiving an ALMA Award nomination for the latter. In 2009, she began playing Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC comedy series Modern Family, for which she was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Vergara has also had roles in the films The Smurfs (2011), New Year’s Eve (2011), The Three Stooges (2012), Machete Kills (2013), Chef (2014), and Hot Pursuit (2015). She also had voice-over roles in the animated films Happy Feet Two (2011), Escape from Planet Earth (2013) and The Emoji Movie (2017). Since 2020, Vergara has been a judge on America’s Got Talent.
Early life
Vergara was born to a Roman Catholic family in Barranquilla. Her mother, Margarita Vergara de Vergara, was a homemaker, and her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo, was a cattle rancher for the meat industry. She was nicknamed “Toti” by her five siblings and many cousins. Vergara initially studied dentistry for three years at National University of Colombia, but she left two semesters away from completing her degree to pursue opportunities in modeling and show business.
In 1998, her older brother Rafael was murdered during an attempt to kidnap him. Not wanting to be caught in the unrest that resulted in the murder, Vergara emigrated to the United States, settling in Miami, Florida. Her cousin and adopted sister, Sandra, is also a television actress in the United States.
Career
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Vergara at the 2009 American Music Awards
Vergara was discovered by a photographer while walking on a Colombian beach, and she was quickly presented with offers of modeling and television work. She was “apprehensive about doing her first television commercial—until her Catholic schoolteachers gave her their personal permission to take the assignment.” She made her first appearance, aged 17, in a Pepsi commercial aired in Latin America. She then began studies at the Creative Workshops School of Acting, where Gloria Estefan also trained.
In 2011, Vergara was supposed to star in The Paperboy, an independent drama directed by Lee Daniels. When shooting was delayed for a week and conflicted with her shooting schedule for the third season of Modern Family, she dropped out. In July 2011, she finished filming the Farrelly brothers’ The Three Stooges, her first leading role in a major film. She said, “I play a mean woman that tries to manipulate the Three Stooges into killing her husband so that she gets all the money.”
In April 2012, she appeared in her son Manolo’s YouTube web series Vida con Toty. Vergara was the highest-earning woman in U.S. television, earning $19 million for the previous 12 months on a list released by Forbes.com on July 18, 2012. Vergara was named one of People magazine’s “50 most beautiful people”, and named by The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard as one of the most influential Latin women in Hollywood. Vergara received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 7, 2015.
In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting; in the video, Vergara and others told the stories of the people killed there. She stars on the ABC sitcom Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series from 2010 to 2013.
In February 2020, it was announced that Vergara would be a judge on America’s Got Talent, starting with its fifteenth season.
Endorsements
Vergara at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards
In 2011, Vergara was named the face of CoverGirl, with the first advertisements appearing in January 2012. In April 2011, Vergara appeared in a Diet Pepsi commercial with David Beckham and another in January 2012.
In 2011, it was announced that Vergara was designing a clothing line for Kmart targeting soccer moms and appeared in a number of commercials for Comcast’s Xfinity brand and State Farm.
In 2013, she signed endorsement contracts with Diet Pepsi, Rooms to Go, and medicine Synthroid.
In 2014, Vergara became a brand ambassador for American anti-dandruff shampoo brand Head & Shoulders.
In March 2017, Vergara reached a settlement with Venus Concept for alleged improper use of her likeness, which Vergara said created the false impression that she endorsed their beauty products.
Personal life
Vergara in 2011
Vergara has naturally blonde hair. For movies and television, she is sometimes asked to colour her hair dark brown or black to make her look more stereotypically Hispanic.
Vergara was married at the age of 18 to her high-school sweetheart, Joe Gonzalez. They have a son named Manolo, who was born in September 1991. They divorced in 1993.
Vergara was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000. She had her thyroid removed, underwent radioiodine therapy, and made a full recovery. She takes medication to prevent hypothyroidism.
On May 9, 2011, Vergara’s younger brother Julio was deported from the United States to Colombia after being arrested in April that year; Julio also had a longtime drug addiction and previous brushes with the law. Vergara told Parade magazine, “To see somebody dying over 10 years, little by little, that’s the worst punishment. Now he’s like another person.”
Vergara and her boyfriend Nick Loeb became engaged in 2012 after dating for two years. On May 23, 2014, Vergara announced that the engagement had been called off.
Vergara and True Blood star Joe Manganiello became engaged on Christmas Day 2014 after dating for six months. They married in Palm Beach, Florida, on November 21, 2015.
During her December 2014 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Vergara revealed that she had become a United States citizen after getting a perfect score on her citizenship test.
In 2015, Forbes estimated Vergara’s annual income at $28.5 million. As of September 2016, Forbes reported that Vergara was the highest-paid actress in television, bringing in $43 million in the past year.
Embryo lawsuits
From 2015 to 2017, Vergara was involved in a legal dispute regarding the future of two fertilized embryos produced by in vitro fertilization while she was still in a relationship with Loeb; the embryos were kept in storage in cryopreservation in a medical clinic in California. Following the couple’s split in 2014, Loeb filed a lawsuit for custody of the embryos in a California court, but he later dropped that lawsuit when the court demanded that Loeb identify two women who had abortions after he had impregnated them.
In December 2016, a right-to-live lawsuit against Vergara was initiated in Louisiana with Vergara’s embryos as plaintiffs. The embryos were named “Emma” and “Isabella” in the lawsuit, and their “trustee” was listed as James Charbonnet, a New Orleans resident of no relation to Vergara. The intent of the suit was to give the embryos a chance to further develop using a surrogate carrier, hence to be born, and to benefit from an inheritance trust that had been created for them and is administered by Charbonnet. While a contract between Vergara and Loeb had been signed prior to the creation of the embryos stipulating that neither party could use the embryos without the consent of the other, the lawsuit had tried to void this agreement. Loeb had written “Keeping them frozen forever is tantamount to killing them,” in a 2015 op-ed in the New York Times. The suit also tried to terminate parental rights of Vergara because by keeping them in cryopreservation in a medical clinic she allegedly abandoned and neglected the embryos. The legal case was novel and took advantage of Louisiana’s embryo laws; the state passed a law in 1986 that declares embryos to be “juridical persons,” giving embryos the right to sue or be sued. In August 2017, a Louisiana judge dismissed the case on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction over the embryos, which were conceived in California.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | 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 | ||
| 2006 | Grilled | Loridonna | |
| National Lampoon’s Pledge This! | Herself | ||
| 2008 | Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns | Cheryl | |
| 2009 | Madea Goes to Jail | T.T. | |
| 2011 | The Smurfs | Odile Anjelou | |
| New Year’s Eve | Ava | ||
| Happy Feet Two | Carmen | Voice role | |
| 2012 | The Three Stooges | Lydia Harter | |
| 2013 | Escape from Planet Earth | Gabby Babblebrook | Voice role |
| Fading Gigolo | Selima | ||
| Machete Kills | Madame Desdemona | ||
| 2014 | Chef | Inez | |
| 2015 | Wild Card | D. D. | |
| Hot Pursuit | Daniella Riva | Also executive producer | |
| 2017 | The Female Brain | Lisa | |
| The Emoji Movie | Flamenco Dancer | Voice role | |
| 2018 | Bent | Rebecca | |
| The Con Is On | Vivien | ||
| 2019 | Bottom of the 9th | Angela Ramirez |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Acapulco, cuerpo y alma | Irasema | Telenovela |
| 1995–1998 | Fuera de serie | Herself | Co-host |
| 1999 | A que no te atreves | ||
| Baywatch | Episode: “Boys will be Boys” | ||
| 2000 | Club La Bomba | Herself | Host |
| 2002 | My Wife and Kids | Selma | Episode: “Samba Story” |
| 2004 | Eve | April Perez | Episode: “Party All the Time” |
| Rodney | Carmen | Episode: “Dream Lover” | |
| 2005 | Hot Properties | Lola Hernandez | Main role (13 episodes) |
| Punk’d | Herself | Season 5, episode 4 | |
| 2007 | Entourage | Village Girl | Episode: “Welcome to the Jungle” |
| Amas de Casa Desesperadas | Alicia Oviedo | 23 episodes | |
| The Knights of Prosperity | Esperanza Villalobos | Main role (13 episodes) | |
| Dirty Sexy Money | Sofía 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 |
| 2009–2020 | Modern Family | Gloria Delgado-Pritchett | Main role, 250 episodes |
| 2011 | Sesame Street | Herself | Guest appearance |
| 2012 | Saturday Night Live | Herself (Host) | Episode: “Sofia Vergara/One Direction” |
| 2013 | The Cleveland Show | Señora Chalupa (voice) | Episode: “The Essence of Cleveland” |
| Family Guy | Flower Saleswoman / Hispanic Woman (voice) | Episode: “The Giggity Wife” | |
| 2014 | Killer Women | N/A | Executive producer |
| 2016 | The Simpsons | Carol Berrera (voice) | Episode: “Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles” |
| 2017 | Family Guy | Herself (voice) | Episode: “Emmy-Winning Episode” |
| 2020–present | America’s Got Talent | Herself/Judge | Season 15-present |
Music video
| Year | Title | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | “Que Diera” | Carlos Vives |
| 2020 | “Yo Visto Así” | Bad Bunny |
Theatre
- Chicago as Matron “Mama” Morton (2009)
Awards and nominations
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Vergara at the Golden Globes Red Carpet 2020
In 2014, Vergara was ranked as the 32nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. She had risen from her 2013 position at No. 38.
| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Black Reel Awards | Best Ensemble (shared with rest of cast) | Four Brothers | Nominated |
| 2009 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Modern Family | Nominated |
| ALMA Awards | Best Actress in Film | Madea Goes to Jail | Won | |
| 2010 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Modern Family | Nominated |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Won | |||
| 2011 | ALMA Awards | Favorite TV Actress in a Leading Role | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | ||
| Imagen Foundation Awards | Best TV Actress | Won | ||
| NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Won | ||
| Critics’ Choice Television Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| Kids’ Choice Awards | Favorite Film Actress | The Smurfs | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Modern Family | Nominated | |
| Satellite Awards | Best Supporting TV Actress | Nominated | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Won | ||
| Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series | Nominated | |||
| 2012 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series | Modern Family | Nominated |
| Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Won | |||
| ALMA Awards | Favorite Movie Actress – Supporting Role | The Three Stooges | Nominated | |
| Favorite TV Actress in a Leading Role | Modern Family | Nominated | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | ||
| Glamour Awards | Comedy Actress | N/A | Won | |
| 2013 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Modern Family | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | ||
| Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| People’s Choice Awards | Favorite TV Comedy Actress | Nominated | ||
| 2014 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | |
| NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| Kids’ Choice Awards | Favorite Funny Star | Nominated | ||
| 2015 | NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | |
| People’s Choice Awards | Favorite TV Comedy Actress | Nominated | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| 2016 | Premios Juventud | Actriz Que Se Roba La Pantalla | Nominated | |
| People’s Choice Awards | Favorite Comedic TV Actress | Nominated | ||
| Favorite Comedic Movie Actress | Hot Pursuit | Nominated | ||
| 2017 | People’s Choice Awards | Favorite TV Comedy Actress | Modern Family | Won |
| 2020 | People’s Choice Awards | The Comedy TV Star of 2020 | Won |