Sofía Margarita Vergara (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", 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.

Vergara was born in Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia. Her mother is a
homemaker and her father produced cattle for the meat industry. "Toti" 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, and she gave birth to her son Manolo
Gonzalez-Ripoll Vergara September 16, 1992 at the age of 20. After her
divorce, Vergara studied pre-dentistry at a university in Colombia for
three years. 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 brother had been
murdered in 1998 during an attempt to kidnap him that went awry). She
brought her son, mother, and sister with her.

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." Vergara made her first appearance as a performer at the age
of 17 in a Pepsi commercial that was widely broadcast in Latin America. 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 hair (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.
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. In the awkward video footage Vergara is seen laughing
while host Whoopi Goldberg gasps in astonishment.

Sofia Vergara - Personal Quotes

"I’ve been big-breasted since
I was 13. I even told my mom, 'When I’m 18, I’m going to have a
breast reduction.' And she would tell me, 'When you’re 18, you won’t
even think about doing that.' She was right. Since then no one’s
been able to cover them."

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