Sofía Vergara

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 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.