Born: Oct 26, 1956

Actress, producer

Born in LA, US. Born Margarita Ibrahimoff. Half Greek (mother) and Pomak (father).

Her older sister, Lily is a teacher and her younger brother, Chris Wilson, is the composer of My Big Fat Greek Wedding theme song.

She is widely credited with landing Nia Vardalos a movie deal for My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) (now the top money making independent film of all time, surpassing the $200 million mark), after seeing Vardalos perform her autobiographical one-woman show.

She got her husband (Tom Hanks) to set up the film at his company, Playtone, which shopped it around to financiers and distributors on the strength of the Hanks-Wilson seal of approval. (Side note: Rita and Tom had a "Big Fat Greek Wedding" of their own in 1988).

Her father chose to change their last name to Wilson, because that was the name of the street they lived on.

More famous Greeks(Alphabetical listing)

1. Agganis, Harry (The Golden Greek) -
2. Agnew, Spiro - Theodoros - US Vice President
3. Alexander the Great - King of Macedonia & King of the Greeks
4. Angel, Criss - MindFreak - Illusionist, musician
5. Angelos, Peter - Attorney, Owner of the Baltimore Orioles
6. Aniston, Jennifer (Anastasakis) - Actress
7. Aniston, John (Yannis Anastasakis) - Actor
8. Archimedes - Mathematician, physicist and engineer
9. Aristotle - Philosopher
10. Azaria, Hank - Actor. Famous for voicing characters in the Simpsons series.
11. Buckley, Jeff - Musician
12. Bulgari family - Famous Jewellers.
13. Callas, Maria (Kalogeropoulos) - Opera singer
14. Carasso, Isaac - Founder of the Danone yoghurt Company (Dannon in US)
15. Caratheodory, Constantine - Mathematician.
16. Cassavetes, John - Actor & Director
17. Cavafy, Constantine - Poet
18. Chakiris, George - Actor
19. Chiklis, Michael - Actor.
20. Chryssa (Chryssa Varda) - Sculptor
21. Clarkson, Kelly - Musician
22. Costacos, George - Actor and Writer
23. Davatzes, Nick - Television Executive. Creator of A&E Network and The History Channel.
24. Davies, Marion -
25. Demokritos - Philosopher
26. Dimas, Pyrros - Athlete (Weight Lifting)
27. DiScala Jamie-Lynn - Actress, musician.
28. Dukakis, Michael - Politician
29. Dukakis, Olympia - Actress
30. El Greko (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) - Painter
31. Elytis, Odysseus (Alepoudelis) - Poet
32. Euclid - Mathematician
33. Fey, Tina - Head writer of Saturday Night Live
34. Frangoulis, Marios - Tenor.
35. Gage, Nicolas (Gatzoyiannis) - Journalist, Writer (Writer of "Eleni")
36. Galas, Diamanda - Avant-garde performance artist, vocalist, and composer.
37. Galifianakis, Zach - Comedian, actor, and writer. Born in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, US.
38. Gavras, Constantine (Kostas Gavras) - Director
39. Hajiioannou, Stelios - Entrepreneur.
40. Henner, Marilu - Actress and producer. Born in Chicago, IL.
41. Hippocrates - Physician, the "father of medicine".
42. Huffington, Arianna (Stassinopoulos) - Writer
43. Issigonis, Alec - Designer of the Mini car.
44. Kanakarides, Melina - Actress
45. Karmanos, Peter - Software magnate, Owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricane
46. Karras, Alexander George - Footbal player, actor.
47. Katsulas Andreas -
48. Kazan , Elias - Director
49. Kazantzakis, Nikos - Writer
50. Korner, Alexis - Musician, Composer
51. Koteas, Ilias - Actor.
52. Lazaridis, Mike - Founder of Research In Motion (RIM), creator and manufacturer of BlackBerry.
53. Lee, Tommy - Musician
54. Leonsis, Ted - AOL Executive, Owner of the NHL's Washington Capitals
55. Londos Jim (Christopher Theophelus) - Wrestler
56. Louganis, Gregory-Efthimis - Diver - Olympic Athlete
57. Maharis, George - Actor
58. Maroulis, Constantine - Rock singer, actor, and writer.
59. Matenopoulos, Debbie (Despina) - Journalist, talk show host, and actress.
60. Menounos, Maria -
61. Mercouri, Melina - Actress, Politician
62. Michael, George - Singer/Songwriter
63. Miller (Miliotis), George - Born in Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia
64. Mitropoulos, Dimitris - Conductor
65. Mouskouri, Nana - Singer
66. Negroponte, John Dimitri - Diplomat
67. Negroponte, Nicholas - Architect and computer scientist.
68. Nick the Greek (Nick Dandolos) - Famous gambler.
69. Onassis, Aristotle - Socrates - Millionaire Shipowner
70. Onassis, Athina - Millionaire
71. Onassis, Christina - Millionaire
72. Otis (Viliotis), Johnny - Musician, blues and rythm and blues.
73. Pantages, Alexander - Vaudeville and motion pictures producer
74. Papanikolaou, George - Nikolas - Physiologist (Pap test)
75. Papathanassiou, Evangelos (Vangelis) - Musician & Composer
76. Pappas, Irene - Actress
77. Payne, Alexander (Papadopoulos) - Director
78. Perkins, Elizabeth - Actress.
79. Pilates Joseph - Pilates, The man behind the Pilates method
80. Plato - Philosopher
81. Pythagoras - Mathematician and philosopher, Pythagorean Theorem.
82. Sampras, Pete - Tennis player
83. Sarbanes, Paul - Former US Senator. Lend his name to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
84. Savalas, Telly (Aristotle) - Actor
85. Scourby, Alexander - Narrator
86. Seferis, George (Seferiadis) - Poet & Diplomat
87. Sirtis, Marina - Actress
88. Skouras, Spyros P. - Movie Magnate, President of 20th Century Fox.
89. Snyder, Jimmy - Gambler, TV Commentator
90. Socrates - Philosopher
91. Spanos, Alex - Real Estate Magnate & Owner of NFL's San Diego Chargers
92. Spheeris, Penelope - Director, producer, and screenwriter.
93. Stamos, John (Stamatopoulos) - Actor
94. Stephanopoulos, George - Diplomat, Former Presidential Advisor
95. Stevens, Cat (Stephen Demetre Georgiou) - Musician
96. Stratus (Stratigias), Trish - Former professional wrestler, actress.
97. Suvari, Mena - Actress
98. Tatopoulos, Patrick - Production designer.
99. Tavoulareas, William Peter - President of Mobil Oil Corporation
100. Tenet, George - Former CIA Director
101. Thales - Philosopher, scientist, mathematician, engineer.
102. Theodorakis, Mikis - Composer
103. Tsongas, Paul Efthemios - Politician
104. Vardalos, Nia - Actress & Writer
105. Varvatos, John -
106. Von Karajan, Herbert (Karayiannis?) - Famous Conductor
107. Vouras, Peter - Actor
108. Wilson, Rita - Actress, producer
109. Yanni (Yannis Chrysomallis) - Composer
110. Zane, Billy (Zanetakos) - Actor
111. Zappa, Frank - Musician, Composer, Satirist
112. Zavos, Panos - Geneticist