Sofia Vergara is a Colombian-American television host turned actress who was the top-earning actress in television for 2012, 2013, and 2016. She first hosted for Univision, a Spanish television network in the 1990’s. She explored her chances in the English media by landing an acting gig in the 2003 film Chasing Papi. She then appeared in other film works, such as the 2005 movie Four Brothers, 2008 Meet the Browns, and Madea Goes to Jail. In the later years, she also starred in various animated films like The Smurfs and Happy Feet Two.
From 2009, Sofia has been a part of the ABC mockumentary series Modern Family. She plays the role of Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. The role has earned her four nominations for Golden Globes, Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild.
She also has her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years since her beginning in 1995.
Early Life
Sofia Margarita Vergara was born on July 10, 1972 and raised in Barranquilla, Columbia as a Roman Catholic. Growing up, Sofia was called “Toti” by most of her family members especially her siblings. She studied in the private Spanglish school Marymount School Barranquilla for her basic and secondary education. She then took up dentistry at the University of Columbia before quitting school completely to pursue her modeling and acting endeavors. She only had two semesters to complete for her to have her degree but nonetheless, she stopped.
She moved to the Miami, Florida in 1994 with her son in tow. It wasn’t until in late 2014 that Sofia announced that she has been a sworn US citizen after she has perfected all 100 questions during her American Citizenship test.
In 2000, Sofia was diagnosed with thyroid cancer which pushed her to have her thyroid glands removed. She also went radioactive therapy to kill the cancer cells in her body. To this date, Sofia is taking necessary medication to avoid hyperthyroidism.
Family
She grew up in simple Roman Catholic family with five siblings. Her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo, was a cattle rancher while her mother, Margarita Vergara Dávila de Vergara stayed at home to tend to the family’s needs. Sofia described their family to be a “successful family” which made his brother even more prone to kidnapping.
Brother: Rafael Jose Vergara
Four years after she moved away from Colombia, Sofia’s brother, Rafael Jose was murdered in Bogota. He was 26 years old at his time of death. The suspects for her brother’s death were never found and the witnesses of the event never spoke up in fear for their life. Bodyguards used to follow Rafael around but he went out alone that day that he was murdered. It is said that the reason for the hit is Rafael’s romantic relations with the girlfriend of one of the local crime boss. After his death, the whole Vergara family moved away to Miami, Florida for good.
Brother: Julio Vergara
On May 09, 2011, however, her younger brother Julio was deported back to Colombia after his arrest a month previously. Ever since their family’s move to Florida, Julio had been using pot, cocaine, and other forms of drugs which later became an addiction. He has been arrested for multiple times for cases of public drinking, a felony for grand theft, possession of illegal substance, and more. In an official statement, Sofia said, “To see somebody dying over 10 years, little by little, that’s the worst punishment” and she described his brother “like another person.”
Son: Manolo Gonzalez
Sofia was only 19 years old when she gave birth to her only son, Manolo on September 16, 1992. He often appears alongside his mother in commercials and print ads like Get Milk. He studied at Emerson College and completed his degree in Film Production in the Spring of 2015. He currently is a TV presenter and keeps himself in a low profile despite his parents’ fame.
Relationships
There are three most known relationships of Sofia. She was engaged in all three of them but only married two.
Joe Luis Gonzalez
Joe was Sofia’s high school sweetheart. They got married immediately after high school in 1991 but divorced a few months after their only son was born. He is the son of Ricardo Gonzalez Ripoll, the former mayor of Barranquilla. Both he and Sofia were born in the same city. Despite their break-up, Joe and Sofia have maintained a civil relationship for the sake of their son.
Nick Loeb
Nicholas or Nick Loeb is an American actor and business man whom Sofia dated in 2010. He comes from families that are involved in financing. He is also the founder of Loeb Foods and the Crunchy Condiment Company. He and Sofia were engaged on July 10, 2012, before they called it off in May 2014 and broke up for good. The ex-couple now fights for their legal right over a frozen embryo they created together in 2013. Despite his appeal, Nick was not granted the full custody of the embryo while Sofia made sure that he would not be able to use it without her written consent.
In an interview, Nick revealed that he initially wanted to name the babies “Isabella” and “Emma.” He wanted to implant the embryos on a surrogate to be born full-term and raise it solely under his custody. This legal battle between the two is still active.
Joe Manganiello
Just a few months after her break up with Nick Loeb, Sofia Vergara was then rumored to be dating True Bloods actor, Joe Manganiello. Six months after dating each other, Joe proposed to which she gladly accepted. Photos after their engagement showed up online on December 2014. The two then married each other in a romantic ceremony on November 21, 2015, in Palm Beach, Florida.
Hosting and Acting Career
Sofia Vergara was first discovered when she was only 17 years old. She was on a beach in Colombia when a photographer discovered her and offered her a modeling gig. Due to her upbringing, Sofia was hesitant in accepting the job. After gaining the consent of her Catholic teachers, she agreed to do the job and appeared in her first commercial of Pepsi Cola. Her commercial was aired in all of Latin America. After which, she had studied at the Creative Workshop School of Acting to improve her skills. She also appeared in the music video of Que Diera by Carlos Vives in 1997.
She was originally chosen to play the main role in the independent film The Paperboy in 2011 but backed out when the delayed schedule has resulted in a conflict of her schedule of shooting for Modern Family. In the same year, she had starred in the Three Stooges. Her character was a manipulative woman who wanted the three stooges to kill her husband for wealth. She appeared in April 2012 in the web series Vida con Toty that was played on her son’s YouTube Channel.
The whole cast of Modern Family joined her as she received her Hollywood Walk of Fame star on May 07, 2015. Her parents, Margarita and Julio, were also with her as well as her then-fiance Joe Manganiello. About a year after, she appeared in the Human Rights Campaign that was created for the victims of the 2016 Orlando gay club shooting.
She was also featured on the front page of CoverGirl that first appeared in January 2012. It was around this time as well that she appeared with David Beckham in a diet Pepsi commercial for the second time, making their first in April 2011. She also started designing clothes that were meant for soccer moms for Kmart.
Overall, her work in the industry has given her four nominations from big and prestigious award bodies such as Emmy and Golden Globe. She also has awards like Best TV Actress and Favourite TV Comedy Actress.
Net Worth
She has been named multiple times as one of the top-earning or highest paid actress in all of Hollywood. As of May 2017, Sofia has an estimated net worth of $120 million and received a total salary of $43 million throughout 2016. Way back to the 5th season of Modern Family, Sofia was being paid $175,000 for every episode she did for the show.