I loved Nia Vardalos' Big Fat Greek Wedding, so was delighted to find out that she has another film in the cinema. And she's a mommy! I'll post reviews of this latest adventure if I find anything cohesive :)

Her new film is called My Life In Ruins but the opposite is true for Nia Vardalos. The actress who made her name in My Big Fat Greek Wedding feels her world is finally complete.

At the end of My Big Fat Greek Wedding the main character has married her man and turns her attention to having kids looking set to live happily ever after.

When filming on the movie finished Vardalos, who wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical hit, decided she too wanted to focus on family.

Sadly life doesn't always imitate art, and after a long battle with infertility the 46-year-old and actor husband Ian Gomez began exploring the process of adoption.

It took four long years, but finally after eventually reviving her acting career with two new movies Vardalos had her dreams answered.

"Being a mother was my lifelong goal and I can honestly say motherhood has turned out to be the most rewarding, incredible, challenging, fascinating thing that has happened to me," she gushes, talking to the Sunday News from a hotel in Sydney. "I now understand that glow that I see in other parents' eyes."

Vardalos became an overnight sensation when her one-woman play based on her experiences growing up in a Greek family was turned into low budget film My Big Fat Greek Wedding which hit cinemas in 2002 and was the highest-grossing romantic comedy in history.

Stunned at her sudden elevation to major Hollywood player, the Canadian-born comedienne penned her second movie, I Hate Valentine's Day, and was making plans to fly to Europe to star in My Life in Ruins.

The film follows a jaded tour guide leading a disparate bunch of tourists around Greece. While Vardalos didn't write the script she did have some input in the plot.

"The central theme is of a woman who has lost her mojo and that's just what I was going through at the time," she admits.

As with Greek Wedding, you get the impression Vardalos injects a lot of herself in My Life in Ruins but in contrast to her bubbly on-screen character she describes her relationship as "very, very private" and she won't even disclose the name of her adopted daughter.

"Every time right before I have a movie come out I have this recurring nightmare of answering the front door naked to flashbulbs because that's what it feels like," Vardalos says.

When asked about writing, directing and starring in I Hate Valentine's Day, she says: "It felt like no matter how much I prepared every day was like jumping into an orgy while still shaving your legs."

Vardalos might be funny but she's not flippant. This month she made headlines after sounding off about the fact Russell Crowe can get fat without it being reported, but if female celebrities do it it's headline news. Vardalos has slimmed down but only because the doctor ordered her to due to a blood sugar problem.

Ad Feedback "I hate it when actresses say: `I can eat what I want because I have a great metabolism', it's a complete lie," she says. "I had to do it but it was really hard, it was a bummer and it continues to be a bummer.

"What bothers me is I thought I was attractive when I filmed My Big Fat Greek Wedding but now I have this new found credibility designers are calling and saying: `Now I want to dress you because you're slim'."

Not only is Vardalos slim, she also looks young but she is adamant she hasn't gone the plastic surgery route. "When and if I have a facelift I will be completely honest, I am so flattered about these rumours I can't tell you," she laughs.

A lot of her bloom can be put down to being a mum. She admits that if the adoption people had called her during filming of My Life In Ruins, she would have ditched the movie and flown home.

While she is open to having a second child, her feelings about it are mixed.

"What happened with My Big Fat Greek Wedding was such a miracle it's a once in a million years movie," she says. "I feel that way about our daughter. For us the match is so perfect we feel like cosmically we were meant to be this little girl's parents, so to expect that to happen again would feel a little insincere."

My Life In Ruins is in cinemas now.