Vardalos returns to Winnipeg for movie

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/07/2011 (5193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NIA’S TWITTER: Tweeted a fan to Nia Vardalos this week: “When are you going to do another of your fabulous films and why are you so freaking pretty?” Nia tweets back, “Mom?”… Speaking of the witty ex-Winnipegger, the star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who co-wrote Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks, will be in town on the weekend to start filming her part in the latest American Girl project.

By the way, Yours Truly ran into super gymnast Emily Richard, 19, who burst out, “I’m going to be working with Nia!” She and her group, Kristi Nikkel, Danielle Stepnuk and Nadia Daoudi, are rhythmic gymnasts with High Performance Training Centre International. They dazzled the show’s producer, Debra Martin Chase, who originally wanted only younger girls.

“And I got an email from my coach June 21 that said, “You’re in!”

Richard is such a Vardalos fan she blushingly confessed she filmed a dog version called My Big Fat Ruff Wedding when she was much younger. “I filmed three or four dogs and let them run free and then dubbed them into the film. I’ve since lost it,” she said ruefully.

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GARDEN PARTY: “It was classic!” said an attendee at the English Garden party for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy at Assiniboine Park Wednesday night, held by Meyer Norris Penny, with hosts Brett Franklin, Rick Potter and Dean Magnus. “All the women came in big floppy hats, with entertainment by several quartets from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and other top musicians, such as Ron Paley and Walle Larsson.”

Spotted among the evening’s glitterati were sisters-in-law Ruth and Gail Asper, Tannis Richardson, the Free Press‘s Bob Silver, Bison Transport’s Don Streuber and Duncan Jessiman, CEO of North West Company Edward Kennedy, Canad Inns owner Leo Ledohowski and computer guru Dan Gall of The November Group, plus dentist Bill Cooke plus two lawyers — Bob Sokalski and Jim Fergus — in Seersucker summer suits. Bet you can’t say that three times quickly.

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LOVE STORY: “Someday my prince will come” isn’t a myth for ex-Winnipegger Jennifer Hanson, the versatile singer who wowed people at the News Café during the jazz fest. She flew home to her husband in Georgia who’s a handsome male model, a pilot and a rocket scientist, according to Winnipeg friends.

She met him through Beau and Tom of FAB 94.3. Hanson sang the national anthem at Jets games in the mid-’90s. Beau and Tom were starring in a Q-94 billboard campaign back then with their own heads and cardboard muscleman bodies.

“We went down to Nashville to film the commercial,” says Tom, “and they had these two buff guys standing in.” One of them was a ripped blond model named Henrik Christophersen. When Beau and Tom were celebrating a big anniversary with the show, the station flew the muscled bottom half of their billboard bodies up to Winnipeg. “We took them to a Jets game,” Tom recalled. “After the national anthem, Jennifer came upstairs to our box to watch the game. She met Henrik, and the rest is history!”

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SPEAKING OF LOVERS: Now here’s a resourceful romantic. Ryan Denby, 29, took his sweetheart, Gina Johnson, to a pool party with all her friends on Canada Day. The friends all knew he was proposing, but Johnson had no idea. When it got dark, Denby took his lady to watch the fireworks near Assiniboine Park. One minute into the spectacle, he led her to a private spot. “He was pacing around and finally said, “Can I do something crazy? Then he held the ring out in front of me and said, “This is for you. Will you marry me?’ ” After seconds of stunned silence, she answered “YES!” while fireworks crackled and showered overhead. You’ve got to admire the timing of a man who lines up his diamond sparkler with a shower of diamonds and rubies in the sky.

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WEST END TASTE TOUR: Hosted by Gloria Cardwell-Hoeppner, the director of West End Biz, and the city’s special events guru, Kenny Boyce, a group of Winnipeg travel and concierge types who need to answer “Where can we go to eat in Winnipeg?” spent three hours hitting the West End to find out. They noshed on appetizers at DeLuca’s on Portage Avenue, followed by samplings of Café Dario’s delicious entrées and exotic delicacies at India Palace. They also bused to Viva for spicy Vietnamese dishes, Morden’s for chocolates in the shape of a Manitoba buffalo and X-Cues, an old-school Italian bar, for espresso. (DeLuca sent over dainties to go with the coffee. As if anyone needed more!) En route, they saw West End murals and stopped at Prairie Stained Glass, where the owner came out to say hello to the sated guests.

“It was well-paced. I skipped lunch because I knew this was coming and I wasn’t very hungry for dinner afterwards,” said Nisha Tuli from Tourism Winnipeg. Guests included Genevieve Bourrier from Travel Manitoba, Shaw’s Meera Bahadoosingh, Fairmont Gold’s Mohamed Ramadan and Colleen Bothor, Autumn Hunter and Ryan Boris from the Fort Garry Hotel, Where magazine’s Gillian Leschasin, Place Louis Riel’s Kit Ho and Alexx Fayegh and Brett Hotas from Inn at the Forks. Said Hotas, “It was amazing, so great! I have no words!”

Got tips, events, sightings, unusual things going on? Call Maureen’s tip line at 474-1116, email Maureen.Scurfield@Winnipegfreepress.com or send mail to The Insider c/o The Winnipeg Free Press at 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg, R2X 3B6.