Background and career
Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara (Spanish: [soˈfi.a βeɾˈɣaɾa]; born July 10, 1972) is a Colombian American actress and television personality. She has received five nominations each at the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. She is one of the highest-paid actresses in the United States. Vergara is known for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC sitcom Modern Family (2009–2020) and Griselda Blanco in the Netflix miniseries Griselda (2024). She rose to prominence when co-hosting two television shows for the Spanish-language television network Univision in the late 1990s. After acting in the English-language film Chasing Papi (2003), she subsequently appeared in Four Brothers (2005), and Tyler Perry's comedies Meet the Browns (2008) and Madea Goes to Jail (2009). Vergara also acted in New Year's Eve (2011), The Three Stooges (2012), Machete Kills (2013), Fading Gigolo (2013), Chef (2014), and Hot Pursuit (2015). She has also had voice-over roles in the animated films Happy Feet Two (2011), The Emoji Movie (2017), and Despicable Me 4 (2024). Since 2020, Vergara has been a judge on the television talent show America's Got Talent. She is also known as a businesswoman and a brand ambassador. Vergara designs her own fashion line for Walmart, and signed with both Pepsi and CoverGirl in 2011. She launched her first fragrance "Sofia by Sofia Vergara" in 2014, and has since released four more fragrances.
Sofía Margarita Vergara was born on July 10, 1972, to a Catholic family in Barranquilla, Atlántico, Colombia. Her mother, Margarita Vergara de Vergara, was a homemaker, and her father, Julio Enrique Vergara Robayo, was a cattle rancher for the meat industry. She was nicknamed "Toti" by her five siblings and many cousins. Vergara has Spanish and Italian origins. Vergara initially studied dentistry for three years at National University of Colombia, but she left two semesters away from completing her degree to pursue opportunities in modeling and show business. In 1998, her older brother Rafael was murdered in Colombia during an attempt to kidnap him. Not wanting to be caught in the unrest that resulted from the murder, Vergara emigrated to the United States, settling in Miami, Florida. Her cousin and adopted sister, Sandra, is also a television actress in the United States.
Vergara was discovered by a photographer while walking on a beach in Santa Marta, Colombia, and she was quickly presented with offers of modeling and television work. She was "apprehensive about doing her first television commercial—until her Catholic schoolteachers gave her their personal permission to take the assignment." She made her first appearance, age 17, in a Pepsi commercial aired in Latin America. She then began studies at the Creative Workshops School of Acting, where Gloria Estefan also trained. In 1992, she won the Look of the Year contest in Colombia, and competed at International Finals in New York, And although she didn't win, this opened doors for her in the modeling world in New York, Miami, and London, and later she was hired by Univision, the largest Latin television network based in Miami, first as a model for various variety shows like Sabado Gigante, Lente Loco, Fuera de Serie, and El Blablazo, and then as a celebrity correspondent in Primer Impacto and El Gordo y La Flaca before launching her acting career.
In 2009, Vergara appeared in Chicago on Broadway as Matron Mama Morton for six weeks.
That same year she got a starring role on the ABC sitcom Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series from 2010 to 2013. Vergara was the highest-earning woman in U.S. television, earning $19 million for the previous 12 months, according to a list released by Forbes.com on July 18, 2012. Vergara was named one of People magazine's "50 most beautiful people", and named by The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard as one of the most influential Latin women in Hollywood. Vergara received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 7, 2015. In 2015, Forbes estimated Vergara's annual income at $28.5 million. She was scheduled to star in The Paperboy, an independent drama directed by Lee Daniels. However shooting was delayed and the revised resumption conflicted with her shooting schedule for the third season of Modern Family and she dropped out. In July 2011, she finished filming the Farrelly Brothers' The Three Stooges, her first leading role in a major film. She said, "I play a mean woman that tries to manipulate the Three Stooges into killing her husband so that she gets all the money." In April 2012, she appeared in her son Manolo's YouTube web series Vida con Toty.
In February 2020, Vergara was announced as a new judge on America's Got Talent, beginning for its fifteenth season. She has since appeared on the program for six consecutive seasons. In two out of her six seasons as a judge, Vergara's "golden buzzer" selections have won the show (Mayyas in 2022 and Jessica Sanchez in 2025). In 2024, Vergara earned a historic nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the Primetime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Griselda Blanco in the Netflix miniseries Griselda. This nomination made her the first Latina born in a Latin American country to be nominated in this category. Despite her acclaimed performance, Vergara did not win the Emmy, losing to Jodie Foster. She humorously acknowledged the loss, joking that she was "robbed" for the fifth time. Vergara's portrayal of Blanco was deeply personal, influenced by the 1996 murder of her older brother, Rafael, by a Colombian cartel. This tragedy profoundly impacted her family and motivated her to take on the role, despite the challenges it presented.
