Nia Vardalos, beloved for her heartwarming rom-coms like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, recently took a sharp turn into horror with a guest role on Syfy's Chucky. In a panel at FanX Salt Lake City, she dished on why she decided to embrace the macabre and how co-star Jennifer Tilly made her feel right at home—even while orchestrating her character's gruesome demise.
Vardalos explained that her journey to Chucky began with a simple desire for something different. "I'd been offered yet another romantic comedy, and I wanted to do something different," she recalled. With her child about to enter college, she asked her agents to find her a musical or a horror project. Three months later, they delivered Chucky, and she jumped at the chance.
In season 3, Vardalos played a celebrity chef who meets a particularly nasty end at the hands of Tilly's Tiffany. Using voodoo, Tiffany forces the chef to stab herself and then cook herself in a sequence that's as slapstick as it is sadistic. "It was the most fun I've ever had in my life," Vardalos said. "There was a stunt coordinator, so much blood, kind of gross. It was so, so disgusting."
But beyond the gore, Vardalos cherished the camaraderie with Tilly. "I got to set, and she sent me a little note through the assistant director and invited me for dinner, and we sat and got to know each other for four hours before we ever filmed," she shared. That kindness helped Vardalos navigate her first major horror role.
Unfortunately, Vardalos didn't get to keep the voodoo doll made in her likeness. "No, the voodoo doll of me, that was filmed 3 weeks afterwards, and I was going to Greece, so I didn't get to see that scene," she explained. "But they made a plaster cast of my head because my face gets boiled."
Reflecting on the supportive women in her career, Vardalos also praised Jennifer Grey, who mentored her on her very first job. "She took me by the hand and said, 'I'm Jennifer,' and I was like, 'I know.' And she said, 'You're gonna put your purse here... We're going to read the script. The executives will be here, so don't do it at reading level. Do it at performance level,'" Vardalos remembered. "What a doll."
For fans eager to see Vardalos's bloody turn, all seasons of Chucky are available to stream on Peacock. And for more from Vardalos, check out the real story behind the Windex joke and her plans for more Greek Wedding stories.
