Rita Wilson

Born: October 1958
Where: Los Angeles, USA

Best known as Tom Hanks's wife, Rita is also a successful actress in her own right.

Born Margarita Ibrahimoff, Rita was discovered at the age of 14, by a fashion photographer, and began modelling.

She later began her career acting in Los Angeles, landing a recurring role on M*A*S*H as Nurse Lacey.

Rita decided to turn her career around, and accepted an invitation to work and train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

During her time in England, she appeared in numerous stage productions at London's Macowan Theatre.

She returned to the US, and met Tom Hanks in 1981 on the set of Bosom Buddies, when she guest-starred as Peter Scolari's Satan-worshiping girlfriend.

However, their relationship wasn't kindled until they were reunited on the set of Volunteers, where she landed a starring role as a Peace Corps worker opposite future husband Tom Hanks (whom she married in 1988).

Wilson also had a role in Bonfire of the Vanities as an obsequious public relations woman, followed by her hit in Sleepless in Seattle.

In Nora Ephron's unsuccessful Mixed Nuts she played a suicide hotline worker while in the female ensemble comedy/drama Now and Then she essayed an expectant mom.

Wilson also has a small role in Hank's directorial debut, the rock romance That Thing You Do!.

She continued to appear in supporting roles in high-profile movies over the next several years, including 1998's remake of Psycho and Richard Gere's ex-wife in 1999's Runaway Bride.

She also played the wife of murdered TV star Bob Crane in Paul Schrader's Auto Focus.

Wilson took on a second career as a successful Hollywod producer and had a massive success with the film version of actress Nia Vardalos' autobiographical one-woman show My Big Fat Greek Wedding.