Sofia Vergara: Interesting Facts About This Cancer Survivor

As a co-host of a few Spanish-language television programs on Univisión, Colombian-American actress and model Sofia Vergara launched her professional career. Sofia showed that perseverance and hard work are rewarded in the end by navigating through many challenges to achieve.

Her most well-known character is Gloria Delgado-Pritchett from the ABC television series “Modern Family,” which earned her multiple nominations for awards. She has had important parts in films including “Hot Pursuit,” “Machete Kills,” “Four Brothers,” “Meet the Browns,” “Madea Goes to Jail,” “The Smurfs,” and “Happy Feet 2.”

She has been the highest-paid actress on US television for three years and is listed as the 32nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. She has posed for a variety of companies and goods in addition to launching her own clothing line and jewelry line. She presently resides in Los Angeles, California with her first husband’s son, Manolo, and is married to Joe Manganiello. She founded a nonprofit to assist Colombian families dealing with illness as cancer survivors.

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Early Life of Sofia Vergara?

Sofia Margarita Vergara was born on July 10, 1972, into a big family in Barranquilla, Colombia. At a bilingual elementary school, she picked up English and went on to study dentistry. Vergara was discovered by a photographer on a beach and then appeared in a Pepsi commercial for the Latin American market. She then worked as a model and starred in a Mexican soap.

After moving to the United States, Vergara went on to become a Univision television personality in the mid-1990s, hosting the variety show A Que No Te Atreves before the travel program Fuera de Serie. Her brief yet compelling presence during the 1995 American Comedy Awards also attracted the attention of English-speaking viewers.

The powerful Vergara had won Hispanic Woman of the Year before the end of the decade. However, sadness also befell this period, when Vergara’s brother was shot and killed in her own nation in 1996.

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Sofia Vergara’s Career

Sofia Vergara began her modeling career after a photographer saw her strolling along a beach in Colombia and immediately offered her a job. She sought permission from her teachers to work as a model, but being raised in a devoutly Catholic household, she was originally hesitant to accept the job.

She made an appearance in a Pepsi commercial at the age of 17 that was targeted at Latin American consumers. She began working as a runway model in Bogota, Columbia, at the age of 20.

She co-hosted the travel program “Fuera de Serie” on Univisión, which was her first significant television gig. She visited exotic locales all over the world from 1995 to 1998 for the show. She gained recognition in the United States because of the show, which was also carried on American network stations.

She made her acting debut in the comedy “Big Trouble” in 2002. However, the next year, in the film “Chasing Papi,” she played her first substantial acting role.

She received a role in the 2005 film Four Brothers. Following that, she appeared in two Tyler Perry movies: “Meet the Browns” (2008) and “Madea Goes to Jail” (2009). For her work in “Madea Goes to Jail,” she was nominated for an ALMA Award for “Best Actress in Film.”

She had several guest appearances on TV shows around this time, including “Baywatch” and “Entourage.” In the television series “Hot Properties” (2005) and “The Knights of Prosperity,” she was also given lead parts (2007).

She was on stage for five weeks in 2009 while portraying Mama Morton in the Broadway version of “Chicago.” On the ABC sitcom “Modern Family,” she received her breakthrough role as the seductive and brash Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. She received numerous nominations and prizes for the program, which was an immediate hit.

She made numerous Hollywood film appearances in 2011, including “The Smurfs,” “New Year’s Eve,” and “Happy Feet 2.” She performed as a voice actress in the last one. She participated in the 2012 production of “The Three Stooges,” a vaudeville production from the 1930s. She portrayed a cruel and evil character in the film.

In the 2013 animated science fiction film “Escape from Planet Earth,” she provided the voice of Gabby Babblebrook. She appeared in “Machete Kills” that same year.

She contributed as an executive producer and an actor to the 2015 film “Hot Pursuit.” She was nominated for a People’s Choice Award for her work in the film. Post-production is presently underway on her most recent movie, “The Female Brain.”

Sofia Vergara’s Personal Life

At the age of 18, Sofia Vergara tied the knot with Joe Gonzalez, her high school sweetheart. She gave birth to her son Manolo in 1992, two years later. The following year, she did, however, divorce her spouse. As a working single mother, she brought up her kid.

She had to undergo surgery to have her thyroid gland removed after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2000. Despite receiving radioiodine therapy, she still needs to take medications to prevent hypothyroidism.

Julio, her younger brother, was deported to Colombia on May 9, 2011, leaving the United States. He had abused drugs for a very long period.

She supposedly got engaged in July 2012 after beginning her relationship with Nick Loeb in 2010. However, they divorced in May 2014, and a year later Sofia and Loeb engaged in a court dispute over the fate of two embryos created through in vitro fertilization while they were still dating.

For keeping the embryos frozen and indicating that she intended to destroy them, Loeb attempted to accuse her of negligence. Her attorney affirmed that she was happy to have them “frozen permanently,” nonetheless.

She began dating Joe Manganiello, the actor in “True Blood,” in July 2014, and they became engaged six months later. The couple wed on November 21, 2015, in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Health Issues

On World Cancer Day 2022, Sofa Vergara spoke candidly about her experience as a cancer survivor. The actor shared an old photo of herself on February 4 that was shot not long after she underwent thyroid cancer surgery more than 20 years earlier. Vergara commented on how cancer “became part of my story” and how fortunate she feels to still be alive in the caption.

At the time of her diagnosis with thyroid cancer at age 28, Vergara, now 49, stated, “It was just a routine checkup. But the doctors found a lump in my throat, and that word became part of my story.” Vergara began a protracted course of cancer therapy after receiving a diagnosis.

She wrote, “I spent countless hours in radiation treatments and eventually, in surgery. “I get to call myself a cancer survivor today.” Vergara’s thyroid, a small, butterfly-shaped hormone-producing gland on the lower front of the neck, is scarred in the picture. Vergara wrote in the caption, “Seeing the scar on my throat reminds me of how blessed I felt that day and every day since. This was my first acting class after diagnosis and treatment.

Early prevention is crucial, Vergara exclaimed, feeling “lucky and grateful to be in a position to share my story.” The Modern Family actor encouraged viewers to continue attending their regular doctor’s checkups.”Schedule your annual check up for this year if you haven’t already,” she said.

The majority of thyroid cancer cases are unknown to medical professionals, who are therefore unable to determine what persons at average risk can do to avoid or reduce their risk of contracting the disease. (According to the Mayo Clinic, preventative surgery or medication may be a possibility for persons at above-average risk due to specific inherited genetic mutations or living very close to a nuclear power station.) But early thyroid cancer detection has improved because of medical advances. The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that today’s majority of instances are successfully treated since they are discovered sooner than in the past.

According to the Mayo Clinic, early thyroid cancer symptoms are rare, but if the tumor progresses, it may cause swelling or a nodule (lump) on the gland. According to the ACS, the majority of thyroid cancer cases that are discovered early are discovered when a person feels or notices a nodule and schedules an appointment with their doctor to have it examined.

Additionally, hoarseness, difficulty breathing or swallowing, pain in the front of the neck, and a persistent cough that is not related to illness are all indications that you should see a doctor. All of these symptoms might be brought on by other illnesses, and the majority of tumors on the thyroid gland are benign.

Therefore, it’s crucial to be checked out so your doctor may perform a physical examination, talk to you about your medical history, and possibly request diagnostic procedures, such as an imaging test or biopsy if they suspect cancer. (According to the ACS.)

In addition, the ACS advises against routine screening for those at average risk in order to find thyroid cancer early. (For those with a higher risk of developing the condition, such as those with a family history of the condition, blood tests and ultrasounds can find abnormalities in the thyroid’s structure or function to help screen for cancer.) However, the ACS states that the condition may occasionally be identified during a regular examination before the patient observes any signs or symptoms.

Vergara, for example, experienced this. She revealed to Health in 2011 that her illness was discovered during a visit to an endocrinologist for her son. She claimed, “The doctor wanted to check me while we were there and he noticed a tumor in my neck.” I had no symptoms,

For thyroid cancer, there are numerous therapy options. The optimal option is determined by cancer’s size, location, and stage as well as the patient’s general condition. The Mayo Clinic states that, like Vergara, the thyroid gland (or a piece of it) is typically removed surgically.

Following surgery, it is also typical for patients to get further treatments, such as radioactive iodine therapy (which Vergara underwent), to help eradicate any thyroid disease or cancer that may have persisted.

Awards And Achievements

For her performance as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC comedy “Modern Family,” Sofia Vergara has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards. For her part, she received seven accolades between 2010 and 2013.

She had the highest salary of any television actress in the US in 2012, 2013, and 2016, according to “Forbes.” She earned $43 million in 2016 through September, according to the article. She was also included in the Forbes list of the most powerful women in the world.

She came in first place on Askmen.com’s ranking of the best 99 women in 2012. She placed 12th on the same list the following year.