Aurora Starchild
Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello are one of those celebrity couples that people want to love. They’re sexy, and yet there is something down-to-earth about them. Meet Sofia and Joe, the power couple of Hollywood.
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Sofia Vergara’s Career and Early Life
Sofia Vergara was born July 10, 1972, to a Roman Catholic family in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a cattle rancher. Sofia was one of 6 kids, but sadly her older brother Rafael was murdered in 1998 during a plot over his kidnapping.
Sofia married her high school sweetheart, Joe Gonzalez, in 1991 and the two had a son together. However, their marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1993. Sofia was still quite young at the time.
Sofia initially went to school to study dentistry, but eventually dropped out when she realized her potential to be a model and actress. Her first role was in a Latin American Pepsi commercial at age 17 and then 3 episodes of the TV series Acapulco, Cuerpo y Alma in 1995. After the murder of her brother, Sofia emigrated to Miami, Florida, to get away from her native country’s violence.
Sofia Vergara has 44 film and TV acting credits to her name but is most well-known for Modern Family. She played Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in 250 episodes of Modern Family from 2009-2020 and is one of the show’s most beloved characters. Vergara has also done a lot of voice acting, playing herself and Latin women in Family Guy and the voice of Zaina in Koati. Vergara has received 11 awards for her work and many more nominations.
Joe Manganiello’s Career and Early Life
Joe Manganiello was born December 28, 1976, and just celebrated his 46th birthday. Like his wife, Joe comes from a family with ties to home country violence. His great-grandmother survived the Armenian Genocide while her husband and seven of her children were murdered. Her last child tragically drowned while escaping.
Manganiello not only comes from Armenian roots but also German and Croatian. He himself is an east coaster, though, growing up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Like Sofia, Joe grew up with some Catholic influences, attending a Catholic elementary school as a child. Joe was very athletic growing up, playing varsity football, volleyball, and basketball as a teenager. But he balanced is jock side with the arts and was involved in theatre, too.
Manganiello applied to Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama twice, getting accepted the second time. He was one of only 17 students accepted that year because it’s such a prestigious and difficult school to get into. His dedication paid off, and he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting in 2000. That gave him a leg up when he started looking for work and an agent.
In 1999, Joe Manganiello landed his first role in a short called Out of Courage 2: Out for Vengeance. In 2002, he played Flash Thompson in Spider-Man. He’s already had 72 acting credits to his name, his best-known role being Alcide Herveaux in True Blood. Joe was on True Blood for 42 episodes from 2010-2014. He’s also done extensive producing and directing work and has received 2 awards for his work.
How Manganiello and Vergara Met… and Quickly Married!
Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara first met at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in 2014. Sofia was engaged to Nick Loeb at the time, but Manganiello definitely noticed her. He respected that she was in a relationship but admits to someone actually snapping a photo of him spacing out while looking at Sofia’s butt!
Just weeks later, Manganiello heard that Vergara had called off her engagement to Loeb. So, he asked the friend who introduced them, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, for her number. Vergara reluctantly passed it on, and he asked her out right away.
Joe told Haute Living that he flew to New Orleans to see Sofia while she was filming Hot Pursuit. He said their first date involved Sofia rattling off reasons why they’d never work out, including citing their age difference (of 4 years). But the pushback was short-lived. The two quickly became a couple. They officially confirmed their relationship in August and moved in together in November.
That same year, Manganiello proposed to Vergara while on a vacation in Hawaii, on Christmas Eve. They got married the following November and the rest is pretty much history. Joe and Sofia are always doting on each other, unafraid of PDA, and flew through the COVID isolation disaster without any problems.
Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara’s Love Is Still Going Strong
“We can’t complain, actually,” Vergara told People. “We’re all staying at home. I have a big house, so I’ve been able to have my son, my niece, my husband and three dogs. We’ve been lucky that we’ve been able to be comfortable,” adding that they “haven’t had one fight yet.”
And Joe has voiced his adoration for his wife often, too. He once said that their relationship thrives because they enjoy each other’s company and humor.
“My life is great because I really like my wife,” he told Men’s Health. “I like talking to her. I like goofing around with her. We f***ing laugh all day long every day. My favorite thing in the world is making my wife laugh so much she cries. It’s the best.” He added that one of their favorite pastimes is binge-watching TV shows like Game of Thrones and Naked and Afraid. Awww.
