Ian Braque Gomez (born December 27, 1964) is an American actor known for his comedic TV work, which include series-regular roles as Javier on '' Felicity'' and Andy on ''

Cougar Town ''Cougar Town'' is an American television sitcom that ran for 102 episodes over six seasons, from September 23, 2009, until March 31, 2015. The first three seasons aired on ABC, with the series moving to TBS for the remaining three seasons. ABC ...

''.

Early life

He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, to an artist father and a dancer mother.

Career

On ''

The Drew Carey Show ''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995 to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized ...

'' from 1995 to 2004, Gomez played Larry Almada, a co-worker of

Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, ''The Drew Carey Show'', an ...

's character (also named Drew Carey) at Winfred-Louder. He also worked with Carey in 1999 on the show ''

Whose Line is it Anyway? ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' is a short-form improvisational comedy show originating as a British radio programme, before moving to British television in 1988. Following the conclusion of the British run in 1999, ABC began airing an American ...

'' From 1998 to 2002, he played Javier Clemente Quintata on the WB show '' Felicity''. In 2002, Gomez starred in

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, Morissette began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with tw ...

's "

Hands Clean "Hands Clean" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, for her fifth studio album, ''Under Rug Swept'' (2002). It was written, composed, and produced by Morissette and released as the album's lead single in January 2 ...

" music video. In the same year, he appeared with

Jeff Garlin Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom '' Curb You ...

Ted Danson Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

, and Hugh Mellon in two episodes of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisio ...

'', where he played the "bald chef", hired by

Larry Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

to cook in the restaurant he owned. Gomez appeared in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

Jake in Progress ''Jake in Progress'' is an American sitcom television series broadcast on ABC from March 13, 2005 to January 9, 2006. Created by Austin Winsberg, the show was originally conceived as a real-time comedy; the first season was to show the first date ...

'' (2005–2006), which starred

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the Da ...

. 2006 saw Gomez appear in the fourth episode of ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

''s third season, " Every Man for Himself", and as a therapist in the April 2006 episode " Here We Go Again" of '' Reba''. Nia Vardalos and Ian Gomez (cropped)

Gomez took the part of Andy Torres in the

and later TBS comedy ''

'' alongside fellow ''The Drew Carey Show'' castmate

Christa Miller Christa Beatrice Miller is an American actress and model who has achieved success in television comedy. Her foremost roles include Kate O'Brien on ''The Drew Carey Show'' and Jordan Sullivan on '' Scrubs''. She has also appeared in '' Seinfeld ...

, from 2009 to 2015. In 2016, Gomez and his then-wife, Nia Vardalos, co-presented ''

The Great American Baking Show ''The Great American Baking Show'' is an American cooking competition television series and an adaptation of ''The Great British Bake Off'' (which is aired in the United States under the title ''The Great British Baking Show''). Its first season a ...

'', a revival of ''The Great Holiday Baking Show''. In 2019, he appeared in the

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

film ''

Richard Jewell Richard Allensworth Jewell (born Richard White; December 17, 1962 – August 29, 2007) was an American security guard and law enforcement officer who alerted police during the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlant ...

''. In 2020, Gomez was cast in the role of Luis Flores in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

comedy pilot ''Night School'' based on the 2018 film and written by Christopher Moynihan. However, NBC ultimately decided not to move forward with the series.

Personal life

He was married to actress-writer

Nia Vardalos Antonia Eugenia Vardalos (born September 24, 1962) is a Canadian actress, director, producer and screenwriter. She is best known for starring in and writing the romantic comedy film ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' (2002), which garnered her nominati ...

of ''

My Big Fat Greek Wedding ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick and written by Nia Vardalos, who also stars in the film as Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with White Anglo-Saxo ...

'' fame. He appeared in her films ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'', ''

Connie and Carla ''Connie and Carla'' is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Michael Lembeck and starring Nia Vardalos, Toni Collette, and David Duchovny. The screenplay was written by Vardalos. The film was shot in Vancouver and featured a number of local dr ...

'', ''

My Life in Ruins ''My Life in Ruins'' (released as ''Driving Aphrodite'' in the United Kingdom) is a 2009 romantic comedy film directed by Donald Petrie and starring Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss, Alexis Georgoulis, Rachel Dratch, Harland Williams and Alista ...

'', ''

I Hate Valentine's Day ''I Hate Valentine's Day'' is a 2009 romantic comedy film written and directed by Nia Vardalos. The film stars Vardalos and John Corbett, previously seen together in Vardalos' hit 2002 film ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding.'' The film was released on Jul ...

'', and ''

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2'' is a 2016 American romantic comedy film directed by Kirk Jones and written by Nia Vardalos. The film stars Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine (in his final film role), Andrea Martin, Ian Gomez ...

''. Gomez is of Puerto Rican and

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

descent, and converted to

Greek Orthodoxy The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

upon marrying Vardalos, which is mirrored as a plot element in ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. In 2008, the two adopted a daughter. It was announced on July 3, 2018 that Vardalos filed for divorce from Gomez after 23 years of marriage due to irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in December 2018.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Ian 1964 births Greek Orthodox Christians from the United States American male film actors American male television actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Hispanic and Latino American male actors Jewish American male actors Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy Living people Male actors from New York City American people of Puerto Rican descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Converts to Christianity from Judaism Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Judaism