Rita Wilson

Rita Wilson built an enduring presence in entertainment through work as an actress, producer, director, and screenwriter, yet she waited four decades after her first television appearance before stepping forward as a pop vocalist. Her 2006 run as Roxie Hart in the Broadway revival of Chicago prompted her to issue the 2012 covers collection AM/FM as her recording debut. Working within a warm adult-contemporary style, she introduced her own material on the self-titled 2016 album.

Born Margarita Ibrahimoff on October 26, 1956, in Los Angeles, California, she began acting while still a teenager, logging guest spots on The Brady Bunch, M*A*S*H, Happy Days, Three's Company, and Who's the Boss? before making her screen bow in the 1979 science-fiction feature The Day It Came to Earth. A 1981 guest role on Bosom Buddies brought her first meeting with Tom Hanks. They reconnected while co-starring in the 1983 comedy Volunteers, married in 1988, and have since appeared together in several projects. Wilson maintained a steady schedule of film and television roles, among them Sleepless in Seattle, Runaway Bride, The Story of Us, Auto Focus, and It's Complicated. After attending Nia Vardalos' one-woman show My Big Fat Greek Wedding, she persuaded the writer that the material could succeed as a feature film and served as co-producer on the 2002 release, which became one of the highest-grossing independent comedies ever made. Wilson later produced two additional Vardalos vehicles, Connie and Carla and My Life in Ruins, along with the screen version of the stage musical Mamma Mia!

A lifelong music enthusiast, she performed with a folk ensemble connected to her church during her teenage years, although professional recording remained outside her plans until the Chicago engagement rekindled her desire to sing. She made her directorial debut with the 2007 short The Trap, then appeared in the 2009 ensemble It's Complicated opposite Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin. In 2011 she joined the cast of Larry Crowne, written by Hanks and Vardalos, and began a recurring role on CBS' The Good Wife.

Turning to the 1960s and 1970s repertoire that had first ignited her passion for music, Wilson enlisted producer Fred Mollin for AM/FM. The album featured guest contributions from Sheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, and Faith Hill, while Jimmy Webb accompanied her rendition of his composition "Wichita Lineman." She promoted the record with a brief concert tour. The following year she joined the recurring cast of HBO's Girls, and in 2016 she again served as co-producer on My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. That same year she launched her own Sing It Loud imprint with the album Rita Wilson, on which she co-wrote every one of the fifteen tracks. She closed the year with the holiday EP The Christmas Sessions. In 2018 she returned with Bigger Picture, issued once more through Sing It Loud; the set contained ten original songs plus interpretations of material by Cat Stevens and Burt Bacharach.