Actress Nia Vardalos Shares the Best Advice She Ever Got

Nia Vardalos: I got to write a piece for Katie Couric’s new book called The Best Advice I Ever Got and this is the piece that I wrote, which was, “Be polite.”

I am Canadian and I am very happy to have dual citizenship. I live in this country and I raise my daughter with the values of “Be polite.” So when someone is rude to her on the schoolyard, I say, you know, “You have to be polite in the face of rudeness,” which is what my mom taught me.

Because at the end of the day, you need to go home and know that you carried yourself with the decorum with which you were raised in any situation. And—don’t be a pushover! [laughs] Be polite to a point, but if someone pushes too hard, you know, stand up for yourself.