Ian Gomez

Early life

He was born in New York City, New York, to an artist father and a dancer mother.

Career

On The Drew Carey Show from 1994–2005, Gomez played Larry Almada, a co-worker of Drew Carey's character (also named Drew Carey) at Winfred-Louder. He also worked with Carey in 1999 on the show Whose Line is it Anyway? From 1998–2002, he played Javier Clemente Quintata on the hit WB show Felicity.

In 2002, Gomez starred in Alanis Morissette's "Hands Clean" music video. In the same year, he appeared with Jeff Greene, Ted Danson, Michael York, and Hugh Mellon in two episodes of the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he played the "bald chef", hired by Larry to cook in the restaurant he owned.

Gomez appeared in ABC's Jake in Progress (2005–2006), which starred John Stamos. 2006 saw Gomez appear in the fourth episode of Lost's 2006 third season, "Every Man for Himself", and as a therapist in the April 2006 episode "Here We Go Again" of Reba.

Gomez took the part of Andy Torres in the ABC and later TBS comedy Cougar Town alongside fellow The Drew Carey Show castmate Christa Miller, from 2009–2015. In 2016, Gomez and his wife, Nia Vardalos, co-presented The Great American Baking Show, a revival of The Great Holiday Baking Show.

Personal life

He is married to actress-writer Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame. He appeared in her films My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Connie and Carla, My Life in Ruins, I Hate Valentine's Day, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Gomez is of Puerto Rican and Russian Jewish descent, and converted to the Greek Orthodox Church upon marrying Vardalos, which is mirrored as a plot element in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In 2008, the two adopted a daughter.