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George Lopez Show
Background:
“As a Chicano, I never thought that I would live in a house
that the Olsen twins once lived in. Maybe I’d work on their
house or put in a pool, but to live in it? Wow!” George Lopez
American stand-up comedian and actor George Lopez is best known to
the public as the writer, co-creator, producer and star of the ABC
sitcom “The George Lopez Show” (2002-?), from which he
took home an Imagen Award as well as received numerous award
nominations. His comedy album, Team Leader (2004), was nominated for
a Grammy award, and Lopez, who was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s
“25 Most Influential Hispanics In America” in 2005, has
become a successful author, thanks to his best-seller autobiography,
“Why You Crying?” His film credits include Ski Patrol
(1990), Fatal Instinct (1993), Bread and Roses (2000), Real Women
Have Curves (2002), Naughty or Nice (2004, TV), The Adventures of
Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005), Tortilla Heaven (2007), Balls of
Fury (2007) and The Richest Man in the World (2007). Lopez was
inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 29, 2006.
Despite his never-ending schedule, Lopez dedicates much of his
time to the community. His own charity, The George & Ann
Lopez-Richie Alarcon CARE Foundation, offers considerable community
and arts resources for education. He also has actively participated
in supporting earthquake victims, especially in Guatemala and El
Salvador, and for his services, he was named Honorary Mayor of Los
Angeles as well as earned the Manny Mota Foundation Community Spirit
Award. In February 2004, Lopez was honored with the 2004 Artist of
the Year and Humanitarian Award presented by Harvard University.
Later that same year, he also was presented the Spirit of Liberty
Award by People for the American Way.
More personally, Lopez has been married to wife Anne Serrano since
1993. They have a teen daughter named Mayan. In 2005, he received a
transplanted kidney from his wife.
G. Lo
Childhood and Family:
George C. Lopez was born on April 23, 1961, in Mission Hills,
California. He grew up in a Mexican-American family in the San
Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, California. His father abandoned
the family when he was 2 and later his mother left him to live with
her new husband. As a result, 10-year-old George was raised under
the care of his maternal grandmother, Benita Gutierrez. He knew he
wanted to become a stand-up comic after graduating from high school
in 1979.
On September 18, 1993, George tied the knot with Anne Serrano,
whom he met at the premiere of 1990’s Ski School. Their
daughter, Pedra Marie Lopez/Mayan, was born in 1995 (some sources
mentioned 1996). He and his family now reside in Los Angeles.
George, whose nickname is G. Lo, is a passionate golfer.
Team Leader
Career:
George Lopez tried his hand at stand-up comedy after watching the
Latino comedian Freddie Prinze on the 1974 series “Chico and
the Man,” and performed for the first time when he was 18.
Unfortunately for Lopez, the experience was so terrifying that he did
not want to appear on stage for another four years. In 1980, he made
his film debut with a bit part in the Bruce Lee vehicle Fist of Fear,
Touch of Death.
Lopez supported himself by taking a variety of jobs until the
mid-1980s, when he decided to more professionally chase his comedy
career. Thanks to his outstanding talents, he quickly booked regular
work and became a popular stand-up comedian, especially among the
Latino community. Known for his mocking of the Mexican-American life
and culture in the United States, much of Lopez’ humor was
derived from the financial poverty of his background and of the
Latino community. In the early 1990s, Lopez also found himself cast
in two features, the farce comedy Ski Patrol (1990), playing Eddie
Martinez, and director Carl Reiner’s comedy spoof Fatal
Instinct (1993), as a murder investigator.
With his growing popularity, Lopez stepped into a hosting gig in
2000 when he received the offer to host a morning radio show on Clear
Channel’s station 92.3 in Los Angeles. The job made Lopez the
first Latino to headline such an important niche and on an
English-language station. Meanwhile, he also took on the roles of
Perez in Bread and Roses (2000), where he picked up an ALMA for
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his fine acting,
and Mr. Guzman in the acclaimed indie comedy Real Women Have Curves
(2002), costarring America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros and Ingrid Oliu.
It was also in 2002 that Lopez finally hit the big time when he
starred in his own television show, “The George Lopez Show”
(2002-?), where he also served as co-creator and producer as well as
directed two episodes. Executive produced by Bruce Helford (“The
Drew Carey Show,” “Roseanne”) and movie star Sandra
Bullock, the sitcom, which also cast fellow actress Constance Marie
as his onscreen wife, was well-received by both audiences and critics
alike and went on to become one of the most popular TV shows. As for
Lopez, his bravura performance won him a 2004 Imagen for Best Actor
in a Television Comedy and he also collected many nominations,
including a Teen Choice nomination for Choice TV Breakout Star- Male
(2003), a Young Artist nomination for Most Popular Mom & Pop in a
Television Series (2004), four Image nominations for Outstanding
Actor in a Comedy Series (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and a ALMA
nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series (2006).
Benefiting from his TV success, Lopez tried his luck in numerous
other projects. He was a presenter at the “30th Annual
American Music Awards” (2003) and co-hosted the “46th
Annual Grammy Awards,” to name a few. Additionally, from 2003
to 2004, he gave comments on the HBO “Inside the NFL.”
The comic made his return to his roots in 2004 with the comedy album
Team Leader and received a Best Comedy Album Grammy nomination for
his work in the 2004 album. The same year, he also performed in his
first TV comedy special, “Why You Crying,” which aired on
Showtime and published his autobiography, also titled “Why You
Crying?” The book made him a best-selling author.
Also branching out again as an actor, Lopez has been seen in
several TV films and motion pictures. He played Henry Ramiro on the
Disney film Naughty or Nice (2004), supported Taylor Lautner, Taylor
Dooley and Cayden Boyd in Robert Rodriguez’s The Adventures of
Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005) and more recently, appeared as
Everardo in the comedy Tortilla Heaven (2007). He is also set to
have roles in the upcoming Balls of Fury (2007), an action-comedy
starring Christopher Walken and Maggie Q, and the comedy The Richest
Man in the World (2007), written by Jim Burnstein and Garrett K.
Schiff.
Awards:
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