George Lopez
(born April 23, 1961) is a Mexican American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his own produced ABC sitcom George Lopez
.
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GEORGE LOPEZ TICKETS
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Personal life
Lopez, a
Mexican American, was born in
Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. He was abandoned by his father as an infant, and abandoned by his mother at the age of 10. He was then raised by his maternal grandmother, Benita Gutierrez, a factory worker, and step-grandfather Refugio Gutierrez, a builder.
[1] [2]
In 1993, Lopez married Ann Serrano. The couple has one child together (Mayan).
Lopez has a genetic condition that caused his
kidneys to deteriorate; the congenital abnormality caused a narrowing of his
ureters, the tubes through which urine travels from each kidney to the bladder. His doctors had told him in April 2004 that he was going to require an
organ transplant but he postponed the operation until after finishing the 4th season of
George Lopez so as not to hurt the 170 people who worked on his show. In 2005, his wife Ann donated one of her kidneys to Lopez. The transplant was successful; Lopez lost 45 lbs. after the operation due in part to having his health so vastly improved. He brought awareness to the issue on his show; his son, Max, was diagnosed with a similar illness.
Lopez was a featured celebrity golfer in The 2004
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the 2004
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Lopez and his pro partner finished third in the Pebble Beach event. George was the top ranking celebrity at completion of the golf tournament. Since 2006, Lopez has served as the host of the
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
A native of Los Angeles, who grew up in San Fernando Valley’s Mission Hills, Lopez devotes much time to the community. His own charity, The George & Ann Lopez-Richie Alarcon CARE Foundation. He has received the
Manny Mota Community Spirit Award and was named Honorary Mayor of Los Angeles for his extensive fund-raising efforts benefiting earthquake victims in
El Salvador and
Guatemala. In February 2004, George was presented the 2004 Artist of the Year and Humanitarian Award by
Harvard University, presented by its president and dean for his artistic work and charitable endeavors.
[3]
Lopez has received several honors for his work and contributions to the Latino community. In
September 2004, George was honored with the "Spirit of Liberty Award" presented by
People for the American Way. In
August 2005,
Time
magazine recognized George as one of "The 25 Most Influential Hispanics In America".
[4]
Stand-up comedy career
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Much of Lopez's comedy is based on his experiences in childhood, and that of the Mexican-American community in general. He was greatly influenced by comedian Richard Pryor. He has released four albums of recorded stand-up comedy shows, the first of which was
Alien Nation
in 1996, as well as
Right Now Right Now
and
Team Leader
, which was nominated for a 2004
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
[5] He released
El Mas Chingon
in September 2006. On television, Lopez has appeared on
The Latin Kings of Comedy
, where he was a guest star along with other top Latino stand-up comedians. His first stand-up comedy special,
George Lopez Why You Crying?
premiered on
Showtime. His second special,
America's Mexican
, was broadcast live on
HBO on February 24, 2007; his third special,
Tall, Dark, and Chicano
, was broadcast live on HBO from the
AT&T Center in
San Antonio on August 8, 2009. Lopez also starred in the 2008 film
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
.
Lopez had made his mark as a comedian by performing at several clubs around the country and making appearances on television shows and comedy specials by the late 1980s. In the 1990s, Lopez made the transition to films with comedies such as
Ski Patrol
(1990) and
Fatal Instinct
(1993).
Despite his growing television career, Lopez continued to perform his stand-up comedy and recorded several comedy albums. He has headlined at various venues: The Don Haskins in El Paso,
Las Vegas Hilton,
Foxwoods Casino,
ARCO Arena in
Sacramento, the Town Hall in New York, the
Shoreline Amphitheatre in
San Francisco, Next Stage in
Dallas,
AT&T Center in
San Antonio,
Save Mart Center in
Fresno, CA,
San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego,CA,
Dodge Theater in
Phoenix,
San Jose State University Events Center in
San Jose, CA, The Rosemont Theatre in
Chicago, and has performed for the President at the historic
Ford's Theatre in
Washington, D.C..
Television projects
In 2000, after several years of performing stand-up comedy, Lopez was approached by actress
Sandra Bullock for Lopez to produce and star in a comedy. Bullock was concerned about the lack of Hispanic-oriented sitcoms on American television and pushed to get a sitcom on television that starred Hispanics without being exclusively about the Hispanic American community. ABC, who had been criticized by Hispanic American groups for lack of Latinos on their television shows, quickly picked up the television series. In 2002, Lopez became one of the few Latinos to star in a television comedy series, following in the footsteps of
Freddie Prinze and
Desi Arnaz. The
George Lopez
show is an American situation comedy that originally aired on ABC from 2002 - 2007. Lopez is the co-creator, writer, producer, and star of the sitcom.
On
March 8,
2007, it was announced that
George Lopez
would join the
Nick at Nite lineup. It first aired on Nick at Nite on
September 10,
2007. On
May 15,
2007, ABC announced that the series would be canceled after its sixth season. The show last aired on ABC
September 7,
2007.
On March 24, 2009 it was announced that Lopez will be getting his own late night talk show on
TBS.
[6]
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He wrote an autobiography entitled
Why You Crying
, which was released on the Touchstone/Fireside division of
Simon & Schuster and entered in the
New York Times
Bestsellers top twenty. The book is co-written by Emmy Award winning writer and sportscaster
Armen Keteyian.
Lopez has earned praise for his performance in the HBO Films drama,
Real Women Have Curves
, which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival and received the 2002 Audience Award. Previously, Lopez was featured in the drama
Bread and Roses
. The film, directed by British filmmaker
Ken Loach, received critical acclaim after its premiere at the
Cannes Film Festival. He recently starred in the
ABC Wonderful World of Disney Christmas film
Naughty or Nice
. Lopez also starred in the
Robert Rodríguez-directed film
The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl
which opened in June 2005.
Lopez guest starred as the
Mayor of
Reno, Nevada in the fifth season of
Reno 911!
in
2008. In January 2009, Lopez appeared in the
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. He is also noted for mentioning Dominicans in a good way, as if they were his "home-boys" in the Latino world.
Lopez was a cast member and commentator for HBO’s hit sports show
Inside the NFL
for the 2003-2004 football season.
In 1999, Lopez hosted a major morning radio show for
Clear Channel Communications in Los Angeles. He was the first Latino to have headlined the keystone morning radio slot on an English-language station in LA — the nation’s top radio market.
He is a two-time host of the
Latin Grammy Awards and a co-host of the Emmy Awards.
Lopez will host a late night talk show entitled
Lopez Tonight on
TBS Monday through Thursday at 11pm. The show will debut in November 2009.
[7]
Feuds
Lopez criticized
Jay Leno, someone he once considered a "close friend", during an interview on radio station
WOMX-FM in
Orlando, Florida on
January 24,
2007, stating: "He's the biggest two-faced dude in TV." He also called him a back-stabber, and said he is not a proficient interviewer.
[8] [9]
Lopez is also known for his conflict with
Carlos Mencia. In an interview on
The Howard Stern Show
, Lopez accused Mencia of appropriating 13 minutes of his material in Mencia's
HBO special. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged appropriation.
[10] [11]
Lopez frequently mentions his hatred for
Eric Estrada. According to Lopez, he met Estrada when he was a teenager and Estrada was in the zenith of his career. Estrada refused to shake the teenager's hand, and Lopez has hated him ever since. Lopez mentioned the story while guest-hosting
The Jim Rome Show
, and saying "Fuck that
puto." In his comedy special
America's Mexican
, Lopez uses this as a warning to everyone that celebrities should always be nice to their fans as they do not know who they [the fans] will grow up to be.
After receiving the news that his show was cancelled in 2007, Lopez criticized Steve McPherson, the president of
ABC Entertainment, for using racially motivated reasons for his decision. The actor told the
Los Angeles Times that "TV just became really, really white again," and lashed out against ABC by saying "So a
Chicano can't be on TV, but a caveman can?" in reference to
Cavemen
, which was replacing
George Lopez
in the schedule.
Cavemen
got a horrible reception from critics and viewers and was canceled after just 13 episodes.
[12] Lopez blamed ABC for causing over a hundred of his show's staff to become jobless.
[13] [14] [15]
Filmography
| Film
|
| Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
| 1990
| Ski Patrol
| Eddie Martinez
|
|
| 1993
| Fatal Instinct
| Murder Investigator
|
|
| 2000
| Bread and Roses
| Perez
|
|
| 2002
| Real Women Have Curves
| Mr. Guzman
|
|
| 2005
| The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl
| Mr. Electricidad/ Mr. Electric
|
|
| 2007
| Balls of Fury
| Ernie Rodriguez
|
|
| Tortilla Heaven
| Everardo
|
|
| 2008
| Swing Vote
| John Sweeney
|
|
| Henry Poole Is Here
| Father Salizar
|
|
| Beverly Hills Chihuahua
| Papi
|
|
| 2009
| ''Shannon's Rainbow
| Captain Martin
|
|
| The Spy Next Door
| Unknown
|
|
| ''Mr. Troop Mom
| Eddie Serrano
|
|
| Television
|
| Year
| Title
| Role
| Notes
|
| 2002
| Fidel
| Chucho Osorio
|
|
| The Brothers Garcia
| Mr. Fender
| Episode "The Student Buddy"
|
| Curb your Enthusiasm
| Himself
|
|
| 2002-2007
| George Lopez
| George Lopez
| 119 episodes
|
| 2004
| Naughty or Nice
| Henry Ramiro
|
|
| 2006
| Freddie
| George
| "Freddie Gets Cross Over George"
|
| 2007-2008
| The Naked Brothers Band
| Himself
| 2 episodes
|
| 2008
| Reno 911
| Mayor of Reno
| 3 episodes
|
| Stand up
|
| Year
| Title
| Role
| Notes
|
| 1996
| Alien Nation
| Himself
|
|
| 2001
| Right Now, Right Now
| Himself
|
|
| 2002
| Team Leader
| Himself
|
|
| 2006
| Why You Crying?
| Himself
|
|
| El Mas Chingon?
| Himself
|
| 2007
| America's Mexican
| Himself
|
| 2009
| Tall, Dark, & Chicano
| Himself
|
|
Awards
WON
2009- Teen Choice Award - Choice Comedian
2007- ALMA- ALMA Special Achievement in Television
2006- Star Walk of Fame- Star Walk of Fame for Television
2004- Imagen Foundation Awards- Best Comedy Actor
References
- http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/George-Lopez.html
- http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/georgelopez.htm
- Harvard Gazette: Harvard Foundation names Lopez Artist of the Year
- TIME.com: The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America - Page 1
- George Lopez: Bio
- Kate Ward, Entertainment Weekly
- George Lopez to Host Late Night Talk Show Yahoo News, March 24, 2009
- Topic Galleries - OrlandoSentinel.com
- Topic Galleries - OrlandoSentinel.com
- Is Carlos Mencia a thief?
- Carlos Mencia Just Said That
- http://www.nypost.com/seven/10032007/tv/its_a_cave_in_.htm
- George Lopez blasts ABC for cancelling his show
- George Lopez lashes out at ABC
- TV just got a lot 'whiter,' says a canceled George Lopez