Early life

Marcelino (Mario) Lopez was born on October 10, 1973 in San Diego, California, to Elvira, a telephone company clerk, and Mario Sr., who worked for the municipality of National City. He graduated from Chula Vista High School in 1991, where he wrestled for Chula Vista at the weight class of 160 lbs placing 2nd in the San Diego Section and 7th in the state of California in 1991 as well. He was raised in a large Catholic family of Mexican descent (from Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico).

Career

Acting

Mario Lopez's professional career began in 1984 when he appeared as younger brother Tomás in the short-lived ABC comedy series a.k.a. Pablo. That same year, he was cast as a drummer and dancer on Kids Incorporated. In March 1987, he was cast as a guest star on the popular sitcom The Golden Girls as a Cuban boy named Mario who faces deportation. He was cast in a small part in the movie Colors (1988) as Felipe's friend. In 1989, Lopez was cast as A.C. Slater in the popular television sitcom Saved by the Bell, a role which lasted five years.

In 1997, Lopez starred as Olympic diver Greg Louganis in the television movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story. The following year, he was cast as Bobby Cruz in the USA Network series Pacific Blue. Lopez left the series after two seasons and went on to guest star on Resurrection Blvd., Eve, and The Bad Girl's Guide. In March 2006, Lopez joined the cast of the daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful playing the role of Dr. Christian Ramirez. On July 18, 2006, he was released from his B&B contract. Later that year, Mario guest-starred as a plastic surgeon who drives Christian Troy to jealousy when he sees him naked in the shower in an episode of FX Network's Nip/Tuck during the show's fourth season, which began in Fall 2006. He also made an appearance on George Lopez as a police officer in late 2006. Lopez also guest-starred as a reporter for Extra Sesame Street in the Sesame Street episode "The Veggie Monster" in 2012.

Lopez and Courtney Mazza have a reality show on VH1 called Mario Lopez: Saved by the Baby which premiered on November 1, 2010.

On February 4, 2015, Lopez reunited with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Elizabeth Berkley, Dennis Haskins and Tiffani Thiessen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where they appeared in a Saved by the Bell sketch with Fallon.

Dancing with the Stars

In the fall of 2006, Lopez signed on as a contestant on the third season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC with professional partner and then-girlfriend Karina Smirnoff who was making her series debut. They finished in second place, losing to the team of Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke.

Hosting duties

In 1992, he hosted his first series on NBC called Name Your Adventure. He hosts the serial tabloid Extra, as well as the MTV reality shows America's Best Dance Crew and MTV's Top Pop Group. Later on, in 1996, he would host the second season of Masters of the Maze on the then Family Channel. Lopez is both the host (with Carmen Palumbo) and co-executive producer of Sí TV's Dating Factory. From October to December 2012, he co-hosted the Fox singing competition The X Factor along with Khloe Kardashian. In September 2013, Lopez returned to the show as sole host for season 3 after Kardashian was not asked back as co-host. The X Factor was cancelled on February 7, 2014. Despite X factor's cancellation, Simon Cowell stated that he thinks X Factor will come back From 2002 - 2005, he was the host of the Animal Planet show Pet Star, despite some difficulty with an allergy to cats.

Lopez has also guest co-hosted The Wendy Williams Show, and MC'ed the gala benefit for the 2010 Pageant of the Masters arts festival in Laguna Beach, California. Starting in 2012 Mario Lopez began hosting his own Nationally Syndicated Radio Show 'ON With Mario Lopez' for Premiere Radio. It streams online daily on iHeartRadio and airs in selected CHR and Hot AC stations (particularly on KBIG-FM/Los Angeles) throughout the U.S.

In August 2014, Lopez began hosting the Hot AC edition of the iHeartRadio Countdown.

Stage career

Lopez made his Broadway debut on April 15, 2008, in the revival of the musical A Chorus Line in the role of Zach.

Books

Lopez has published three non-fiction books. The first, Mario Lopez Knockout Fitness, was published in 2008 and written together with Jeff O'Connell (who had previously written a fitness book with LL Cool J). A cookbook, Extra Lean, with various recipes followed in early 2010 and became a New York Times bestseller. A third book, Extra Lean Family, was published in May 2012. He released a children's book entitled Mario and Baby Gia by Celebra Children’s Books (a division of Penguin Books), on September 27, 2011. The book is about Lopez and his infant daughter Gia.

Personal life

In 1993 Lopez was accused of date raping an 18-year-old woman, but prosecutors found no evidence to support the allegation, and multiple witnesses "contradicted the woman's account of her encounter" with Mario.

After six years of dating, Lopez married actress Ali Landry on April 24, 2004, in a Catholic ceremony at the Las Alamandas resort outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; their marriage was annulled two weeks later. In a 2011 interview Lopez admitted that the parting transpired after Landry discovered Lopez had been unfaithful to her days before the wedding at his bachelor party. Lopez subsequently dated professional dancer Karina Smirnoff, his Dancing with the Stars partner, from 2006 to June 2008.

In the fall of 2008 Lopez began dating Broadway dancer, actress and producer Courtney Mazza. Lopez and Mazza became engaged over the 2011-2012 New Year's weekend, and married in Mexico on December 1, 2012. They have a daughter, Gia Francesca (born September 2010), and a son, Dominic (born September 2013).

Lopez stated that he is Catholic and goes to church every week.

Lopez is a proponent of health and fitness, and was the cover feature for the November 2013 issue of FitnessRX For Men magazine.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984-1986	Kids Incorporated	Himself (Dancer/Drummer) (Seasons 1-3)	TV Show
1986	Chartbusters		Direct-to-video release
	The Deacon Street Deer	Hector	TV movie
1987	The Golden Girls (Episode: "Dorothy's Prized Pupil")	Mario	1987 (1 episode)
1987	Superman	the return of the boy wonder	TV movie
1988	Colors	Felipe's Friend
1989	Saved by the Bell	A.C. Slater	1989-1993 (87 episodes)
1992	Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style	A.C. Slater	TV movie
1993	Saved by the Bell: The College Years	A.C. Slater	1993-1994 (19 episodes)
1994	Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas	A.C. Slater	TV movie
	Bill Nye the Science Guy	Himself	Communication Cameo
1995	Saved by the Bell: The New Class	A.C. Slater	"Goodbye, Bayside Part 2"
1995-1996	Masters of the Maze	Host	Season 2
1996	Depraved	Jessie Mata
	Fever Lake	Steve	Direct-to-video release
	Saved by the Bell: The New Class	A.C. Slater	"Fire at the Max Part 2"
	El Cóndor de oro	Bodyguard 2
1997	Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story	Greg Louganis	TV movie
	The Journey: Absolution	Ryan Murphy
	Killing Mr. Griffin	Dave Ruggles	TV movie
1999	Pacific Blue	Bobby Cruz	Series
	Eastside	Antonio Lopez
2000	A Crack in the Floor	Lehman
	Big Brother Trouble	Coach
2001-2003	The Other Half	Host
2002	Outta Time	David Morales	Alternative titles: The Courier Out of Time
	King Rikki	Juan Vallejo	Alternative title: The Street King
2002-2005	Pet Star	Host
2004	The Soluna Project	Antonio	TV movie
2005	Aloha, Scooby-Doo!	Manu Tuiama/Mainland Surfer (Voice)	Direct to video release
2006	Unaccompanied Minors	Substitute Minors watcher	Film
2006	Dancing with the Stars	Himself	Season 3
2006-2010	Nip/Tuck	Dr. Mike Hamoui	TV
2007	George Lopez	Police Officer Sanchez	2007 (1 episode)
2007	Holiday in Handcuffs	David Martin	TV movie
2008	Husband for Hire	Marco	TV movie
2008	MTV's Top Pop Group	Host	MTV
2008-2012	America's Best Dance Crew	Host	MTV
2008	Robot Chicken (episode: Boo Cocky)	A.C Slater (voice)	Television series (voice)
2008-present	Extra	Himself	Host
2009	The Dog Who Saved Christmas	Zeus the Dog (voice)	TV movie
2010	Get Him to the Greek	Himself
2010-2011	Mario Lopez: Saved by the Baby	Himself	VH1 (reality show)
2010	The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation	Zeus the Dog (voice)	ABC Family TV Film, Sequel to The Dog Who Saved Christmas
2011	Honey 2	Himself	Film
	H8R	Himself	Host
	The Talk	Himself	Guest
2011-2012	Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade	Himself	Host
2012	Sesame Street	Himself	Extra Sesame Street reporter ("The Veggie Monster")
	Are You There, Chelsea?	Himself	Episode: "Dee Dee's Pillow"
2012-2013	The X Factor	Himself	Co-host (Season 2) Host
	The Chica Show	Stitches	Television series (voice)
2013	The Smurfs 2	Social Smurf (voice)	Film
2014	The Dog Who Saved Easter	Zeus the Dog (voice)	Video
2014	Nashville	Himself	Guest Role; Season 3
2015	The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon	A.C. Slater	February 4, 2015
2015	Repeat After Me	Himself	1 episode
2015	Celebrity Family Feud	Himself	Finale
2015	Dinner at Tiffani's	Himself	"Come in For Comfort Food"
2016	Get Smurfy	Social Smurf (Voice)	Film
2016	Grease Live	Vince Fontaine	Film
2016	Almost Royal	Himself	1 episode

Awards

Year	Group	Award	Result	Notes
1990	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast	Nominated	Saved by the Bell
1991	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in an Off-Primetime Series	Nominated	Saved by the Bell
1992	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in an Off-Primetime or Cable Series	Nominated	Saved by the Bell
1993	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Hosts for a Youth Magazine, News or Game Show	Won	Name Your Adventure
1993	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor in a Off-Primetime Series	Won	Saved by the Bell
1994	Young Artist Awards	Best Youth Actor in a TV Mini-Series, M.O.W. or Special	Nominated	CBS Schoolbreak Special
1994	Young Artist Awards	Outstanding Youth Host in a TV Magazine, News or Variety Show	Won	Name Your Adventure
1998	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Made-for-Television Movie or Mini-Series in a Crossover Role	Nominated	Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story
1999	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Pacific Blue (TV series)
2006	Imagen Foundation Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated	The Bold and the Beautiful
2009	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Personality	Nominated	Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew
2010	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV Personality	Nominated
2011	ALMA Awards	Favorite TV Reality, Variety, or Comedy Personality or Act	Nominated	Mario Lopez: Saved By the Baby
2011	Young Artist Awards	Mickey Rooney Award	Won

Charities

Mario Lopez supports the following charitable cause: AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]