Lopez started dance education at age three, training in tap and jazz.[5] He also did tumbling, karate and wrestling at his local Boys and Girls Club when he was 7 years old.[6] He excelled at these as well as other activities in which his mother enrolled him.[7] During high school at Chula Vista High School,[8][9] he was on the school's wrestling team at the weight class of 160 lb (73 kg). He placed 2nd in the San Diego Section competition and 7th in California his senior year. He graduated in 1991.
Career
Lopez was discovered by a talent agent at a dance recital when he was 10 years old. He initially worked in local advertisements and commercials before making TV appearances.[10]
Acting
Lopez began acting in 1984 when he appeared as younger brother Tomás in the short-lived ABC comedy series a.k.a. Pablo.[11] That same year, he was cast as a drummer and dancer on Kids Incorporated; he performed on three seasons. In March 1987, he was cast as a guest star on the sitcom The Golden Girls as a Latino boy named Mario who faces deportation. He was cast in a small part in the film Colors (1988) as Felipe's friend.
Lopez and Courtney Mazza had a reality show on VH1 called Mario Lopez: Saved by the Baby which premiered on November 1, 2010.[19] Lopez guest-starred as a reporter for Extra Sesame Street in the Sesame Street episode "The Veggie Monster" in 2012.
Lopez at the 81st Academy Awards, February 20, 2009
In 1992, he hosted his first series on NBC, called Name Your Adventure. He hosted the serial tabloid Extra, as well as the MTV reality shows America's Best Dance Crew and MTV's Top Pop Group. In the 1995–96 season, he hosted the second season of Masters of the Maze on what was then The 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.[24] In September 2013, Lopez returned to the show as sole host for season 3 after Kardashian was not asked back as co-host.[25]The X Factor was cancelled on February 7, 2014.[26] From 2002 to 2005, he was the host of the Animal Planet show Pet Star, despite some difficulty with an allergy to cats.[27] Lopez hosted the Miss America pageant in 2007, 2009, and 2010.
Starting in 2012, Lopez began hosting his own nationally syndicated radio show, ON With Mario Lopez, for Premiere Radio. It streams online daily on iHeartRadio and airs on 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.
In July 2019, it was reported that Lopez would be leaving his duties hosting Extra in order to host rival program Access Hollywood.[30] In November 2019 Lopez was the Grand Marshal of the Hollywood Christmas Parade.
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).[34] His book Extra Lean followed in early 2010 and became a New York Times bestseller.[35]Extra Lean Family was published in May 2012.[36] 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 daughter.[37][38]
Musical
In 2022, it was announced that Lopez is involved in an effort to revive the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, as he oversaw auditions that took place, in a project named "Menudo: A New Beginning".[39] Lopez helped revive the band as their new manager, and in 2023, Menudo released their first single under Lopez, named "Mi Amore".[40]
Personal life
According to Lopez, Fergie was his first kiss and the two were involved briefly while they were both on the show Kids Incorporated.[41]
In 1993, Lopez was accused of date rape,[42] but prosecutors found no evidence to support the allegation, and multiple witnesses "contradicted the woman's account of her encounter" with Lopez.[43]
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,[44] but their marriage was annulled two weeks later.[44] In a 2011 interview, Lopez admitted that the parting transpired after Landry discovered Lopez was unfaithful to her days before the wedding at his bachelor party.[45] Lopez dated professional dancer Karina Smirnoff, his Dancing with the Stars partner, from 2006 to June 2008.[46]
In the fall of 2008, Lopez met Broadway dancer, actress, and producer Courtney Mazza on A Chorus Line on Broadway in New York.[47] They married in Punta Mita, Mexico, on December 1, 2012.[48] They have a daughter Gia (b. 2010)[49][50] and two sons Santiago & Dominic (b. 2013 and 2019).[51][52][53]
He is a proponent of health and fitness, and was the cover feature for the November 2013 issue of FitnessRX For Men magazine.[56] To complement his fitness regime, Lopez is an amateur boxer and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu; he began training in early 2017[57] and received his blue belt in February 2018 under Professor Robert Hill of Gracie Barra Glendale.[58] He received his purple belt in November 2022.[59]
^Quirk, Mary Beth (October 13, 2010). "Mario Lopez & His Bundle of Joy !". OK!. Retrieved October 16, 2010. "I come from a small, fat Mexican Catholic family," Mario tells OK!.
