George Lopez

Biography
George Lopez is an American comedian and actor, one of the more prominent Mexican-Americans from within the Latino communities to be recognized in mainstream North American popular culture. He is perhaps best known for starring in his own produced television sitcom show entitled George Lopez.

Lopez was born Mission Hills, California, United States, North America, at General Hospital (LAC / USC Medical Center), in Boyle Heights, a district of Los Angeles, California. Lopez was abandoned by his father as an infant. His family later moved to Mission Hills, which is located in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, ...( show more

) California, where he was raised. In 1971, when he was ten years old, Lopez was also abandoned by his mother. He was subsequently raised by his maternal grandmother, Benita, a factory worker, who became his sole guardian, as well as his maternal step-grandfather Refugil Gutierrez, a builder. Lopez currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife and family.

Lopez’s difficult childhood served as the basis on which he would build a career by finding the humor in his experiences and in the Mexican-American community in general. These experiences would be transformed into material that Lopez would soon use for his stand up comedy acts. Lopez became a stand-up comedian using his Mexican-American heritage as an attraction to Mexicans. Much of his comedy is based on his experiences in childhood, and that of the Mexican-American community in general. 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. 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. Lopez had made his mark as a comedian, performing at several clubs around the country and even 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. Lopez was recently a cast member and commentator for HBO’s hit sports show Inside the NFL for the 2003-2004 football season. He is a two-time host of the Latin Grammy Awards and a co-host of the Emmy Awards. 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 will guest star as the Mayor of Reno, Nevada in the new season of Reno 911! in 2008.