George Lopez

George Lopez (born April 23, 1961 in Mission Hills, California) is an American comedian and actor. He is one of the most prominent Mexican-Americans from within the Latino community 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.

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. George Lopez has 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 &&& recorded several comedy albums. He has headlined at various venues: 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, SBC Center in San Antonio, Save Mart Center in Fresno, 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..

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 and it was first aired on September 10, 2007. On May 15, 2007, ABC announced that the series would be canceled after its sixth season. The final episode aired on September 7, 2007.

On March 24, 2009 it was announced that Lopez will be getting his own late night talk show on TBS[6].

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 on TBS Monday through Thursday at 11pm. The show will debut in November 2009.

(From Wikipedia) http://www.myspace.com/kokeakajorge