Mario Lopez

Background

Mario Lopez was born in Chula Vista, San Diego, California, on October 10, 1973, the son of Elvira Soledad Trasvia and Mario Alberto López Pérez. Lopez grew up in a large Catholic household. A child prodigy, he began dancing at age three, learning tap and jazz. He also excelled at tumbling, karate, and wrestling at his local Boys and Girls Club when he was seven years old, including all the other activities his mother enrolled him in.

When Lopez was 10 years old, he was discovered by a talent agent at a dance recital. Before appearing on television, he worked in local ads and commercials. He made his acting debut in 1984, playing younger brother Tomás in the A.B.C. comedy series “a.k.a. Pablo.” He was picked for the role of a drummer and dancer on “Kids Incorporated” for three seasons that same year. In March 1987, he was cast as a Latino boy named Mario who faces deportation in the sitcom “The Golden Girls.” In 1988, he had a small role as Felipe’s friend in the film “Colors.” From 1989 to 1993, Lopez starred in the Saturday morning sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” as well as its spinoff series “Saved by the Bell: The College Years.” Lopez starred in the 1997 T.V. film “Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story” as Olympic diver Greg Louganis. Guest appearances followed in “Resurrection Blvd., Eve” in 2000, and “The Bad Girl’s Guide” in 2005. Lopez joined the cast of the daytime drama “The Bold and the Beautiful” in March 2006, playing Dr. Christian Ramirez.

Lopez and actress, and later, his wife Courtney Mazza, starred in “Mario Lopez: Saved by the Baby,” a V.H.1 reality show that premiered on November 1, 2010. Lopez also appeared as a reporter for Extra Sesame Street in the 2012 episode “The Veggie Monster” of “Sesame Street.” Lopez appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on February 4, 2015, alongside Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Elizabeth Berkley, Dennis Haskins, and Tiffani Thiessen in a “Saved by the Bell” reunion. In 2020, Lopez returned to the role of A.C. Slater in Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell” sequel. He later appeared as Colonel Sanders in “A Recipe for Seduction,” a Lifetime and K.F.C. short film, in December 2020.