Massimo Lopez

Massimo Lopez (born 11 January 1952) is an Italian actor, voice actor, comedian, impressionist and television presenter.

Together with fellow actors Anna Marchesini and Tullio Solenghi, he has been a member of the comic group known as Il Trio (The Trio).

Biography

Lopez was born to parents from Naples who were temporarily working in Ascoli Piceno, with the family ultimately settling in Rome. He started acting on stage in 1975, was first cast as a voice actor in 1980, and founded Il Trio in 1982 with Tullio Solenghi and Anna Marchesini: the Trio debuted on Rai Radio 2 with the Hellzapoppin radio show.

Following the great success of Hellzapoppin, the Trio participated in various television programs like Domenica in and the 1986 edition of Fantastico and took part to the Sanremo Music Festival editions of 1986, 1987 and 1989.

In 1990, the Trio reached the peak of success with the parody of Alessandro Manzoni's The Betrothed, which was broadcast on Rai 1 in 5 episodes. Together with Solenghi and Marchesini, Lopez brought on stage two theatrical shows: Allacciare le cinture di sicurezza (Fasten your seat belts) in 1987 and In principio era il trio (In the Beginning, there was the Trio) in 1990.

The Trio dissolved in 1994, due to the will of all three actors to work as soloists, but reunited for one last time in 2008 to celebrate its 25th anniversary with the TV-program Non esiste più la mezza stagione.

In 1998, Lopez made an appearance as a guest star in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and in 2005 he hosted Striscia la notizia together with Solenghi. From 2005 to 2011 Lopez acted and sang in the theatre one-man-show Ciao Frankie (Goodbye, Frankie), also performed at the Colony Theatre in Miami, directed by his brother Giorgio Lopez and dedicated to Frank Sinatra, featuring songs, gags and impressions.

As a voice actor, Lopez is known for dubbing voices, such as Robin Williams' in the live action adaption of Popeye, Mike Myers in the second installment of the Austin Powers movies, and Stephen Fry in The Hobbit. In his animated roles, he has been providing the current Italian voice of Homer Simpson in The Simpsons since the death of Tonino Accolla in 2013 and has performed the Italian voice of Grand Pabbie in Frozen, Ramon in Happy Feet, Mr. Peabody in Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Lionheart in Zootopia.

On 27 March 2017 Lopez suffered a heart attack while he was performing on stage; he quickly underwent an angioplasty and was transferred to a cardiological rehabilitation center, where he recovered completely and came back on stage two months later.

Personal life

Lopez is the younger brother of the late actor, voice actor and theatre director Giorgio Lopez, who was the official Italian dubbing artist for Danny DeVito until his death in 2021. He is also the uncle of voice actors Gabriele and Andrea Lopez.

Filmography

Cinema

Television

Dubbing

Films (Animation, Italian dub)

Films (Live action, Italian dub)

Television (Animation, Italian dub)

Television (Live action, Italian dub)

Video games (Italian dub)

Television

With the Trio

• Domenica in (1985–1986)
• Fantastico (1986–1987)
• Sanremo Music Festival 1986 (1986)
• Sanremo Music Festival 1987 (1987)
• Sanremo Music Festival 1989 (1989)
• Non esiste più la mezza stagione (2008)

As soloist

• Scherzi a parte (1995, 1997)
• Quelli che... il Calcio (2001–2002)
• Striscia la notizia (2005)
• Miss Italia Show (2018)

External links

Media related to Massimo Lopez at Wikimedia Commons

• at IMDb
• at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• discography at Discogs
• at Behind The Voice Actors