Birthplace: San Diego, California
Best Known As: A. C. Slater from TV's Saved By The Bell
Mario Lopez is a TV host and sometime actor who made a name for himself in the 1990s Saturday morning television series Saved By The Bell. Chipper, dimpled and ripped, Lopez re-emerged as a heartthrob in 2006, thanks to a successful showing on the televised contest
Dancing With The Stars and a steamy shower scene in TV's Nip/Tuck. Lopez has been on television since the mid-1980s, first as a bit player on the comedy A.K.A. Pablo (1984), then as a regular on the syndicated song-and-dance show Kids Incorporated (along with Fergie). He played hunky A.C. Slater on Saved By The Bell (1989-93), Saved By The Bell: The College Years (1993-94) and, as a guest star, on Saved By The Bell: The New Class (1993-2000). He joined the cast of the daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful in 2006 and appeared semi-regularly as Dr. Ramirez, and in 2009 he rejoined the cast of Nip/Tuck as Dr. Hamoui. Beyond his acting work, Lopez is best known for hosting a variety of programs like The Other Half (2003, with Dick Clark), Miss Teen USA (2003), Pet Star (2002-05) and Extra (2009); in collaboration with his sister, Marissa Lopez Wong, he published a children's book in 2009, Mud Tacos.
Lopez and his partner, Karina Smirnoff, lost in the final round of Dancing With The Stars to Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke... Lopez was married to actress Ali Landry from April to June of 2004.Known to legions of Gen-Xers as A.C. Slater, Mario Lopez became famous when he was cast as the macho heartthrob on the Saturday-morning sitcom Saved by the Bell in 1989. Lopez's career started years before, however, as he began auditioning for roles while he was still a teenager, commuting between Hollywood and his hometown of San Diego. At just 13, Lopez appeared in 1986's The_Last_Fling, and in 1988 he appeared in the Civil War drama Colors.
The fame that Saved by the Bell brought the young actor proved to be tremendous, and he stayed with the show until its run ended in 1993, going on to star in Saved by the Bell: The College Years, and even appear in a few episodes of Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Buoyed by his supportive fan base, Lopez then went on to pursue a wide variety of projects, playing Olympic diving champion Greg_Louganis in the TV movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story, and a criminal-turned-hero in the independent film Eastside. In 2003, he began co-hosting a talk show with Danny_Bonaduce and Dick_Clark called The Other Half, which was very much like a men's answer to The_View. Lopez enjoyed hosting duties, saying that he loved talking about women, sports, and cars.
In 2006, Lopez had an opportunity to pursue a longtime interest in dancing, when he joined the cast of the ABC competitive reality show Dancing with the Stars. He and partner Karina_Smirnoff were very successful, coming in second place, and audiences were shocked that the lithe actor sex had never received any formal ballroom dance training. 2006 was also the year that Lopez made a memorable run as doctors both on the hit TV series Nip/Tuck and on the daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful. He also parlayed his reborn popularity from Dancing with the Stars to serve as a celebrity guest host for the news magazine show Extra and to host multiple beauty pageants, such as Miss America.
