Fabio Lanzoni

Fabio Lanzoni
Fabio Lanzoni (middle) and his two nephews in Los Angeles, 2007

Fabio Lanzoni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfaːbjo lanˈt͜soːni], born March 15, 1959 with some sources claiming 1961 instead), widely known simply as Fabio, is an Italian male fashion model who appeared on the cover of hundreds of romance novels throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Biography

Early life & modeling

Lanzoni was born in Milan, Italy, the son of Flora (née Carnicelli) and Sauro Lanzoni, a mechanical engineer. He started as a male model and film star in Italy, then moved to New York City and became a runway and catalog model for the Ford agency. He became famous in the romance world for appearing on hundreds of romance book covers, the first of which was Hearts Aflame in 1987.

He is known among video game enthusiasts for his box cover pose for the NES game Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II in 1989. After retiring from modeling in 1991, Lanzoni left New York for the lure of the big screen, where he hoped to follow in the tradition of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a new action-adventure film actor. He has also modeled for many authors, including Bertrice Small and Nora Roberts.

Author and actor

In 1992, the William Morris Agency's number one literary agent Robert Gottlieb, became Fabio's literary agent, making Fabio the first best selling male romance writer without the use of a pseudonym. Fabio's books were titled Pirate, Rogue, and Comanche. Fabio then starred in the syndicated TV series Acapulco H.E.A.T., was featured in calendars, led a fragrance campaign, and even landed a role in commercials for "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" margarine.

Fabio appeared in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful a number of times, as a close friend of the character Sally Spectra. (Fabio and Darlene Conley, who played Sally, were close friends in real life.) Also he was in a Big time rush episode "Big Time Dance"

More recent activities

In 2002, Fabio designed and launched a line of women's outerwear that was sold at the Sam's Club division of Wal-Mart. The line was launched nationally in 2003 and was featured on many TV shows including The View, The Insider, Fox & Friends, Your World with Neil Cavuto, CNBC’s Business Hour and in print publications including Fortune, People and many local newspapers across the country.

Fabio was a frequent guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where he consistently garnered laughs with his campy quality. He was featured in a series of television spots for "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" throughout the 1990s, and returned to the role in 2006 to help promote the "new and improved" spread. On June 7, 2006, Fabio helped crown Greg Vaughan as the new I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spokesman, though Fabio has hinted that he will not totally be removed from his role in promoting the spread. He has appeared in commercials for Wickes Furniture, and was featured in the video for Jill Sobule's 1995 song, "I Kissed a Girl". He hosted the show Mr. Romance on the Oxygen Network in 2005, which was called the search for the next Fabio.

During Super Bowl XL, a Nationwide Insurance advertising campaign debuted featuring Fabio rowing a gondola seeming to promote a new Fabio brand shampoo. After several cuts back and forth, he appears to age about 30 or more years resembling an older, less appealing version of Fabio. The slogan on-screen reads "Life Comes At You Fast". For the Nationwide ad they hired Jurassic Park's famous makeup artists to transform the icon into an older man.

In the season finale of 2004's Average Joe 2: Hawaii, Gil Hyatt was disgusted to learn that Larissa, the pursued woman in the show, had previously dated Fabio. He appeared to reject Larissa as a result in the final sequences of the episode, kicking at the sand and surf on the beach where they were walking and telling the camera that "every guy would understand" and claiming to be no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with Larissa.

He appeared on Extreme Makeover Home Edition on ABC and America's Next Top Model, and is currently guesting in Bo! in the USA, as the idol and sidekick of Keith Lemon. In the February 2007 issue of Stuff Magazine, Fabio discussed his interest in audiovisual equipment. "My father was an engineer, so it's in my genes".

It is generally accepted that Fabio has an aversion to most birds of flight.

Other appearances

• 1990: Cameo in the movie Exorcist III in which he plays an angel in a dream sequence.
• 1992: Cameo in Robert Zemeckis' film Death Becomes Her as one of Isabella Rossellini's bodyguards.
• 1993: Appeared on America's Funniest Home Videos which was then hosted by Bob Saget.
• 1993: Recorded an album entitled Fabio After Dark, primarily a spoken word album featuring seductive reading of love advice intermixed with songs by other artists, recorded on Scotti Brothers Records.
• 1995: Appeared in Jill Sobule's controversial video on MTV for her song, "I Kissed A Girl".
• 1996: Cameo in Eddie as himself, catching a referee's toupee which the title character (played by Whoopi Goldberg) throws into the audience at an NBA game.
• 1996: Cameo in Spy Hard as himself, taking a self-portrait and catching the attention of the protagonists' love interest
• 1997: Guest appearance in season 6 on Step By Step
• 1999: Appeared at Busch Gardens Williamsburg when a goose hit his face on the first drop of Apollo's Chariot and left blood coming down his nose. This happened on the opening day of Apollo's Chariot on March 27, 1999.
• 2000: Had a minor part in the movie Dude, Where's My Car?. He and a woman kiss in an attempt to out-do the protagonists, played by Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott, who in turn kissed to the disgust of Fabio.
• 2001: Cameo in the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander, during which he was awarded the "Slashie Award" as the best Actor/Model ("and not the other way around") at the VH1 Fashion Awards.
• 2001: Appeared in the movie Bubble Boy, as the leader of the "Bright and Shiny" cult.
• 2003: Appeared in the Swedish TV-show "High Chaparall".
• 2005: Appeared in the Australian show Celebrity Overhaul.
• 2005: Appeared on The Man Show "Spring Training" episode to co-host alongside Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel. He was a prize on the "Wheel of Destiny" for that night.
• 2006: Appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien advertising "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" during one of Conan O'Brien's "talk to a regular audience member" segments.
• 2006: Appeared in short film "My Little Red Car." Shot in Venice, it revolved around Fabio (as himself) trying desperately to navigate a small, red Mini-cooper around Venice on a gondola, only to encounter multiple comedic mishaps.
• 2006: Appeared with Howie Mandel, host of Deal or no Deal, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as a Deal or no Deal prize for an audience full of servicemen. The entire audience of military personnel were subsequently invited to join him for dinner in the NBC commissary.
• 2006: Appeared in America's Next Top Model Cycle 7 Episode 7, where he posed with the girls for mock-up romance novel covers at the weekly photo challenge.
• January 12, 2007: Appeared on NBC's television show 1 vs 100 as a member of The Mob.
• January 18, 2007: Appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien advertising "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" Mediterranean Spread, while joining The Max Weinberg 7 as part of the band.
• April 11, 2007: Appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to carry Conan from the performance area where he does his monologue over to his desk. When asked what he thought of the monologue, Fabio replied "I can't believe it's not better," clearly a reference to his "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" ads. Later, he carried guest Tina Fey out from backstage.
• June 1, 2009: Appeared on the debut episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien as part an introductory segment wherein Conan drives through the streets of Hollywood.
• Also appeared on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide as a character in a romance novel.
• Also appeared in season six of Roseanne in the episode "Guilt by Imagination".
• Also appeared on Talkshow with Spike Feresten doing a skit on his fictional search engine called FABios.
• Also appeared on Yes, Dear as the supermodel with whom Jimmy Hughes dances.
• 2009: Cameo appearance in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 3D short film "Al's Brain" commissioned by Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa, CA
• 2010: Appeared as himself on Big Time Rush as Mrs. Knight's date on the episode "Big Time Dance".
• 2010: A Cardboard, Motion-Activated Talking Fabio stand up appeared in the Smosh video "Arm Wrestling To The Death"

See also

• Mononymous persons

External links

• Fabio at IMDb
• Fabio at the Notable Names Database
• Interview with Fabio in Psychology Today
• Fabio After Dark - Songs from the Fabio After Dark album, displaying his much loved "campy" quality on the April Winchell show. (Audio Clips, at bottom of the page)
• 2007 Fabio Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment