George Lopez Net Worth

How much is George Lopez worth?

About George Lopez

before putting celebrities on the spot in Lopez Tonight, George Lopez starred in the appropriately named sitcom as himself. George Lopez often responds in interviews by saying, “I grew up with nothing and nobody ever told me I could do anything,” which is kind of like his comedy’s mission statement.

About 90% of Lopez’s humor stems from it and the fact that he is an American of Mexican descent. And people have connected with that comedy. From his apprehensive first performance in 1979 to his remarkable seven-night Universal Amphitheater sellout in 2004, Lopez has established himself as one of the top Hispanic artists in the country.

“So Sad It Had To Be Funny”

In the primarily Hispanic Mission Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, George Lopez was born and reared. Although Lopez occasionally describes his father as a migrant farm worker, the fact that he left when George was still a baby meant that Lopez never knew him. The day after his 10th birthday, his mother also left him behind to begin a new life with a new husband. A set of uncaring grandparents took in young George. Even though he would eventually make light of these situations, growing up abandoned and alone was probably only amusing in hindsight. Because of his grandmother’s mistreatment and lack of interest in him—she never remembered George’s birthday, for example—he quickly realized he was alone.

But Freddie Prinze’s performance in Chico and the Man inspired him to pursue acting when he was a teenager. Prinze was one of the few Hispanic actors to have his own program after Desi Arnaz, and Lopez had great expectations for him. After graduating from high school as the first member of his family, he tried stand-up comedy for the first time. But because he didn’t want to go through the scary experience again, he shied away from the platform for four years. He did odd jobs and considered going into information technology, but finally comedy was too much for him. In his top-20 autobiography Why You Crying, he stated: “I became a comedian to deal with [my grandmother’s] psychological abuse, a life so sad it had to be funny.”

Coming Up

Lopez didn’t come out as funny naturally, and getting started in stand-up was challenging. He refers to the years when he was the “angriest, most depressed man alive” and bombed comedy clubs in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the “I Hate Me years.” He drowned his sorrows in booze. But with time and repetition, Lopez’s comedic abilities and notoriety increased.

By utilizing the worst memories of his neglected and abused childhood and making light of them, he established a reputation and attracted a large following. After playing a small role in the 1990 film Ski Patrol, he quickly began dating Ann Serrano, whom he eventually wed in 1993. The couple had their first child, Mayan, two years later. Along with his family, his career expanded, and in 1999 Lopez was given the rare honor of being the first Hispanic-American to host an English-language morning drive-time radio show in Los Angeles.

Touched By A Bullock

Sandra Bullock is Lopez’s unlikely professional guardian angel. The actress, who shared Lopez’s concern that there weren’t enough Hispanics on television, was a fan and contacted the comedian to produce a prime-time sitcom. The George Lopez show was picked up by ABC in 2002, and it ran well for five years. Despite his penchant for tantrums, TBS offered him a talk show hosting position, and Lopez Tonight was born in 2009. When ABC decided to cancel the show in 2007, Lopez lashed out to the press, complaining in a profanity-laced tirade that his show was canceled for racial reasons, and that “TV just got really, really white again.”

Due to a genetic defect, George Lopez needed a kidney transplant in 2005, in the middle of the run of his television program, George Lopez. Ann, his then-wife, donated a kidney, and in exchange, George swore to stand by her side no matter what. But the two made their separation public in late 2010, drawing attention.

Fighting Words

The late-night presenter has had well-publicized fights with Jay Leno, Carlos Mencia, Erik Estrada, Kirstie Alley, and Jay Leno (whom he dubbed a “two-faced dude” and claimed stole his jokes) (who he compared to a dancing pig). In response, Alley tweeted a request for his kidney on behalf of his ex and all the insulted ladies. He sent Alley flowers after the insult.

Despite everything, Lopez has persevered. His involvement in charitable activity has earned him an honorary mayorship in Los Angeles. He has broken down boundaries between Hispanics and Americans, played small roles in a number of movies, and was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America in 2005. In 2004, he was named Artist of the Year and Humanitarian by Harvard University.

“It means a lot in that I always felt invisible, and I was louder in my own head than I was verbally… I was torturing myself, wanting to say things and not knowing how to be. The stand-up was a way out but it never came easy.” — George Lopez