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FABIO Lanzoni ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈfaːbjo lanˈtsoːni]); born March 15, 1959 or 1961),[1][2] widely known simply as Fabio, is an Italian fashion model, spokesperson, author, actor, who appeared on the cover of hundreds of romance novels throughout the 1980s and 1990s.[3]
Career
Television and media
Fabio starred in the syndicated TV series Acapulco H.E.A.T. as the role of Claudio. He was also featured in calendars, led a fragrance campaign for Mediterraneum by Versace, and landed a role in commercials for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!“. He appeared in “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). He appeared in one episode of Step by Step called “Absolutely Fabio”. Fabio appeared as well on Ned’s Declassified. He was also in a Big Time Rush episode and reprised his role in the Nickelodeon television series once again in their third TV movie, Big Time Christmas. In 2010, he appeared in an episode of The Suite Life on Deck called “Senior Ditch Day” as Captain Hawk. He has also cameoed in the films Dude, Where’s My Car?, Spy Hard and Zoolander.
In 1994, Fabio released an album titled Fabio After Dark, which included soliloquies on his philosophy of love.[3]
Fabio can also be seen posing as the hero Kuros on the cover of the 1989 video game Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Fabio hosted the American reality television series Mr. Romance in 2005. The series featured a dozen male contestants competing for the title of “Mr. Romance” and the opportunity to appear as a romance novel cover model.
In 1992, Robert Gottlieb became Fabio’s literary agent. Fabio became the first best-selling male romance writer who did not use a pseudonym.[citation needed] In collaboration with Eugena Riley, Fabio’s first few books were titled Pirate, Rogue,Comanche, Viking and Champion. The genre of his first books were historical romance. He wrote three more books in collaboration with Wendy Corsi Staub titled Dangerous, Wild, and Mysterious.
Spokesperson
One of Fabio’s most memorable advertising campaigns was for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!. He was the spokesperson for the company since 1994. He was also the spokesperson for the Geek Squad in 2007, Oral-B’s Sensitive Advantage Toothbrush in 2006 (whose ad was featured in Times Square), and one of his most popular ads to date is for Nationwide Insurance. In 2006, the commercial for Nationwide aired during the Super Bowl and was the most viewed commercial for the game, garnering over 1 million views within two weeks. Other endorsements included Wicks Furniture, Ames Hardware, Old Spice, and the American Cancer Society.[4]
On July 26, 2011, Old Spice launched a new campaign on YouTube in which Fabio challenges Isaiah Mustafa to try to replace him as the New Old Spice Guy. The online challenge was entitled Mano a Mano in el Baño (hand-to-hand in the bathroom). Mustafa emerged as the winner, though Fabio’s Old Spice YouTube Channel received more than 9 million views in the week after its debut, rising to Number 4 on YouTube for the week.[5]
