Lou Ferrigno, star of “The Incredible Hulk”, will be signing comics.
* 5/2/09 10:00 AM at Krypton Comics – South 125th Avenue. Omaha, NE.
Louis “Lou” Jude Ferrigno (born November 9, 1951) is an American bodybuilder and actor. Ferrigno has appeared in such television series and movies as Bill Bixby’s bulky alter ego, The Hulk, in The Incredible Hulk, Pumping Iron, Sinbad of the Seven Seas, Hercules, and most recently in the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man. He is best known for playing the Hulk. He has more recently played a recurring role, as himself, in the sitcom The King of Queens.
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Early Life & Career
Ferrigno was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian American family, the son of Matthew, a New York City Police Department Lieutenant who, according to Lou, was also a weightlifter and was often very critical and negative towards him and mother Victoria. At the age of three, Lou suffered an ear infection and permanently lost 80% of his hearing. Ferrigno started weight training at age 13, citing body builder and Hercules star Steve Reeves as one of his role models.
Ferrigno competed in the first World’s Strongest Man contest in 1977, where he finished fourth in a field of eight competitors. While competing, Ferrigno commonly went to see a physician who checked up on whether he was doing damage to his body.
During competition, the 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) Ferrigno’s contest weight was 285 lb (130 kg) in 1975, and 316 lb (143 kg) in 1992; he was one of the tallest professional bodybuilders at that time. While he never bested Schwarzenegger in competitive bodybuilding, Ferrigno did have one triumph over his Austrian rival: winning the role of the Hulk on the 1970s television series. This happened only because Arnold was not tall enough, the producers stated.
He made a cameo in the 2003 film Hulk as a security guard, was in one deleted scene, and voiced the Hulk. He has also done guest appearances and advertisements. He again appeared as a security guard in 2008’s feature film The Incredible Hulk as well as voicing the Hulk again. Furthermore, Ferrigno has been the favorite choice to play the voice of the Hulk in several animated adaptations as well as in the most recent film after being publicly offered at the 2008 New York Comic Con by The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier.
Personal Life
Ferrigno sees his loss of hearing as influential towards bodybuilding and his life: “…if I hadn’t lost some of my hearing, I wouldn’t be where I am now. It forced me to maximize my own potential. I had to be better than the average person to succeed.”
He married Susan Groff in 1978, divorcing a year later. On May 3, 1980, he married psychotherapist Carla Green, who then also began serving as his manager and later became a personal trainer. They have three children, Shanna, born 1981; Louis, Jr., born 1984; and Brent, born 1990. Shanna has a recurring role as Nurse Janice in Days of our Lives, and appears in the NBC series Windfall, as well as the television movie Within, and in 2005 she appeared in the E! reality television series, Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive. Louis, Jr. was a linebacker for the University of Southern California Trojans football team.
Ferrigno played himself during intermittent guest appearances on the CBS television show, The King of Queens, beginning in 2000 and continuing until the program’s conclusion in 2007. He and his wife Carla were depicted as the main characters’ next-door neighbors. Because of his role as the title character on The Incredible Hulk, he is often the target of “Hulk jokes” by Doug and his friends.
He still trains daily and also sells his own line of fitness equipment through his company, Ferrigno Fitness. In a January 2009 taping, Ferrigno Fitness provided equipment to The Price Is Right for use as a One Bid prize, and he demonstrated the equipment himself, including a mention as part of the prize.
Ferrigno currently lives in Arroyo Grande, California.
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