If you grew up in the 80s or 90s in America, then Fabio Lanzoni is a familiar face. He is the guy that is on the cover of all the romance novels our mothers and grandmothers would read for recreation. Sometimes on these covers he would be standing there with his hair flowing and shirt unbuttoned.
Other covers featured him riding a horse or doing something exciting in order to gain the reader’s attention while they are purchasing novels at the bookstore. His image has generated millions in sales of romance novels around the world. While he has been used to making covers more attractive, it is important to understand who he really was as a person, how did he spend his time and what was the big unexpected event that happened to him about twenty years ago?
Fabio Lanzoni was born March 15, 1959, and is simply known as “Fabio” to his fans. He is an Italian-American actor, fashion model, an endorser of many products and advocate for the American Cancer Society. He has appeared on some television roles, but he is most famous as the “romance cover guy”. He was born in Milan, Italy to parents Carnicelli Lanzoni and Sauro Lanzoni who were a mechanical engineer and owner of a conveyor-belt company respectively. He has two siblings, a sister and a brother, and was raised in the Catholic Church where he frequently served as an altar boy and choir member.
Fabio was discovered by a photographer when he was working out one day. His first appearances as a model and television star were local in Italy. He later moved to New York to become a fashion and catalog model for the Ford Agency, which he parlayed into print advertisements in a variety of publications for companies like Gap and Nintendo.
About twenty years ago, the Fabio Lanzoni goose incident occurred and it really shocked him and the public. The Fabio goose rollercoaster incident occurred in 1999, when he was riding Apollo’s Chariot, a roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Fabio killed a flying goose when it struck him in the face when he was riding the roller coaster. It left his face covered in blood. Fabio also said that the goose broke camera equipment which subsequently all struck him in the face. Several years after this Fabio became an American citizen in 2016.
Fabio, as a television star, is known for his role as Claudio in the syndicated television program Acapulco H.E.A.T. As a model he has been featured in numerous calendars and endorsed the fragrance campaign for Mediterraneum by Versace. He appeared in many commercials, especially those for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”. He got the opportunity to collaborate with one of his longtime friends, Darlene Conley, with several appearances on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.
He appeared in an episode of the American sitcom Step by Step in an episode entitled “Absolutely Fabio”. Fabio also appeared on two Nickelodeon TV series with Ned’s Declassified and Big Time Rush. In 2010, he played the role of Captain Hawk in an episode of The Suite Life on Deck (“Senior Ditch Day”). He also made film cameos in Dude, Where’s My Car?, Spy Hard and Zoolander.
Fabio has created different forms of media. Back in 1994, he released an album called Fabio After Dark, which featured soliloquies on his beliefs regarding love. He appeared as a protagonist on the cover of the 1989 video game Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II for Nintendo. In 2005, he hosted the American reality show Mr. Romance, in which contestants competed against each other for the opportunity to gain a contract to appear on the cover of a series of romance novels.
Even though the majority of his credits take place in front of the camera, Fabio has also done some creative work offscreen. He and his co-writer Eugena Riley created a series of historical romance novels: Pirate, Rogue, Comanche, Viking and Champion. In collaboration with Wendy Corsi Staub he had co-written three more novels: Dangerous, Wild and Mysterious.
Fabio has been a spokesman for many products that are still used today. As mentioned previously he made frequent commercial appearances and offscreen events for the brand I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!; he has promoted this product for over twenty years. He was the spokesman for Geek Squad in 2007 which introduced many new customers to Best Buy, Oral-B’s Sensitive Advantage Toothbrush in 2006 (which featured large billboards in New York’s Time Square), and he has also been a longtime promoter of Nationwide Insurance. In 2006, his Nationwide commercial aired during the Super Bowl and was the most-viewed media during the sporting event.
Other company endorsements included Wickes Furniture, Ames Hardware, Old Spice and the American Cancer Society. In 2011, Old Spice launched a YouTube campaign that shows Fabio trying to replace Isaiah Mustafa as the new “Old Spice Guy”. There was an online challenge called Mano a Mano in el Baño. Even though Fabio received 9 million views, Mustafa still became the winner.
There was some controversy when Fabio became a spokesman for The American Cancer Society. He was motivated to join the organization due to his sister having ovarian cancer. She was treated at a controversial healthcare facility, Burzynski Clinic. The lead doctor from this clinic stated that they had a cure for cancer. Fabio said, “He is a genius. He definitely, I believe, he has the cure for cancer… They have to let him get his office back and let him do his work…”
American oncologist, David Gorski, responded to Fabio with the following statement: “No one knows how he or she will react to a loved one dying of cancer. However… this does not entirely excuse the spouting of pure nonsense in the service of an unproven cancer cure that could endanger other patients by enticing them to go to the Burzynski Clinic too. Sadly, Fabio’s sister died in August of 2013. Even though some unusual events have taken place in his life, Fabio has put together a good career spanning decades. He is more than just cover art, he is also a marketer, advisor, investor and philanthropist who has been successful in his endeavors