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Fabio Lanzoni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfaːbjo lanˈtsoːni]; born March 15, 1959), known mononymously as Fabio, is an Italian-American actor, fashion model, and spokesman. Lanzoni is known for his wide-ranging career including appearing as a romance novel cover model throughout the 1990s, his acting and television roles including multiple cameo appearances as himself, and his music and books. He has been a spokesman for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! and the American Cancer Society. Early life Lanzoni was born 15 March 1959 in Milan, Italy, to Flora Carnicelli Lanzoni and Sauro Lanzoni, a mechanical engineer and owner of a conveyor-belt factory and/or company. Lanzoni has an older brother, Walter (who The Spokesman-Review described as short and bald), and younger sister, Cristina. Lanzoni's father wanted Lanzoni to become an engineer and take over the family business. When he was 3 years old, Lanzoni sampled liquors that were left on the kitchen counter, leading to him being hospitalized. Lanzoni claims this unpleasant experience "left a lasting bad impression" and caused his lifelong aversion to alcohol. Fabio claims he first became aware of his magnetism in kindergarten: "After lunch, [the kindergarteners] would go for a little nap. All the little girls wanted to sleep next to me." He first rode a motorbike at the age of 8 years old, and he credits a store close to his school as inspiring his lifelong fascination with motorcycles and dirt bikes. During the first five years of Lanzoni's life, he was raised primarily by his grandmother, whom he has called "the most influential woman" in his life. She died of cancer when Lanzoni was 13, having kept her diagnosis a secret from the family. This death severely impacted Lanzoni, inspiring him to later become the spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. Raised Catholic, he served as an altar boy. Lanzoni claims he was "always in trouble for breaking the rules and getting kicked out of school." His modelling career began when he was discovered by a photographer while working out. Lanzoni claimed he was "in the military for a couple of years", where they shaved his hair. He later clarified he served in the Italian Army in an interview with Maxim magazine. Career Lanzoni is best recognized for his appearance on the covers of hundreds of romance novels. In 2015, while describing his career, Lanzoni told The Guardian, I'd be the biggest hypocrite if I said I really worked very hard for my career, because it was given to me on a silver platter. I can't take any credit. My major focus was sports and going to the gym. Television and media Lanzoni first came to the United States at the age of 13; he intended to stay, but his parents forbade him due to his age. Lanzoni hoped to live in America, calling it "the greatest country in the world." At 14 years old (circa 1973), Fabio received his first modeling contract in Italy. In 2015, he described the event to The Guardian:My career started when I was barely 14 years old. I was in Milan, at the gym, and one of the two biggest photographers in Europe, Oliviero Toscani, came up to me and said, 'You should model.' I wasn't in the industry, so I had no idea who he was. I remember giving him my father's phone number. He called my father, hired me for a big campaign and things took off from there.In his teenage years, Lanzoni participated in such sports as horseback riding, windsurfing, and slalom and downhill skiing. In 1975, when Lanzoni was 16, he became a ski-racing champion in his hometown of Milan. However, he broke his leg while skiing a slalom course; he was placed in traction for a week and in a cast for four months. His doctor suggested weight lifting as physical therapy, and Lanzoni "fell in love" with the training. At 19 years of age, Lanzoni dropped out of university and moved to the US, to the frustration of his parents. Lanzoni recalls, "My father was totally against it. My father always said, 'He's going to get it out of his system and come back with his tail between his legs.'" Within 48 hours of arriving in America, Lanzoni "walked into the Ford modelling agency without an appointment and walked out with a contract." The following day, he met with Barry McKinley, whom Lanzoni called "the biggest photographer in the world" at the time. McKinley hired Lanzoni for the launch of Gap Inc. The contract was for $150,000, which was—according to Lanzoni—$30,000 more than what contemporaneous top male models in the world received. Lanzoni considered himself one of the first "really muscular" models, and he began to pose for 15 or 16 book cover photoshoots a day. Other early jobs included video shoots for Nintendo. Lanzoni claims his first realization of his fame was in 1987, at the age of 28. That year, he modeled for romance novel Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey, in a cover painted by Elaine Duillo. While dancing in a Miami nightclub, Lanzoni was recognized by three women from his appearance on romance novel covers. Prior to the encounter, Lanzoni knew he had taken photos for use in book covers, but had never seen the finished product. In a 2021 People interview, Lanzoni recalls:[These] three girls come over and say, 'You look exactly like the guy on our books!' I said, 'That's a good pickup line.' [After they return to show me the books,] "I go like, 'Oh my God, that's me.' It was the first time I saw myself on the cover of the books. More photography and film roles followed. In 1989, Lanzoni appeared as the hero Kuros on the cover of Nintendo game Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II. In 1990, Lanzoni acted as an angel in horror film The Exorcist III. In the 1991 film Scenes from a Mall, Lanzoni is credited for the role of "Handsome Man." In 1992, Robert Gottlieb of William Morris Agency became Lanzoni's literary agent; Lanzoni became the first bestselling male romance writer to use his real name. Lanzoni published Pirate (1993), Rogue (1994), Viking (1994), Comanche (1995), and Champion (1995), all of which were written in collaboration with romance author Eugenia Riley. Lanzoni later collaborated with Wendy Corsi Staub to write Dangerous (1996), Wild (1997), and Mysterious (1998). During the Christmas season of 1992, an all-Fabio pin-up calendar for 1993 appeared in major bookstores and was a top seller. In 1993, Lanzoni released an album titled Fabio After Dark, which included 17 tracks. Billboard reported that Lazoni's contributions "were all spoken word; he let guests like Billy Ocean and Dionne Warwick do the singing." Interspersed between the music are Lanzoni's soliloquies on his philosophies of love, such as "Fabio: On Inner Beauty" and "Fabio: On Humor." In 1993, Versace contracted Lanzoni to model their Mediterraneum fragrance. Lanzoni alleged in 2021 that the company still owed him $1 million in profits. In 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported on a promotional meet-and-greet at the Sherman Oaks Bullock's men's fragrance department. Fans lined up to re.... Discover the Eugenia Riley popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Eugenia Riley books.