Lou Ferrigno is an American actor, retired bodybuilder, personal trainer and author, best known for being Arnold Schwarzenegger’s runner-up at the 1974 IFBB Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition and 3rd place finisher at the 1975 IFBB Mr. Olympia. Lou’s efforts to win were the subject the documentary Pumping Iron (1977) introduced him to a worldwide audience. After a break, he devoted himself to acting in television series The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982), Trauma Center (1983), as well as films Hercules (1983), The Adventures of Hercules (1985), All Is Fair (1989), Sinbad of the Seven Seas ( 1989) andCage (1989) Lou returned to bodybuilding in the early 1990s.

However, he only finished 12th at the 1992 IFBB Mr. Olympia and 10th at the 1993 IFBB Mr. Olympia. Disappointed, Lou entered the competition for the 1994 IFBB Masters Olympia, which was featured in a documentary called Standing Up ( 1996 ). He officially retired from bodybuilding after losing to Robbie Robinson. Lou then lent his voice to The Hulk in the animated series The Incredible Hulk (1996-1997) and then appeared in television series The King of Queens (2000-2007) and Conman (2017) and films Hulk (2003), Death Instant (2017) and Enter the Fire(2018). Lou Ferrigno has built a large social media fan base consisting of more than 3 million followers on Facebook, more than 200,000 followers on Instagram and more than 100,000 followers on Twitter.

Born name

Louis Jude Ferrigno

nickname

Lou, Louie, Big Louie, Hulk

Sun sign

Scorpio

Place of birth

Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States

Residence

Los Angeles, California, United States

nationality

training

Lou Ferrigno attended St. Athanasius High School in Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States. He later enrolled at Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn, New York, New York, USA, where he graduated in 1969.

occupation

Actor, retired bodybuilder, personal trainer, author

family

• Father – Matt Ferrigno (Police Lieutenant)
• Mutter- Victoria Ferrigno
• Siblings – Andy Ferrigno (brother)
• Other – Louis Ferrigno (paternal grandfather), Antoinette Accarino (paternal grandmother)

Manager

Lou Ferrigno is represented by –

• Celebrity Consultant (Talent Agent Commercial) in Encino, California, USA
• Carla Ferrigno Management (Managerin) in Los Angeles, California, USA
• Kind Management (Manager) in Los Angeles, California, USA
• Pafundi Law Firm in Beverly Hills, California, USA

To build

Muscular

Height

6 feet 3.5 inches or 192 cm

weight

• 129 kg (1975)
• 143 kg (1992)
• 115 kg or 253.5 kg (after active career)

girlfriend/spouse

Lou Ferrigno dated –

1. Susan Groff (1978-1979) – He married Susan Groff on May 27, 1978, but they divorced just a year later.
2. Carla Green (1980-Present) – On May 3, 1980, he married a psychotherapist who then became his manager and later a personal trainer, Carla Green. They have three children together – daughter Shanna Ferrigno (born 1981), who later became an actress, son Louis Jr. Ferrigno (born November 10, 1984), who became a football player in 2013, and another son, Brent Ferrigno (born 1990).

race/ethnicity

Caucasian

He is of Italian descent.

hair colour

Schwarz

Due to his advanced age, his hair was showing signs of “salt and pepper” coloring.

eye color

Green

sexual orientation

Just

distinguishing features

• Towering, muscular physique
• Bushy eyebrows
• vocal arch

measurements

His body measurements around 1975 may have been –

• Chest – 150 cm or 59 inches
• Weapons – 57 cm or 22.5 inches
• Waist – 86.5 cm or 34 inches
• Thigh – 73.5 cm (29 in)
• Neck – 48 cm or 19 inches

brand promotion

Lou Ferrigno has endorsed his own brands Ferrigno Fitness and FerrignoFIT .

Lou Ferrigno has appeared in commercials like –

• Print advertisement for Joe Weider’s Dynamic Muscle Builder Drink (1991)
• Longhorn Steakhouse (Januar 2006)
• Butterfinger (2010)
• ProMist Spray Mop von O-Cedar (2012)
• Entertainment.com (2012)

Known for

• A professional bodybuilder from 1969-1977 and 1990-1995, IFBB was a 1974 Mr. Olympia runner-up, 3rd place IFBB Mr. Olympia 1975, and consecutively won the IFBB Mr. Universe titles in 1973 and 1974, and 4th place in World’s Strongest Man 1977 competition
• His roles in TV series such as The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982), Trauma Center (1983), Black Scorpion (2001), The King of Queens (2000-2007), Trapper (2017), The Grindhouse Radio (2018), The Adventures by Velvet Prozak (2018) and voice actor in the animated series The Incredible Hulk (1996-1997) and Adventure Time (2010-2016)
• Actor in films such as Hercules (1983), The Adventures of Hercules (1985), Everything Is Fair (1989), Cage (1989), Cage II (1994), The Godson (1998), Hulk (2003), Mothers ‘ Night (2014) , Instant Death (2017) and Enter the Fire (2018)

first movie

Lou Ferrigno made his big screen debut as Hercules in the adventure fantasy film, Hercules in 1983.

First TV show

Lou Ferrigno made his television series debut in an episode of the sports series as a contestant on ABC’s Wide World of Sports on April 11, 1976.

Personal trainer

Lou Ferrigno followed a three-day split routine during competition and the offseason. He trained each muscle group 2 times a week due to his superior genetics and the help of necessary drugs used by all bodybuilders. Lou did 4-5 sets of 6-10 reps per exercise and worked out every day except Sunday. His typical training routine was as follows:

• Monday – chest and back
• Tuesday – shoulder and arms
• Wednesday – Legs
• Thursday – Chest and Back
• Friday – shoulder and arms
• Saturday – legs
• Sunday – rest and relaxation

On a diet, he ate high-calorie foods and as much protein as possible from sources such as fish, red beef, steaks, chicken, and eggs. When he was dieting for a bodybuilding show, he would follow a simple diet plan of around 3500 calories 5 times a day, adjusted for his enormous height and muscular physique. It looked like:

• Meal 1 – oatmeal, fruit, milk
• Meal 2 – Chicken, Vegetables and Rice
• Meal 3 – Mashed or baked potatoes, lean steak, vegetables
• Meal 4 – Rice, Fish, Vegetables
• Meal 5 – eggs, vegetables

After his days of competition were over, Lou never took all of his 3 children to school early on and are very athletic and interested in fitness. Lou still grows his own crops, does a lot of cardio in and out of the gym, like cycling, getting massages, and even trying to build muscle to help with muscle recovery.

Lou Ferrigno favorite things

• Filme – Star Wars, Iron Man, Spiderman
• animal – dog
• People – Stan Lee, Dolph Lundgren

Lou Ferrigno Facts

1. As a child, Lou suffered from an ear infection that led to permanent but partial hearing loss.
2. He claimed that hearing loss was the driving force in his life to succeed. His father was very negative about his chances of making it in life and Lou was bullied at school because of his “disability”.
3. Lou began lifting weights at age 13, inspired by his role model, bodybuilder Steve Reeves, known for starring in films Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unbound (1959).
4. At age 15, Lou helped his father tare the roof all summer so he could earn enough money to buy a Weider Preacher curler bench and 100-pound weights to train regularly.
5. Lou and his family adopt pets to protect them from careless owners, abuse, neglect and ultimately being dumped in the vet’s office. In April 2019, one of his dogs named Mia passed away.
6. Lou made his professional bodybuilding debut in 1972 at the NABBA Mr. Universe competition.
7. Immediately after graduating from high school in 1969, he won his first major bodybuilding title at IFBB Mr. America.
8. When he won the IFBB Mr. Universe title in 1974, Lou was 20 years old and the youngest bodybuilder to accomplish the feat.
9. Both parents appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron (1977).
10. Lou created his own brand of fitness equipment called Ferrigno Fitness .
11. He was forced to do a $10 an hour job at a sheet metal worker in Brooklyn, New York because bodybuilding wasn’t a lucrative job at the time. He quit out of fear after one of his friends cut off his hand at work.
12. Lou’s acting mentor was Bill Bixby. He appeared alongside him in Hulk franchises of films.
13. After the release of the last TV movie called Death of the Incredible Colossus (1990), more movies were already planned. Bill Bixby’s death from cancer made those plans impossible and also crushed Lou as he has been a shadow of himself in recent days.
14. Lou’s favorite episode of the TV series The Incredible Hulk (1978-1982) was titled King of the Beach , in which he played both The Hulk and a bodybuilder.
15. He competed with Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of the Hulk, but ultimately went to Lou because he was taller and more suited the character’s description.
16. Luckily, Lou managed to escape certain deathcircumstances in October 1981. He was invited by the President of Egypt as a personal guest and sat right next to him, but he canceled Lou’s invitation at the last minute. The President was later murdered along with 12 other people, and the killer revealed that he originally planned the killing spree for the very event Lou was scheduled to attend.
17. In 2003, he wrote an autobiography entitled My Incredible Life As The Hulk . In it, he said that he had no profits from Hulk merchandise as there were no such contracts at the time, and he lost royalties over the years.
18. He appeared in the music video for Michael Jackson’s song Liberian Girl (1989).
19. Lou was Michael Jackson’s personal trainer and physically prepared him for the 2008 and 2009 tour. Unfortunately, his untimely death ended both plans.
20. In 2006, he was sworn in as a Level II Deputy Sheriff in Los Angeles County, California, to honor his father’s profession.
21. His co-star and on-screen matchup in the film Hercules (1983), Sybil Danning, had a crush on him.
22. In 2012, Lou announced that after a lifetime of being dependent on a hearing aid, he underwent revolutionary surgery that involved implanting a special device under the skin and regained his natural hearing.
23. At the same time, he announced that the surgery was performed in the fifth season of the reality TV series The Celebrity Apprentice (2012), he also raised $50,000 in prize money for his charity – Muscular Dystrophy Association .
24. Lou has appeared on the covers of popular magazines such as Muscle & Fitness , Flexing , Muscle Building , Ironman , Bodybuilding Lifestyle , Muscle Mag International , Muscle Development , Muscle Training , Natural Bodybuilding , and Strength & Health .
25. Lou has twice had to file a lawsuit against his brother Andy over the right to use the Ferrigno name in business ventures.
26. President Donald Trump appointed him a member of the United States Council on Sport, Fitness and Nutrition in May 2018.
27. In May 2019, Lou announced that he became a personal trainer for Mark Cuban, a well-known entrepreneur and businessman who is worth $4 billion as of February 2019.
28. Visit his official websites @ louferrigno.com, ferrignofit.com.
29. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.