F
Fabio
Identification Italian male model and actor
Born March 15, 1959; Milan, Italy
Fabio’s handsome, muscular image helped to sell millions
of romance novels during the 1990’s.
Fabio Lanzoni, known in the United States simply as
Fabio, got his start in modeling in Italy at age four-
teen. He is the son of Flora and Sauro Lanzoni, a me-
chanical engineer. After serving a mandatory term
in the Italian army, Fabio returned to modeling. The
story is that he literally outgrew the profession in It-
aly, as his physique became too large for the clothing
he modeled there. He moved to New York City,
where he was signed by the Ford Modeling Agency
and worked as a runway and catalog model. He was a
popular model for Gap and other sportswear com-
panies.
His first romance novel cover was for Johanna
Lindsey’sHearts Aflame(1987). He subsequently ap-
peared on the covers of hundreds of romance nov-
els. His long blond hair and virile, bare-chested,
overtly sexual appearance attracted a great deal of
attention. Fabio also wrote a handful of romance
novels during the 1990’s—although three of these
were written “with” (if not to say “by”) Eugenia Riley,
an established romance writer. Two were written
with Wendy Corsi Staub.
Fabio’s best-known television appearance of the
decade was probably in the I Can’t Believe It’s Not
Butter commercials. He was featured in that prod-
uct’s commercials throughout the 1990’s and came
to be identified with it. He had cameos in a number
of Hollywood films, includingThe Exorcist III(1990),
Scenes from a Mall(1991),Death Becomes Her(1992),
andZoolander(2001). On television, he played a
character named Claudio inAcapulco H.E.A.T.in
1994, appearing in sixteen episodes. He also made
numerous appearances on talk shows, includingThe
Tonight Show with Jay LenoandLate Night with Conan
O’Brien, and was featured in several episodes of the
soap operaThe Bold and the Beautiful. He even ap-
peared on the box cover of the 1989 video game
Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors II.
Impact Fabio appears to be one of those personali-
ties who looms large for a brief time, flashes across
all the networks and publications, then seemingly
sinks back into anonymity. He has occasionally ap-
peared in news stories since the 1990’s, but his ap-
pearances have been infrequent. During Super
Bowl XL in 2006, Fabio’s appearance in a Nation-
wide Insurance advertising campaign was said to be
the most frequently downloaded commercial from
that event.Fabio in 1993.(AP/Wide World Photos)