Xavier López

Actor · born 17 February 1935 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

Xavier López Rodríguez (17 February, 1935 - 25 March, 2023), better known as Chabelo, was a Mexican-American actor, comedian and television host. He hosted a children's program entitled En familia con Chabelo, which aired for forty-eight years.

He studied medicine, which he practiced for four years in a private sanatorium where he was a partner. At the same time and while still studying, he missed classes in order to make frequent visits to the facilities of the building known as Televicentro, inaugurated in 1952, owned by the alliance of Mexican radio stations, Telesistema Mexicano, which would later become Televisa. There he met the producer, Luis de Llano Palmer, who offered him work as a production assistant, a job he accepted and opted to abandon his career in medicine. At the same place, he also worked as a cameraman and floor manager. This experience was what helped him make the decision to become an actor and later he began to study drama for four years. Later, he would begin to have brief appearances in television broadcasts called teleteatros (of which there is not much information), and in which he would participate as a substitute for actors who were late or absent. He got his nickname after telling a joke about a boy named Chabelo and would embody that boy as a character for most of his acting career.

Where to start: The Mongolian Conspiracy (2019).