George Lopez has built a brilliant career in Hollywood over the years, but there is one person to whom he owes all his success.
The actor-producer-comedian admitted in a recent episode of Politics with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson podcast that “would be nobody without” [Sandra Bullock].”
Lopez recalled being in a dark period in the 1990s, “drinking a lot, bad behavior,” when he almost had his first fight with Bullock.
“I was in Austin [Texas] and Sandra Bullock lived in Austin and [Dave] Chappelle had been there the week before. And the club director comes to me and says, 'I think Sandra Bullock is coming. She called, she's coming,' the Lopez vs. Lopez star recalled. “I was like, man, I don't want her to see me like this. You know, I didn't even know her. I got down on one knee in that fucking green room and I said, 'Please, Please don't let him do it.”
The comedian said he “wished she didn't come,” which he ultimately was granted, as Bullock was unable to make it to his show that night.
But a year and a half later, their paths crossed again when Bullock was working on developing a Latino TV show and asked to see Lopez. “I had already cleaned up a little bit, and then she saw me and said, 'Come to my office,'” he recalled.
The pair talked for three hours about the show that eventually became Lopez's hit sitcom on ABC. George Lopezof which Bullock served as executive producer.
“I told her, 'Hey, you know, what you're about to try to do has never been done successfully, and if I never see you again or whatever happens, I just want to say thank you,'” Blue beetle the actor said of their conversation. “I'd never had anyone believe in me, and she was like, 'Why don't you worry about being funny, and why don't you let me worry about everything else?'”
After the meeting, Lopez said he got into his car to leave and was “in tears.”
“It changed the direction of my life and the lives of everyone in my family,” Lopez added. “And for no other purpose than to think I was funny.”
George Lopez ran for six seasons from 2002 to 2007. In addition to serving as an executive producer, Bullock would also make occasional guest appearances on the sitcom.