Checco Zalone

Checco Zalone (Italian pronunciation: [ˌkekko dzaˈloːne], modeled on the Apulian insult "Che cozzalone!", lit. 'What a rough!'), art name of Luca Pasquale Medici[1] (born 3 June 1977), is an Italian actor, musician, singer-songwriter, imitator, comedian and screenwriter. He co-wrote and starred in the three highest-grossing Italian films in Italy headed by Quo Vado?.

Checco Zalone
Born
Luca Pasquale Medici

(1977-06-03) 3 June 1977
Capurso, Italy
OccupationActor
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)

Biography and career

Born in Capurso, after being a regular in many editions of the Canale 5 variety show Zelig, he became famous in 2006 thanks to the song "Siamo una squadra fortissimi", celebrating the Italian team just before the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[1]

In 2009 he co-wrote and starred in Cado dalle nubi, co-written by Gennaro Nunziante, who also directed.

In 2011 he again co-wrote and starred in Che bella giornata also co-written and directed by Nunziante. It opened with a record Italian opening weekend of $9.4 million[2] and became the highest-grossing Italian film of all-time in Italy, grossing €43.4 million,[3] surpassing Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful.[4] Life Is Beautiful retained the worldwide record for an Italian film with $70 million worldwide.[4]

In 2013, he and Nunziante followed it up with Sole a catinelle which surpassed it with an opening record of €19.2 million and a total gross of €51.9 million.[3][5][6]

In January 2016, his and Nunziate's next film Quo Vado? set another opening weekend record grossing over €22m (£16.5m) over the three-day holiday weekend[5][7][8] and went on to become the highest-grossing Italian film of all-time[9] with €65.3 million, second only to Avatar in Italy with €65.7 million.[9]

His and Nunziate's films are currently the second, third and fifth highest-grossing films in Italy.

Filmography

References
  1. Zalone, Checco, in Treccani, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. 15 March 2011.
  2. "Beautiful Day' now Italy's most successful film (Reuters)". 17 January 2011.
  3. "Annuario Cinetel 2014" (PDF). Cinetel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  4. Lyman, Eric J. (4 November 2013). "Italian Comedy 'Sun in Buckets' Sets New Opening Weekend Sales Record". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  5. Anderson, Ariston (4 January 2016). "Italy Box Office: Local Hit 'Quo Vado?' Sets Opening Records". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  6. Lyman, Eric J. (4 November 2013). "Italian Comedy 'Sun in Buckets' Sets New Opening Weekend Sales Record". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  7. Hoad, Phil. "Backward-looking The Force Awakens might pay the price beyond the west". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  8. "Quo Vado? has beaten Star Wars at the box office". The Independent. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  9. Niola, Gabriele (14 January 2016). "Italy box office: 'Quo Vado?' becomes biggest ever local film". Screen Daily. Retrieved 3 October 2019.


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