Andrés López Forero

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Andrés López

Birth name	Andrés López Forero
Born	June 25, 1971 Bogotá, Colombia
Notable roles	"La Pelota de Letras", (The Ball of Letters)

Andrés López, (born June 25, 1971 in Bogotá, Colombia), comedian, actor and humorist, considered the pioneer of stand-up comedy in his country. Lopez gained notoriety in Colombia after releasing his show called La Pelota de Letras (The Ball of Letters) containing parodies about the different Colombian generations in a stand up comedy format.

1 Beginning of his Career
2 Theater Plays
3 Recent Career
4 Media
5 Other Activities
6 Scientology
7 Notes
8 References
9 External Links
10 See also

[edit] Beginning of his Career

As a student of Systems Engineer and Anthropology 1990 he started performing in the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá.

The University assigned a classroom for him to teach. Here he taught the art of stand-up to people interested in performing dramatic and comedic theater. He also created the University Newspaper “El Mercurio” where there was room for people to place their stories, paintings, poems, photographs and express any type of art.

Later he went to Toronto to study "Experiential Education" and became a dedicated reader and researcher with the behavior of people. Lopez returned to Colombia to work at "La Mega RCN", where he was the creative person at radio station, he created many of comedy stories.

[edit] Theater Plays

López has also been performing in various venues as part of the cast. In 1998 he performed the Colombian version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) “Las Obras de William Shakespeare”. Teatro Colon de Bogotá, (Colon Theater Bogotá) Director: Juan Angel; Co-stars in 1999: David Guerrero, Fernando Solórzano. He played Juliet, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, Ofelia and other Shakespearian women on this work.

In 2003 the show changed the names for “The Royal Shakespeare Criollo” and “Shakespeare para locos”. The original version by the Reduced Shakespeare Company was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987 and is London's longest-running comedy.

[edit] Recent Career

López's most recent show The Ball of Letters-La Pelota de Letras consists of a subtle sociological analysis of life in Latin American countries between the 1960's and the 2000's. More than 900,000 people have attended his shows since his first appearance at theHard Rock Cafe Bogota in the beginning of 2004. In August 2005, when he opened a concert with 44,000 guests, he was given a standing ovation after the show.

In December 2005, in the Hard Rock Cafe Bogota using the Universal Music Colombia label he launched, La Pelota de Letras on DVD.

In 2005 he won the “HOLA” Award for the "Outstanding Solo Performance" after his sold out shows in New York and Miami

On March 2 of 2006 Andrés López was presented with a Diamond DVD from Universal Music.^[1] ^[2] Attending this celebration was the singer Wilfrido Vargas. By the end of 2006 Lopez had sold more than 100,000 DVDs, and the The Lettered Ball is now the best selling DVD in Colombia.

López began his international tour in July 2006 performing in the cities: Los Angeles at the Alex Theater^[3]; Panamá at Teatro Balboa; Quito at Teatro Nacional; Toronto at the John Bassett Theater^[4]; New York at the Town Hall^[5]; Miami at James L Knight Center^[6]; Greenville at the Peace Center^[7]; Madrid at Teatro Gran Via and Palacio de Congresos de Madrid; Houston at Stafford Center^[8]; Orlando at Osceola Performing Arts Center and Atlanta at the Center Stage Theater. An average of 1,500 people attended these shows.

On January 2007 he recorded a new DVD called Me Pido La Ventana (I Have the Window). This new DVD will be launched the 24th of April 2007.

[edit] Media

According to Revista Semana, López is one of the 40 Most Influential People in Colombia under the age of 40 year. ^[9]

The most important newspaper in Colombia has also described his recent show The Ball of Letters-La Pelota de Letras thus:

"The performance portrays the customs of recent generations of Colombians, which is better than any sociology study".

[edit] Other Activities

López has created a motivational speech product for employees which includes parts of his shows and these products have been used by businesses to bring about radical internal change.

Companies using López include: Hewlett-Packard, Alquería, Oracle, Roche, Microsoft, Merck, IBM, Coca-Cola Company, BAT, Unilever, Banco Santander, Porvenir, ETB, Pharmacia, Pfizer, Intel, Purina, Nestlé, Avantel, Alpina, Bavaria, Philip Morris, Colsubsidio and more.

López has also taken part in numerous talk shows, hosting TV programs as well as a multitude of interviews on TV and radio; he has also written for newspapers and various magazines.

[edit] Scientology

Andres became a Scientologist in 2003. Today he performs conferences about the booklet "The way to happiness", written by the founder of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.

Lopez is an active member of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, CCHR. In Colombia he fights against the use of Psychiatric Drugs on children.

In August 2006, Andres Lopez attended the 37th Anniversary Gala at the Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood, California. ^[10] He also visited the headquarter office of The Way to Happiness in Glendale, California.

In October 2006, Andrés López attended a meeting of the IAS, International Association of Scientologists, in the United Kingdom. He was presented with the plaque of Patron.

Since Andres began speaking of Scientology in Colombia, the media has been conducted many articles and interviews about this belief. ^[11]^[12]