Mario Lopez<\/a> has revealed the pride he feels watching his 12-year-old son Dominic Lopez follow him into acting \u2013 more than four decades after he began his own career as a child performer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Mario Lopez has revealed the pride he feels watching his 12-year-old son Dominic Lopez follow him into acting \u2013 more than four decades after he began his own career as a child performer<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old Saved by the Bell star spoke about Dominic at Variety\u2019s recent Power of Young Hollywood event at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles, where the father and son served as co-hosts. <\/p>\n
Their latest collaboration comes after they filmed the forthcoming holiday movie Christmas at the Starlight, in which Dominic plays Mario\u2019s on-screen son alongside Tony Danza.<\/p>\n
Speaking to People, Mario said: \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty special moment being that I was a former kid actor myself, and now getting to see my son sort of take this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He added: \u201cIt makes for a very special moment. We\u2019re excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMario began acting at 10, playing Tom\u00e1s Del Gato in the sitcom a.k.a. Pablo. <\/p>\n
\nHe subsequently appeared in Kids Incorporated and The Golden Girls and made his movie debut in Colors before landing the role that made him famous \u2013 high school wrestler A.C. Slater in Saved by the Bell.<\/p>\n
\nThe sitcom began in 1989, with Mario starring alongside Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies and the late Dustin Diamond.<\/p>\n
\nMario recently reunited with Mark-Paul, Tiffani and Elizabeth for a Saved by the Bell-themed Box Tops for Education campaign marking the programme\u2019s 30th anniversary, with the former Bayside High stars also discussing what their children now make of the show.<\/p>\n
\nHis latest movie makes acting an even bigger family affair. <\/p>\n
\nChristmas at the Starlight stars Tony as Frank, a veteran song-and-dance performer considering selling the family supper club he has run for 40 years, with Mario playing his son and Dominic his grandson. <\/p>\n
\nThe film was shot principally in Lewiston, New York, with additional filming in Buffalo.<\/p>\n
\nMario told People: \u201cI saw a rough cut the other day \u2013 it turned out great.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDiscussing the three generations at the centre of the movie, he said: \u201cTony Danza plays a grandfather. I\u2019m the father. (Dominic is) a grandson, and we\u2019re tap dancing, a little singing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMario added: \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of heart to it, family-oriented, so (I\u2019m) happy with the way it came out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe also praised Dominic\u2019s performance, saying: \u201cDominic did a really, really good job. I\u2019m very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMario\u2019s wife Courtney Lopez has also contributed to the movie by performing a song. <\/p>\n
\nThe couple are additionally parents to daughter Gia Lopez, 15, and son Santino Lopez, seven.<\/p>\n
\nDominic already has several acting credits. <\/p>\n
\nChristmas at the Starlight is his second consecutive holiday movie following 2025\u2019s Chasing Christmas, and he has also worked on Bad Counselors, directed by Chris Dowling.<\/p>\n
\nHe has additionally filmed scenes for the Kathy Bates-led reboot of Matlock. <\/p>\n
\nMario previously shared an Instagram photograph showing Dominic with Kathy, captioning it: \u201cJust Nico casually solving crimes with screen legend Kathy Bates on Matlock.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nChristmas at the Starlight will premiere during the 2026 Great American Christmas season across Great American Family, Great American Pure Flix and GFAM+.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"16 August 2026 Mario Lopez has revealed the pride he feels watching his 12-year-old son Dominic Lopez follow him into acting \u2013 more than four decades after he began his own career as a child performer. Mario Lopez has revealed the pride he feels watching his 12-year-old son Dominic Lopez follow him into acting \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":257862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[16490,16483,16482,16489,16487,16484,9532,16488,3905,16486,16485,3171,4926],"class_list":{"0":"post-257861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-chris-dowling","9":"tag-courtney-lopez","10":"tag-dominic-lopez","11":"tag-dustin-diamond","12":"tag-elizabeth-berkley","13":"tag-gia-lopez","14":"tag-kathy-bates","15":"tag-lark-voorhies","16":"tag-mario-lopez","17":"tag-mark-paul-gosselaar","18":"tag-santino-lopez","19":"tag-tiffani-thiessen","20":"tag-tony-danza"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}