Ezio Greggio

Years active1972–presentWebsiteeziogreggio.it

Ezio Greggio (Italian pronunciation: [ˈɛttsjo ˈɡreddʒo]; born 7 April 1954) is an Italian comedian, actor, writer and film director.

In Italy he is mostly known for his long-lasting appearances in TV shows like Drive In and Striscia la notizia, while abroad he is noted for his movies and his collaboration with Mel Brooks.

TV career

Born in Cossato, a small town near Biella,^[1] Greggio began his TV career at age 18 in Telebiella, the first local private owned station in Italy thanks to the help of founder Peppo Sacchi.

In 1978 he was hired as a comedian in RAI, appearing in La sberla e Tutto compreso with Giancarlo Nicotra and Giancarlo Magalli. His appearances in the national TV didn't gain him success, but Greggio had the chance to meet Gianfranco D'Angelo, another young comedian.

D'Angelo convinced Greggio to move to the newborn Fininvest (later Mediaset), a local TV channel founded in Milan by Silvio Berlusconi. They were both included in the cast of the main show of the network, Drive In, a 2-hour weekly show featuring a bunch of young emerging comedians. Greggio quickly became spotlight chaser of the whole show.

Drive In was a very innovative show, and had great success giving national fame to almost all the actors involved, like Enrico Beruschi, Giorgio Faletti, Teo Teocoli, Francesco Salvi, Carlo Pistarino, Enzo Braschi and many others, including of course Greggio and D'Angelo.

In 1988 he followed the creator and head writer Antonio Ricci to a long series of successful shows: after Odiens, a show loosely inspired by Drive In, Greggio in 1990 and 1993 presented Paperissima, a container for bloopers and funny homemade videos. In these shows, Greggio created his most famous recurring gags.

Since 1988 he has been the main presenter (along with D'Angelo and later Enzo Iacchetti) of Striscia la notizia, a daily television news parody. He starred in the program every year for some months, from the beginning up to now.

Movie career

Greggio wrote and acted his first movie, Sbamm! in 1980.^{[citation needed]}

He was noted by Carlo Vanzina, and was included in the cast of Yuppies, in the 1986 sequel Yuppies 2 and in the 1987 film Montecarlo Gran Casinò with Paolo Rossi.^{[citation needed]}

He appeared in many other comic/trash films, almost always directed by Enrico Oldoini.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, he debuted as director with The Silence of the Hams, a parody movie inspired by The Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. The movie was shot in the United States: during this work, Greggio built a strong friendship with movie director Mel Brooks and with Dom DeLuise (both appearing in the movie).^{[citation needed]}

Brooks named one of Dom DeLuise's killers in his Robin Hood: Men in Tights, "Dirty Ezio", and had Greggio in the cast of Dracula: Dead and Loving It.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, Greggio came back to the camera, directing The Good Bad Guy and in 1999 Screw Loose, with Mel Brooks as actor.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2000, Greggio acted in a great number of TV productions.

Greggio moved his residence to Montecarlo,^[2][3] and is the director of the Montecarlo Film Festival.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Ezio Greggio has two sons, Giacomo and Gabriele, born respectively in 1991 and 1995, following the marriage between Greggio and the Spanish model Isabel Bengochea. Later in the early 2000s he divorced his wife. The marriage with Isabel Bengochea had lasted about 20 years. He later had love affairs with other younger women. From 2018 to 2023 he had a romance with Romina Pierdomenico.^[4]

Since 2015 he also has Albanian citizenship.^[5][6][7][8]

As a writer

Ezio Greggio published five humor books with Mondadori:

• Presto che è tardi (1997)
• Chi se ne fut-fut (1998)
• E lui o non è lui? (1999)
• E su e giù e trik e trak (2003)
• In una certa manieeera (2005)
• N°1. Una vita di avventure, incontri, scherzi e risate (2023)

Filmography

Film roles showing year released, title, role played and notes

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Sbamm!	1980	Pallone	Feature film debut
Yuppies	1986	Willie
Yuppies 2
Montecarlo Gran Casinò	1987	Oscar
Occhio alla perestrojka	1990	Marco
Vacanze di Natale '90		Arturo Zampini
Vacanze di Natale '91	1991	Leopoldo
Infelici e contenti	1992	Vittorio
Anni 90		Psychologist	Cameo appearance
The Silence of the Hams	1994	Antonio Motel	Also director and screenwriter
Miracolo italiano		Manuel Rodriguez
Selvaggi	1995	Bebo
Dracula: Dead and Loving It		The Coachman
The Good Bad Guy	1997	Joe Fortunato	Also producer, director and screenwriter
Screw Loose	1999	Bernardo Puccini	Also director
2001: A Space Travesty	2000	Valentino
Un'estate al mare	2008	Ugo Persichetti
Giovanna's Father		Sergio Ghia
Box Office 3D: The Filmest of Films	2011	Various	Also director, screenwriter and executive producer
Lockdown all'italiana	2020	Giovanni

Television

Television roles showing year released, title, role played and notes

Title	Year	Role	Notes
La sberla	1978–1979	Co-host	Variety show
Tutto compreso	1981	Co-host	Variety show
Drive In	1983–1988	Various characters	Main performer (seasons 1–5)
Miss Italia 1987	1987	Host	Annual beauty contest
Striscia la notizia	1988–present	Host	Regular host (seasons 1–3, 5–27, 29–present)
Odiens	1988–1989	Host	Variety show
Paperissima	1990–1993	Host	Seasons 1 and 3
Anni '50	1998	Arturo Colombo	Miniseries
Anni '60	1999	Vittorio Ferrari	Miniseries
Un maresciallo in gondola	2002	Arturo Colombo	Television film
Benedetti dal Signore	2004	Friar Giacomo	Lead role; 8 episodes
O la va, o la spacca	2004–2005	Erminio	Miniseries
Veline	2008–2012	Host	Seasons 3–4
Occhio a quei due	2009	Edo Marchini	Television film

References

External links

1946–19701971–19901991–20102011–present