Luca Pasquale Medici

Checco Zalone, born Luca Pasquale Medici on 3 June 1977 in Bari, is an Italian comedian, actor, showman, singer, musician, cabaret performer, screenwriter, director and film producer. His stage name recalls the local Barese expression "Che cozzalone!", meaning "What a boor!" He graduated from the scientific high school Sante Simone in Conversano and later earned a law degree from the University of Bari.

After becoming a regular on the Canale 5 variety show Zelig, Zalone became famous in 2006 with the song "Siamo una squadra fortissimi", celebrating the Italy national football team before the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He co-wrote and starred in a series of comedy films, several directed by Gennaro Nunziante, that achieved major box-office success: Cado dalle nubi (2009), What a Beautiful Day (2011), Sole a catinelle (2013), Quo vado? (2016), Tolo Tolo (2020) and Buen Camino (2025). What a Beautiful Day grossed 43.4 million euros, while Quo vado? reached 65.3 million euros, becoming the highest-grossing Italian film of all time, second only to Avatar.

In 2016, Zalone was the Italian spokesperson for a fundraising campaign for spinal muscular atrophy research. In 2021 he released the song "La vacinada", starring English actress Helen Mirren, and in 2022 he performed a medley at the Sanremo Music Festival. He has won the David di Donatello for Best Original Song. Responding to critics of Tolo Tolo, he stated: "Politically correct? Better to be intelligently incorrect."