Fabrizio Frizzi

Fabrizio Adriano Frizzi (5 February 1958 – 26 March 2018) was an Italian television presenter and voice actor. He often presented a mixture of variety shows, talent shows and game shows across Italy and he was also known as the Italian voice of Woody from the Toy Story franchise. Born in Rome, Frizzi began his career in 1980, successfully auditioning to host the children's show Il barattolo for Rai 2 in 1980. He continued in the young people's afternoon slot, firstly with Tandem and later with Pane e marmellata, which he co-hosted with his first wife Rita Dalla Chiesa.

Starting from the early nineties, Frizzi presented several prime-time RAI TV shows, including I fatti vostri, Scommettiamo che...? (the Italian version of Wetten, dass..?), Europa, Europa (with Elisabetta Gardini), the popular Sunday afternoon magazine show Domenica in and several editions of Miss Italia. He also became presenter of the annual celebrity football match Partita del cuore, which raised funds for charity and scientific research, and hosted various editions of the Italian Telethon. In 1995 he won the 'Oscar della TV' award for his presentation of the quiz show Luna Park. In 1997 he began co-hosting the prime-time show Per tutta la vita...? (Italian version of the French Pour la vie) together with former model Natasha Stefanenko, for two of the show's six seasons, and with Romina Power for another three seasons.

After a brief spell with Mediaset channel Canale 5, Frizzi returned to the state broadcaster in 2003 as presenter of the weekday morning show Piazza Grande, a format Frizzi had been familiar with as host of its nineties' predecessor I Fatti Vostri. In 2005 he starred in the first series of Ballando con le stelle, the Italian version of Strictly Come Dancing, coming fourth overall. As his popularity increased he also returned to Telethon and Partita del cuore, charity TV and sports events which he had championed in the 1990s. In the summer of 2007 he launched the new early evening game show I soliti ignoti – identità nascoste, based on the US game show Identity. The show was a big success for RAI and Frizzi went on to host it until 2012, when the show was suspended (it was successfully revived in 2017).

In April 2014, Frizzi became the third host of the Italian game show L'eredità, replacing Carlo Conti. The pair then shared the hosting of the show until October 2016, when Frizzi became its only presenter. In 2015 he was appointed Commendatore della Repubblica by President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.