Lou Ferrigno has appeared in such television shows and movies as The Incredible Hulk, Pumping Iron — with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu — Sinbad of the Seven Seas, and, in the title role, Hercules (1983).

Raised in an Italian-American family, the son of an NYPD police lieutenant Matthew and mother Victoria, Ferrigno started training at age 13. After graduating from the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School in 1969, he won his first major titles, IFBB Mr. America and Mr. Universe, four years later. In 1974, he came in third on his first attempt at the Mr. Olympia competition. He again came third the following year, and his attempt to beat Schwarzenegger was the subject of the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron. Following this, Ferrigno left the competition circuit for many years.

At his peak, the 6' 5" (1.95 m) Ferrigno weighed 275 lb (125 kg) and was the largest professional bodybuilder at that time. While he never bested Schwarzenegger in bodybuilding or in his career, Ferrigno did have one triumph over his Austrian rival, whom he secretly admired [citation needed] — the role of the Hulk on the 1970s television series. At 6' 2" (1.88 m), Arnold was reportedly [citation needed] deemed not tall enough.

In the early 1990s, Ferrigno returned to bodybuilding, competing for the 1992 and 1993 Mr. Olympia titles. Finishing 12th and 10th, repectively, he then turned to the Olympia Masters, coming second in 1994 to Robby Robinson. After this, he retired from competition.

Ferrigno has been 80% deaf since the age of three after an ear infection. He sees his loss of hearing as influential towards bodybuilding and his life: "...if I hadn't lost some of my hearing, I wouldn't be where I am now. It forced me to maximize my own potential. I had to be better than the average person to succeed."[1]

He married Susan Groff in 1978, divorcing a year later. On May 30, 1980, he married psychotherapist Carla Green, who then also began serving as his manager and later became a personal trainer. They have three children, Shanna or Shawns (accounts differ), born 1981; Louis, Jr., born 1984; and Brent, born 1990. In the summer of 2005, his daughter was a star of the E! reality TV series, Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.

Since 2000, Ferrigno has played himself during intermittent guest appearances on the CBS television show, The King of Queens, where he is the Heffernans' next-door neighbor.

Ferrigno has appeared in an ad for Longhorn Steakhouse, a Southeastern chain of steak houses.

On February 13, 2006 he was sworn in as a Los Angeles (California) County reserve sheriff's deputy.