Kopi Sotiropulos (born Prokopios Sotiropoulos; el, Προκόπιος Σωτηρόπουλος; September 12, 1948) is a Greek-born American

character actor A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to b ...

. He is a

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

area television news personality and longtime weatherman who served as the weekly evening news weatherperson for

KMPH-TV KMPH-TV (channel 26) is a television station licensed to Visalia, California, United States, serving the Fresno area as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Sanger-licensed CW affiliate KFRE-TV (ch ...

(then based in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...

). He reports the weather and co-anchors, along with Kim Stephens, the station's ''Great Day'' weekday morning talk/news program.

Life and career

A graduate of

Fresno High School Fresno High School is a four-year secondary school located in Fresno, California. Fresno High is the oldest high school in the Fresno metropolitan area and one of the few International Baccalaureate schools. As of 2021, Linda Laettner is the 29th a ...

, Sotiropulos attended Fresno City College before transferring to

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

during his sophomore year, where he earned his degree in broadcasting. His first job in television was as a commercial copywriter for

in October 1971.Kopi Sotiropolus bio at KMPH-TV Website
/ref> In 1977, Sotiropulos and his wife Elaine relocated to Hollywood, California. Sotiropulos, who decided to try acting, appeared in numerous guest roles in such TV series as the CBS-TV series ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

'', ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom ''Man About the House''. The story revolves around three single roomma ...

'', ''

The New Mike Hammer ''Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer'' (later titled ''The New Mike Hammer''), with Stacy Keach in the title role, is an American crime drama television series that originally aired on CBS from January 28, 1984, to May 13, 1987. The series consisted ...

'', '' Perfect Strangers'', ''

Highway To Heaven ''Highway to Heaven'' is an American fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order t ...

'', ''

Soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

'', ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'', ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'', ''

The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

'', and ''

Knight Rider ''Knight Rider'' is an American entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of ''Knight Rider'' is its three television series: the original ''Knight Rider'' (1982–1986) and sequel series ''Team Knight Rider'' (1997–1998) ...

''. He also had small parts in films, including '' Private Benjamin'' (1980), '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' (1981), and as a barkeep in ''

Beverly Hills Cop II ''Beverly Hills Cop II'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Tony Scott, written by Larry Ferguson and Warren Skaaren, and starring Eddie Murphy. It is the sequel to the 1984 film ''Beverly Hills Cop'' and the second insta ...

''. Sotiropulos returned to TV news at KMPH-TV in 1987, and by 1992 was the station's weekly evening news weatherperson. Kopi is now the co-host and weatherperson of the KMPH-TV "Great Day" morning news show.

References

External links

*
Kopi Sotiropolus's Twitter page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sotiropulos, Kopi Male actors from Fresno, California Greek emigrants to the United States People from Tripoli, Libya California State University, Fresno alumni 1948 births American male television actors American male film actors American television news anchors Living people