CHEECH MARIN
Date of Birth: July 13, 1946
Born to a police officer in Los Angeles, California, Marin was fond of music in his younger
years. "As a little kid, I was a singer and recorded albums. I was always in bands—you name
it, I sang it—R&B, jazz, funk, I did it all." He moved to Vancouver, Canada to avoid the
draft in the States and studied art. There he met Canadian-born Tommy Chong, and the friendship would spawn
a constantly-stoned hippie duo which took viewers by storm in the late 70s and early 80s.
While still in Vancouver, the two honed their comedic personas called Cheech and Chong, in
improvisational theater. As their popularity grew, they released a series of comedy albums.
In 1978 they came out with their first film, Up in Smoke. The comedy about two bungling
hippies who drive a truck across the border, unaware it is filled with drugs, became an enormous
hit and was the highest grossing film of the year.
Within the next six years, four more Cheech and Chong films were released. The duo also appeared,
in character, in the films It Came From Hollywood (1982), Yellowbeard (1983), and
After Hours (1985).
By the mid-80s, the two decided to drop the successful act. Chong went on to direct, and Marin
continued to act in films like Ghostbusters II (1989), Troop Beverly Hills (1989) and
The Shrimp on the Barbie (1990). He also wanted to be in more films that his kids could watch,
so he voiced characters in films like Oliver and Company (1988), FernGully: The Last
Rainforest (1992) and The Lion King (1994).
After small roles in tough action films like Desperado and From Dusk Til Dawn, Marin
landed a regular role as Joe Dominguez on the long-lasting series Nash Bridges. Working with
the Bridges cast for the next seven years, he also found time to continue adding to his feature
film work with parts in Tin Cup (1996), Paulie
(1998), Spy Kids (2001), Christmas with the Kranks (2004), Grindhouse (2007), The Perfect Game (2009) and Machete (2010).
Marin has been married and divorced twice. He has an adopted daughter from his first marriage, and two
children from his second marriage. He lives in Los Angeles.