Early life

Marin was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Oscar Marin, a policeman in the LAPD, and his wife Elsa (Meza), a secretary. He is Mexican American. Marin was born with a cleft lip, which was repaired. He speaks some Spanish and uses it in his movies, but he is not fluent.

Marin's nickname "Cheech" is short for "chicharron", a fried pork skin that is a popular snack in Mexican cuisine and a favorite of marijuana smokers afflicted with "the munchies", and the nickname's alliteration with Chong's surname made "Cheech and Chong" an obvious choice for the name of the duo.

Marin graduated from Bishop Alemany High School, and then studied at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge), where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa. He dropped out before graduating. Marin auditioned to sing for Frank Zappa in 1967, but he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in September to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War. Marin met his future comedic partner, Tommy Chong, in Calgary, Canada.

Career

Comedy albums and films

Main article: Cheech & Chong

As a part of the highly successful comedy duo Cheech & Chong, Marin participated in a number of comedy albums and feature film comedies in the 1970s and 1980s. Tommy Chong directed four of their films, while co-writing and starring in all seven with Marin.

Later films and television work

After Cheech & Chong disbanded in 1985, Marin starred in a number of films as a solo actor, most notably Born in East L.A., The Shrimp on the Barbie, Tin Cup, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. He made a cameo appearance as a dockworker in Ghostbusters II.

Marin made the transition to full-time television work when he co-starred on the short-lived The Golden Girls spin-off The Golden Palace (1992-1993), and later with Don Johnson, Jaime P. Gomez and Yasmine Bleeth in the police show Nash Bridges (1996-2001), in which they played San Francisco police-detective partners. In recent years he has been active in playing supporting roles in films and performing voice overs for animated features. After appearing in a supporting role in Judging Amy, playing an independently wealthy landscape designer, Marin starred in the CBS sitcom Rob, with Rob Schneider.

Marin is a frequent collaborator of the director Robert Rodriguez, who has worked with Marin seven times; the last two installments of the Mexico trilogy, the Spy Kids trilogy, From Dusk Till Dawn and Machete. He provided his voice for several Disney animated films, most notably Tito in Oliver & Company (1988), Banzai in The Lion King (1994) and Ramone in Cars (2006) and its sequel Cars 2 (2011). He reprised the Banzai role in the video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Children's music albums and related works

Marin has released two best-selling albums in the children's music genre, My Name is Cheech, the School Bus Driver (1992) and My Name is Cheech, The School Bus Driver "Coast to Coast" (1997). Both albums were released bilingually. In July 2007, the book Cheech the School Bus Driver was released, written by Marin, illustrated by Orlando L. Ramirez, and published by HarperCollins.

In 2005, Marin lent his voice to the animated children's series Dora the Explorer. He appeared in the episode "A Crown for King Bobo", as the Puerto Rican folk hero Juan Bobo.

Additional television appearances

In late 2006, Marin participated in Simon Cowell's Celebrity Duets, having sung with Peter Frampton, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Aaron Neville, and Al Jarreau. He was the fourth to be eliminated. In that same year, he voiced as Gaspar Gomez in Scarface: The World Is Yours.

In recent years, Marin has had a recurring role in the hit television series Lost, playing David Reyes, Hurley's father.

He was a co-host for WWE Raw on March 1, 2010 with his comedy partner Tommy Chong, in Oklahoma City.

Marin also sings on the hidden track "Earache My Eye" on Korn's album Follow the Leader.

On March 18, 2010, Marin beat journalist Anderson Cooper and actress Aisha Tyler on Celebrity Jeopardy!'s Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational. Cooper admitted he was "crushed" by Marin. Marin also won his semifinal round early May but lost in the May 6-7 final to Michael McKean. He had previously won the first Celebrity Jeopardy! tournament in 1992.

In January 2012, he was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. He was eliminated on the third week of the competition.

Other interests

Marin is an avid collector of Chicano art. Two national touring exhibitions have featured works from his private collection. Marin started collecting Chicano art in the 1980s. He feels that it's important to "use his celebrity status to call attention to what he saw as an under-appreciated and under-represented style of art."

He is also an avid golfer, although he initially disliked the sport until he co-starred in Tin Cup.

Personal life

Marin was married in 1975 to Darlene Morley, who co-produced Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers and also played minor roles in earlier Cheech & Chong films under the name Rikki Marin. The couple had one child and divorced in 1984. Marin married artist Patti Heid in 1986; they had two children and have since divorced. Patti is responsible for his interest in Chicano Art. Marin married his longtime girlfriend, Russian pianist Natasha Rubin, on August 8, 2009, in a sunset ceremony at their home.

Marin resides in California.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Up in Smoke	Pedro de Pacas
1980	Cheech & Chong's Next Movie	Cheech/Dwayne "Red" Mendoza
1981	Nice Dreams	Cheech
1982	Things Are Tough All Over	Cheech/Mr.Slyman/Narrator
1983	Still Smokin'	Cheech
	Yellowbeard	El Segundo
1984	Cannonball Run II	Tire Store Employee
	Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers	Corsican Brother
1985	Get Out of My Room	Cheech/Ian Rotten
	After Hours	Neil
1986	Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment	Elvis Friend & Fan
	Echo Park	Sid
1987	Born in East L.A.	Rudy Robles
	Fatal Beauty	Bartender
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Disney Janitor
	Oliver & Company	Tito the Chihuahua	Voice
1989	Ghostbusters II	Dock Supervisor
	Rude Awakening	Jesus Monteya
	Troop Beverly Hills	Himself
1990	Far Out Man	Cheech
	The Shrimp on the Barbie	Carlos Munoz
	Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme	Carnival Barker
1992	Ferngully: The Last Rainforest	Stump	Voice
1994	Charlie's Ghost Story	Coronado
	The Magic of the Golden Bear: Goldy III	Master Borgia
	A Million to Juan	Shell Shock
	The Lion King	Banzai the Hyena	Voice
1995	Desperado	Short Bartender
1996	Blazing Dragons	Sir George/Guido/Loudmouth Guard	Voice
	From Dusk Till Dawn	Border Guard/Chet Pussy/Carlos
	The Great White Hype	Julio Escobar
	Tin Cup	Romeo Posar
1998	Paulie	Ignacio
	It's Tough to be a Bug!	Chili	Attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom
1999	The Nuttiest Nutcracker	Mac	Voice
2000	See You in My Dreams	Estaban
2000	Luminarias	Jesus
2000	Picking Up the Pieces	Mayor Machado
2001	Spy Kids	Felix Gumm
2002	Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams	Felix Gumm
	Pinocchio	The Fox	Voice
2003	The Ortegas	Henny Ortega
2003	Masked and Anonymous	Prospero
2003	Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over	Felix Gumm
2003	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	Belini
2003	Good Boy!	The Henchmen	Voice
2004	The Lion King 1½	Banzai the Hyena
2004	Christmas with the Kranks	Officer Salino
2005	Sian Ka'an		Voice
	Fall Down a School	Erick Matthew, 202, 26, 57, 211 Bus Motorists
	Underclassman	Captain Victor Delgado
	Kingdom Hearts II	Banzai the Hyena	Voice; video-game
2006	Cars	Ramone	Voice
	Scarface: The World is Yours	Gaspar Gomez
	Mater and the Ghostlight	Ramone	Voice
2007	The Union: The Business Behind Getting High	Himself
	Grindhouse	Padre Benicio Del Toro
2008	Beverly Hills Chihuahua	Manuel	Voice
2009	Expecting a Miracle	Father Arturo	Television film
	Race to Witch Mountain	Auto Mechanic
2010	The Perfect Game	Padre Esteban
	Tales from Earthsea	Hare	Voice; US version only
	Machete	Padre Benicio Del Toro	Cheech also makes an appearance as the Padre in the (then) fictitious Machete trailer for the 2007 Grindhouse double feature. The trailer appears in the DVD for the Planet Terror portion of Grindhouse.
2011	Cars 2	Ramone	Voice
	Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil	Mad Hog
2012	El Santos vs. La Tetona Mendoza	Narrator, El Charro	Voice (Spanish-language Mexican animated film)
	Seven Psychopaths	The Dog, Erick Matthew	Voice
2013	Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie	Cheech/Pedro de Pacas
2014	The Book of Life	Pancho Rodriguez
2016	El Americano: The Movie	Martin	Voice Post-production

Television credits

• Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (TV) (1990)...as Carnival Barkera
• Great Performances (TV)...El Cosmico (1 episode, 1991)
• Ring of the Musketeers (TV) (1992)...as Burt Aramis
• The Golden Palace (TV)...Chuy Castillos (24 episodes, 1992-1993)
• Tales from the Crypt (TV)...as Dr. Beneloy (1 episode, 1993)
• The Cisco Kid (TV) (1994)...as Pancho
• Married... with Children (3 episodes, 1991-1994)...as Buck's Voice
• Dream On (1994)...as Waiter (1 episode, 1994)
• Santo Bugito (1995) TV Series...as Lencho the Flea (unknown episodes)
• The Courtyard (TV) (1995)...as Angel Steiner
• Latino Laugh Festival (TV) (1996)...Host
• Happily Ever After: Fairytales For Every Child (TV) Character- "Hansel and Gretel"
• Tracey Takes On... (1996-1998).... Carlos (starred in only 2 episodes)
• Funny Flubs & Screw-Ups V (TV) (2000)...Host
• The 26th Annual People's Choice Awards (TV) (2000)...Host
• Resurrection Blvd. (TV) (2000)...as Hector Archuletta
• South Park (TV) (2000)...voiced as Carlos Ramirez (voiced in 1 episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons")
• Nash Bridges (TV) (2001)...as Inspector Joe Dominguez (1996-2001)
• Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales (TV) (2003)...as Himself
• George Lopez (TV) (2003)...as Lalo (Starred in the episode titled Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Honey)
• Judging Amy (2004-2005) ... Ignacio Messina (20 episodes)
• Storm Hawks (2007) ...Cyclonian Pilot
• Lost (TV) (2007-2009)...as David Reyes (Hurley's Dad in the episodes Tricia Tanaka Is Dead, There's no Place Like Home and The Lie)
• Mind of Mencia (2008)...as Gay man's father
• Grey's Anatomy (2008)...as Otis (episode "Where the Wild Things Are")
• MADtv (2009)...as Himself
• WWE Raw (TV) (2010)...as Himself (Guest Host)
• Off the Map (TV) (2011)...as Papa
• The Simpsons (2011)...as Himself (Guest voice)
• Lopez Tonight (TV) (2011)...as Himself, George's celebrity father
• Psych (2012)...as Deacon Jones
• Rob (2012)...as Fernando
• Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off (2012)...as Himself (celebrity contestant)
• Anger Management (2014)...as Hector
• Jane the Virgin (2015)...as Edward

Cheech and Chong comedy albums

• Cheech and Chong (1971)
• Big Bambu (1972)
• Los Cochinos (1973)
• Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album (1974)
• Sleeping Beauty (1976)
• Up In Smoke (1978)
• Let's Make a New Dope Deal (1980)
• Get Out Of My Room (1985)

Charities

Cheech Marin supports the following charitable cause: Marijuana Legalization.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]