Cheech Marin

The surname Marin is of Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled Marín, with an acute accent on the í.

Cheech Marin
Marin at the 2022 WonderCon
Birth name	Richard Anthony Marin
Born	(1946-07-13) July 13, 1946 (age 78)[1] Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Film, stand-up, television[2]
Alma mater	California State University, Northridge (AB)
Years active	1971–present
Genres	Character comedy, musical comedy, political satire, sketch comedy, stoner comedy
Subject(s)	Latin American culture, drug culture, everyday life, recreational drug use
Spouse	Darlene Morley ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1984)​ Patti Heid ​ ​ (m. 1986; div. 2009)​ Natasha Rubin ​ (m. 2009)​
Children	3
Occupations	Actor comedian musician activist

Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American comedian, actor, musician, and activist. He gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s with Tommy Chong, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez, on Nash Bridges. He has also voiced characters in several Disney films, including Oliver & Company, The Lion King, The Lion King 1½, the Cars franchise, Coco, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

Marin's trademark is his characters' strong Chicano accents.^[3][4]

Early life

Marin was born on July 13, 1946, in South Los Angeles, California, to Mexican parents Elsa (née Meza; 1923–2010), a secretary, and Oscar Marin (1922–2015), a police officer for the LAPD and US Navy veteran of World War II.^[5] Marin was born with a cleft lip, which was surgically repaired. Marin identifies as Chicano; he speaks some Spanish and often uses it in his movies.^[3][4]

Marin's nickname "Cheech" is short for "chicharrón", fried pork rind, which is a popular snack and ingredient in Latin American cuisine.^[6] In a 2017 NPR interview, Marin attributed the nickname to his uncle: "I came home from the hospital, I was like a couple of days old or something, my uncle came over and he looked in the crib and he said [in Spanish], 'Ay, parece un chicharrón.' Looks like a little chicharrón, you know?"^[7]

In 1955, Marin and his family moved to Granada Hills, California, and he attended primary school at St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic School. Marin then went to high school at Bishop Alemany High School, during which he started to attend folk music events at the Ash Grove on Melrose Avenue as a teenager. Afterwards, he studied at California State University, Northridge (then known as San Fernando Valley State College), where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa.^[8] During his second semester at CSUN, he worked almost full-time at Nordskog Industries in Van Nuys, while enrolled more than full-time as a college student. It was also during this time that he was socially introduced to marijuana through his fraternity, a key feature in his later film career, in addition to becoming acquainted with Timothy Leary at a Students for a Democratic Society campus event, who would become a lifelong friend. Soon after graduating CSUN as an English major in 1968, he auditioned to sing for Frank Zappa's band, The Mothers of Invention. Not being offered the gig during his audition, a day later Marin moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in order to evade the draft during the Vietnam War.^[9] Marin met his future comedic partner, Tommy Chong, in Calgary, Alberta.^[10]

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.

Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, 1979

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., which was also his directorial debut, 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. In 2004, he made his second appearance as a policeman, as "Officer Salino" in the film adaptation of John Grisham's holiday novel Skipping Christmas, under the title Christmas with the Kranks, starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. In 2009, Marin appeared as an auto mechanic in Race to Witch Mountain. In 2017, he played the voice of a Corrections Officer in the Pixar film Coco.

Marin appeared in the Fox sitcom Married... with Children as the voice of the Bundys' Briard dog, Buck; he voiced the character in three episodes: Look Who's Barking, Change for a Buck and Assault and Batteries. He 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. A movie of this series was rebooted in 2021.^[11] 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 the Chihuahua in Oliver & Company (1988), Banzai the hyena in The Lion King (1994), Ramone in Cars (2006) and its sequels Cars 2 (2011) and Cars 3 (2017). He also voiced Manuel in Disney's live-action-animated comedy film Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008). Marin also played Pancho in The Cisco Kid (1994), and reprised the Banzai role in the video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Marin encouraging people to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the Government of California's "Your Actions Save Lives" campaign in 2020.

Cheech appears in several episodes of AMC's Lodge 49 as El Confidente, a member of Lodge 55 in Mexico.^[12][13]

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.^[14] He appeared in the episode "A Crown for King Juan el Bobo" as the Puerto Rican folk hero Juan Bobo.^[15]

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.

Marin 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. It is a cover of an original song by Cheech and Chong. The song is performed by a fictional singer named Alice Bowie, played by Marin, whose appearance consists of a tutu, a Disney mouse ear hat, nipple tassels, an eye mask and dress socks. This character is featured on the cover of Cheech and Chong's Wedding Album and the end of the duo's first film, Up In Smoke.

In 2009, he appeared in the Hallmark Channel movie Expecting a Miracle.

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.^[16] 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.^[17]

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 in the third week of the competition.^[18]

The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry

Marin is an avid collector of Chicano art and started his collection in the 1980s. Two national touring exhibitions have featured works from his private collection. 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".^[19] In collaboration with the city of Riverside, California, and the Riverside Art Museum, Marin established The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry, in the City of Riverside, which opened June 18, 2022. Marin will be donating his collection of over 700 pieces of Chicano art, the largest collection of such art in the world.^[20] The center will provide a location for the presentation and study of Chicano art, and is expected to draw international attention.^[21][22]

Other interests

He is an avid golfer, although he initially disliked the sport until he co-starred^[23] in the golf-themed comedy Tin Cup. Marin also practices horse archery on a special course built on his private land.

On April 19, 2018, Cheech (as part of GLE Brands Inc) signed an agreement with Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corporation (CSE: CANN) to have exclusive rights to use cannabis and cannabis-related products utilizing the Private Stash brand throughout Canada for a period of 2 years, with the agreement automatically renewing for an additional year upon achieving various milestones.

In 2019, he was featured in The Little Mermaid: An Immersive Live-to-Film Concert Experience playing the role of Chef Louis at the Hollywood Bowl.

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. Marin married his longtime girlfriend, Russian pianist Natasha Marin, on August 8, 2009, in a sunset ceremony at their home.

Marin resides in Malibu, California.^[24] He is a fan of both the Los Angeles Rams^[25] of the NFL, and the Los Angeles Dodgers of the MLB.^[26]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Up in Smoke	Pedro de Pacas
1980	Cheech and 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	Also director and writer
	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 (voice)
1995	Desperado	Short Bartender
1996	From Dusk till Dawn	Border Guard/Chet Pussy/Carlos
	The Great White Hype	Julio Escobar
	Tin Cup	Romeo Posar
1998	Paulie	Ignacio
1999	The Nuttiest Nutcracker	Mac (voice)	Direct-to-video
2000	See You in My Dreams	Estaban
	Luminarias	Jesus
	Picking Up the Pieces	Mayor Machado
2001	Spy Kids	Felix Gumm The Fake Uncle
2002	Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams		Cameo
	Pinocchio	The Fox (voice)
2003	Masked and Anonymous	Prospero
	Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over	Felix Gumm The Fake Uncle	Cameo
	Once Upon a Time in Mexico	Belini
	Good Boy!	The Henchmen (voice)
2004	The Lion King 1½	Banzai (voice)	Direct-to-video
	Christmas with the Kranks	Officer Salino
2005	Sian Ka'an	Unknown role (voice)
	Fall Down a School	Erick Matthew, 202, 26, 57, 211 Bus Motorists (voices)
	Underclassman	Captain Victor Delgado
2006	Cars	Ramone (voice)
	Mater and the Ghostlight	Ramone (voice)	Short film
2007	The Union: The Business Behind Getting High	Himself
	Grindhouse	Padre Benicio Del Toro
2008	Beverly Hills Chihuahua	Manuel (voice)
2009	Race to Witch Mountain	Eddie Cortez The 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 (voice)
2012	El Santos vs. La Tetona Mendoza	Narrator, El Charro (voices)	(Spanish-language Mexican animated film)[27]
	Tad, The Lost Explorer	Freddy (voice)	US English dub
2013	Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie	Cheech/Pedro de Pacas (voice)
2014	The Book of Life	Pancho Rodriguez (voice)
2016	El Americano: The Movie	Martin (voice)	[28]
	Dark Harvest	Ricardo[29]
2017	Cars 3	Ramone (voice)	[30]
	Coco	Corrections Officer (voice)
2019	The Cheech: An American Icon's Crusade for the Chicano Art Movement	Himself	A documentary covering Marin's lifelong advocacy for Chicano art, and his efforts to develop The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture and Industry.
2020	The War with Grandpa	Danny
2022	Angry Neighbors	Hector	Voice only
	Shotgun Wedding	Robert
2023	Champions	Julio
	The Long Game	Pollo

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	The Tracey Ullman Show	Azai	1 episode
1990	Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme	Carnival Barker
1991	Great Performances	El Cosmico	1 episode
1991–94	Married... with Children	Buck's Voice	3 episodes
1992	Ring of the Musketeers [de]	Burt Aramis
1992–93	The Golden Palace	Chuy Castillos	24 episodes
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Dr. Beneloy	Episode: "Half-Way Horrible"
1994	The Cisco Kid	Pancho
	Dream On	Waiter	1 episode
	Sesame Street	Genie	Episode 3259
1995	Santo Bugito	Lencho the Flea	Unknown episodes
	The Courtyard	Angel Steiner
	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Alberto (voice)	Episode: "Hansel and Gretel"
1996	Latino Laugh Festival	Host
1996–98	Tracey Takes On...	Carlos	2 episodes
1996–2001	Nash Bridges	Inspector Joe Dominguez	Main cast; 120 episodes
2000	Funny Flubs & Screw-Ups V	Host
	The 26th Annual People's Choice Awards	Host
	Resurrection Blvd.	Hector Archuletta
	South Park	Carlos Ramirez (voice)	Episode: "Cherokee Hair Tampons"
2003	The Ortegas	Henny Ortega	Unaired TV series
	Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales	Himself
	George Lopez	Lalo	Episode: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Honey"
2004–05	Judging Amy	Ignacio Messina	20 episodes
2005	Dora the Explorer	King Juan el Bobo (voice)	Episode: "A Crown for King Juan el Bobo"
2007	Storm Hawks	Cyclonian Pilot
2007–09	Lost	David Reyes	3 episodes
2008	Mind of Mencia	Gay man's father
2008	Grey's Anatomy	Otis	Episode: "Where the Wild Things Are"
2009	MADtv	Himself
2009	Outnumbered		Television film[31]
2009	Expecting a Miracle	Father Arturo	Television film
2010	WWE Raw	Himself (Guest Host)
2011	Off the Map	Papa
	The Simpsons	Himself (voice)	Episode: "A Midsummer's Nice Dream"
	Lopez Tonight	Himself
2012	American Dad!	Horatio (voice)	Episode: "Stanny Tendergrass"
	Psych	Deacon Jones
	Rob	Fernando
	Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off	Himself (celebrity contestant)
2014	Anger Management	Hector
2015	Jane the Virgin	Edward
2017	Disjointed	Cheech	Episode: "The Worst"
2017–20	Elena of Avalor	Quita Moz (voice)
2018	Rob Riggle's Ski Master Academy	Condor De Bogota
2018–19	Lodge 49	El Confidente
2020	Broke	Don Dominguez	Episode: "The Test"
2021	Maya and the Three	Hura / Can / Teca (voice)	5 episodes
	Bubble Guppies	Fogzilla	Episode: "Fogzilla!"
	Nash Bridges	Joe Dominguez	Television film
2022	Home Economics	Roberto	Episodes: "Round-Trip Ticket SAN-OAK, $234", "Wedding Bouquet, $125"
	Cars on the Road	Ramone (voice)	Episode: "Dino Park"
2023	Lopez vs Lopez	Carlos	Recurring Cast
	The Legend of Vox Machina	Trinket (voice)	Episode: "The Fey Realm"
	The Muppets Mayhem	Himself	Episode: "Track 4: The Times They Are A-Changing"
2024	Primos	Pop Ramirez (voice)	Recurring role
TBA	The Eric Andre Show	Himself (guest)	Upcoming episode

Video games

• Animated Storybook: The Lion King (1994) - Banzai (voice)
• Blazing Dragons (1996) - Sir George / Guido the Pizza Chef / Loudmouth Guard
• Kingdom Hearts II (2006) - Banzai (voice)
• Cars (2006) - Ramone
• Cars Mater-National Championship (2007) - Ramone
• Cars Race-O-Rama (2009) - Ramone
• Cars 2 (2011) - Ramone
• Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure (2012) - Ramone
• Disney Infinity (2013) - Ramone
• Cars: Fast as Lightning (2014) - Ramone
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2024) - Cheech

Theme park attractions

• It's Tough to Be a Bug! (1998) - Chilic
• Radiator Springs Racers (2012) - Ramone

Discography

• Cheech and Chong (1971)
• Big Bambu (1972)
• Los Cochinos (1973), won Best Comedy Recording at the 16th Annual Grammy Awards^[32]
• 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)
• My Name Is Cheech the School Bus Driver (Released October 27, 1992)
• Follow the Leader (1998)

Books

• Marin, Cheech; Hassan, John (2017). Cheech Is Not My Real Name...But Don't Call Me Chong!. New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781455592340. OCLC 974034992.

See also

• List of celebrities who own cannabis businesses

References

1. Dominguez, Robert (April 16, 1998). "Cheech Is Taking The High Road". Daily News. New York, NY. p. 49. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
2. Marin, Richard (October 19, 2019). "The Call". The Moth.
3. "What is a Chicano?". Cheech Marin. May 3, 2012.
4. "Sophisticated and Naive: A Conversation with Cheech Marin | The Bend Magazine". www.thebendmag.com. January 11, 2018.
5. Wedlan, Candace A. (May 10, 1999). "Whatever Works / CHEECH MARIN; A Comic Axed by His Own Club". Los Angeles Times. Southern California Living section, PART-E, page 1. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017. (subscription required)
6. "The Comedy Couch – Cheech Marin Interview". The Comedy Couch. July 10, 2006. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
7. "Cheech Marin On How His Famed Comic Collaboration Was Like Chicano Art". National Public Radio - Morning Edition. March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
8. "Alum "Cheech" Marin and CSUN's Harry Gamboa Featured in French Art Exhibit". CSUN Today. June 30, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
9. Marin, Cheech (2009). Greasy Love Songs (Media notes). Frank Zappa. Zappa Records.
10. Volmers, Eric (January 24, 2016). "Tommy Chong Talks Comedy, Pot, Politics and His Days as a Calgary Herald Paperboy". Calgary Herald. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
11. Starr, Michael (November 23, 2021). "Don Johnson back after 20 years for 'Nash Bridges' reunion movie". New York Post. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
12. Lodge 49
13. Sepinwall, Alan (August 9, 2019). "'Lodge 49' Season 2 Review: And Now Our Moment of Zen". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
14. Nickelodeon. IMDb, A Crown for King Bobo. Aired October 23, 2005 Archived March 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 29, 2013
15. IMDb, A Crown for King Bobo Retrieved May 29, 2013.
16. Steve Krakauer (March 19, 2010). "Another CNN Anchor Fails At Celebrity Jeopardy". Archived from the original on May 25, 2010.
17. "Cheech Marin Donates Jeopardy! Winnings to Charity". Looktothestars.org. May 9, 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
18. "Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off: New Show Premieres This Winter". Blog.foodnetwork.com. July 29, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
19. Allen, Mike (April 21, 2013). "In collection, W&L talk, Cheech Marin champions Chicano art". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
20. Biography.com (ed.). "Cheech Marin Biography". The Biography.com website. A&E Television Networks. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
21. Miranda, Carolina A. (May 1, 2017). "Cheech Marin teams up with city of Riverside and Riverside Art Museum to develop Chicano art center". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
22. "Bank of America Invests $750,000 to Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art". Inland Empire Community News. December 22, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
23. "Tin Cup". cheechmarin.com. August 6, 1996. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
24. "Limelight Listing – Cheech Marin's Malibu home". SFGate. June 3, 2011. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
25. "Los Angeles Rams Release Strangely Awesome NFL Draft Hype Video Featuring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Diplo & Cheech". April 25, 2023.
26. "CHEECH MARIN: BASEBALL GURU". August 5, 2008.
27. AnimaWeb. "Personajes". Santos vs. Tetona. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
28. Hopewell, John (May 20, 2014). "'El Americano 3D' Kicks Off Pre-Sales at Cannes (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety (magazine). Retrieved May 21, 2014.
29. "Dark Harvest". IMDb.
30. "Sneak peek: 'Cars 3' zooms ahead with new character Cruz Ramirez". USA Today.
31. Andreeva, Nellie (December 6, 2010). "Cheech Marin To Co-Star In 'Outnumbered' And Harry Hamlin To Recur On 'Army Wives'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
32. "Richard "Cheech" Marin". GRAMMY.com. November 19, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Cheech Marin at IMDb
• Cheech Marin discography at Discogs