Cheech Marin

Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, writer and activist who 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 Cars series, Coco, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Marin's trademark is his characters' strong Chicano accents. 2Early lifeEdit 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 and an ingredient in Mexican cuisine. In a 2017 NPR interview, Marin attributed the nickname to his uncle: "I came home from the hospital, I was like a couple 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?" 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 Kapp