Cheech Marin

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Cheech Marin bigraphy, stories - Collectors

Cheech Marin : biography

July 13, 1946 –

Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is a Mexican American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s with Tommy Chong and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson’s partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges. He has also voiced characters in several Disney productions, including Oliver and Company, The Lion King, It’s Tough to be a Bug!, Cars, Cars 2 and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

Marin’s trademark is his characters’ strong Mexican-accent; this is part of a comic persona, rather than a natural accent since Marin was born and raised in the United States.

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 Patti Heid in 1986; they had two children and have since divorced. Marin married his longtime girlfriend, Russian pianist Natasha Rubin on August 8, 2009, in a sunset ceremony at their home.

Marin resides in California.

Other interests

Marin is an avid collector of Chicano art. Two national touring exhibitions have featured works from his private collection.

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

Career

Comedy albums and films

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 Cheech Marin.

Later films and television work

After he and Tommy Chong went their separate ways in 1985, Marin starred in a number of films as a solo actor, most notably Born in East L.A., Tin Cup, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

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 favorite of 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 Cars 2 (2011). He also reprised the Banzai role in Kingdom Hearts II. He made a small appearance as a dockworker in the movie Ghostbusters 2.

Children’s music albums

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, Cheech Marin added children’s book author to his list of accomplishments with the release of Cheech the School Bus Driver, illustrated by Orlando L. Ramirez (Published by HarperCollins).

In 2005, Marin appeared on Nickelodeon in the Dora the Explorer series. Retrieved 2013-05-29 The episode was titled A Crown for King Bobo, and Juan Bobo was voiced by Marin. Retrieved 2013-05-29.

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.