Cheech Marin

Highest Rated: 100% Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (2019)

Lowest Rated: 5% Christmas With the Kranks (2004)

Birthday: Jul 13, 1946

Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA

A popular comedian who made the successful transition to dramatic actor, Cheech Marin earned his greatest fame as one-half of the stoned comedy duo, Cheech and Chong. Rising out of the counterculture of the late 1960s, Cheech and Chong went on to become one of the top comedy the 1970s and early 1980s, thanks to their cheeky humor centered on a never-ending quest to score good marijuana. Cheech and Chong hit their stride with a string of hit comedy albums, including the top-selling Big Bambu (1972) and the Grammy-winning Los Cochinos (1973). They translated their album success into the hit movie, "Up in Smoke" (1978), which spawned five sequels and earned new fans with each successive generation. Marin went his own way with "Born in East L.A." (1987) and eventually segued over to television drama with a scene-stealing run on "Nash Bridges" (CBS, 1996-2001). He also had a highly successful second career as a voiceover actor with performances in "The Lion King" (1994) and "Cars" (2006), while serving as director Robert Rodriguez's go-to character actor in such films as "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996), "Spy Kids" (2003) and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003). By 2008, after years of speculation, Marin reunited with Tommy Chong for a sold-out tour, proving that both actors were still enormously attractive to a generation born decades after they made their first impact on popular culture.