Marin was delivering carpets when he met Tommy Chong, a musician who was running an improv comedy troupe from a strip bar owned by his family. He attended California State University, Northridge, where he majored in English literature, but left eight credits short of a degree to move to Vancouver, Canada, and avoid the Vietnam draft. Marin grew up in Granada Hills, where he developed a reputation as a class clown and sang in his friends' bands. The son of Oscar, a police officer, and Elsa, a secretary, he was given his famous nickname, 'Cheech,' as a baby by an uncle, who remarked that the newborn looked like a chicharron-a deep-fried pigskin. Richard Anthony Marin was born on July 13, 1946, in South Central Los Angeles, California.
Marin has since enjoyed more success in television and movies. Performing as the comedy duo Cheech and Chong, the two released a series of highly successful comedy albums in the 1970s, and became symbols of marijuana culture with the 1978 film Up in Smoke. Cheech Marin found his calling after meeting Tommy Chong in Canada.
