Best known as one half of the counter-culture comedy duo 'Cheech and Chong,' Cheech Marin has starred for generations as an actor, director, writer, musician.

Cheech was born in South Central L.A. and raised in Granada Hills, a suburb of the San Fernando Valley. He attended Cal State Northridge to study English, he left eight credits short of a degree to "pursue pottery and avoid the draft."

After migrating to Vancouver, British Columbia as a political refugee, Cheech met Tommy Chong, who was the owner of a topless club. He worked there for nine months combining music and improvisational comedy. "It was great--you could call it modern day burlesque," he quips. Eventually Cheech and Chong combined their talents to form a comedy team and moved back to Los Angeles. They performed their stand-up/music act at clubs all over L.A. until they were discovered by music industry magnate Lou Adler. "The rest," as Cheech says, "is history."

Cheech and Chong collaborated for 15 years, starring in eight feature films together. Their first movie, "Up in Smoke," was the highest grossing comedy of 1978, topping $100 million at the box office. After splitting with Chong, Cheech wrote, directed, and starred in Universal's hit comedy, "Born in East L.A."

Cheech experienced a resurgence in his career thanks to a scene-stealing role in "Tin Cup," where he played Kevin Costner's caddy. Shortly afterwards, long-time friend and co-star, Don Johnson asked Cheech to play his sidekick in the CBS crime series "Nash Bridges."

In the past few years, Cheech has kept himself busy with numerous film roles in "Underclassman," "Christmas with the Kranks," "Spy Kids 3-D" and "Once Upon A Time in Mexico," as well as a recurring role on the CBS series "Judging Amy." He also directed the Broadway production of "Latinologues," a collection of comedic and poignant monologues revealing the Latino experience in America.

In 2005, Cheech & Chong re-united when they were honored at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival.

When he is not working, Cheech devotes a great deal of time to such organizations as El Rescate and the Inner City Arts Council. In 1999 he received the National Council of La Raza/Kraft Foods ALMA Community Service Award for his work on behalf of the Latino community.

Additionally, Cheech develops his own scripts and actively works to build his collection of Chicano art, which is the largest owned by a private citizen.