CHEECH MARIN

When the comedy duo Cheech and Chong parted company in 1984, many predicted their careers would go up in smoke (to steal from their most famous film). And while Tommy Chong has preferred to drop out of sight, Cheech Marin has soldiered on - most recently in director Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids, which opens today.

Born Richard Marin on July 13, 1946, in Los Angeles, the actor picked up the nickname 'Cheech' thanks to his love of Chicano food - specifically chicarron, a spicy fried pork-skin snack. Marin's father was a Los Angeles police officer and he grew up in Granada Hills in the San Fernando Valley. Music was his first love, and he performed in bands around the LA district throughout his teenage years.

With America stepping up its presence in Vietnam during the late 1960s and early 70s, Marin - who had by then begun English studies at California State University - decided the best way to dodge the draft was to head across the border into Canada as a political refugee. He opted for Vancouver - and it proved to be a very wise move indeed. One of the first people he met was Tommy Chong, a musician who was running a topless club and was looking for entertainers who could tell a joke or two and sing a bit as well. Marin fitted the bill and, before long, the two combined their talents, perfecting an act that revolved around two stoners looking for the ultimate high.

With the end of hostilities in Vietnam, Cheech and Chong headed back to LA and, by 1976, had hooked up with music-industry guru Lou Adler after working their stand-up/music routines in clubs. They cut comedy records, which became best-sellers and, in 1978, made the film Up In Smoke, which became an instant cult classic. The 'stoner' routine would continue through various film efforts until the whole hippy drug image lost its lustre in the mid-1980s.

Marin has remained in the public eye ever since, directing Born In East LA in 1987 and taking small roles in films ranging from Ghostbusters 2 (1989) to Rodriguez's Desperado (1995). He has also crossed over into television and is the best of a bad bunch in the Don Johnson vehicle Nash Bridges (now showing on Star World on Fridays at 11.30pm).