Tommy Chong

Thomas B. Kin Chong was born on May 24, 1938, in Edmonton, Alberta. His mother was of Scotch-Irish Canadian ancestry, and his father was a Chinese Canadian who immigrated in the 1930s. After arriving in Canada, the senior Chong had first lived with an aunt in Vancouver.

In 1960, Chong married Maxine Sneed in Canada. She is of Black Canadian and Cherokee descent. They raised two daughters, Rae Dawn (b. 1961) by his previous girlfriend Gail Lewis, and Robbi Chong (b. 1965). They divorced in 1970.

By the early 1960s, Chong was playing guitar for a Calgary soul group called the Shades. The Shades moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the band's name changed to "Little Daddy & the Bachelors". They recorded a single, "Too Much Monkey Business" / "Junior's Jerk". Together with bandmember Bobby Taylor, Chong opened a Vancouver nightclub in 1963. Formerly the Alma Theatre, they called it "Blue Balls". They brought in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, which had never been to Vancouver before. Although Little Daddy & the Bachelors built up a small following, things soured when they went with Chong's suggestion and had themselves billed as "Four Niggers and a Chink" (or, bowing to pressure, "Four N's and a C") before taking on the moniker Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers.

In 1965, the Vancouvers signed with Gordy Records (a subsidiary of Detroit's Motown Records). They recorded their debut album, an eponymous release, and their debut single, the Tommy Chong co-composition, "Does Your Mama Know About Me," which peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. While on tour in Chicago for a short time, the band followed opening act the Jackson 5. Chong later referred to the young Michael Jackson as a "cute little guy". After the band released two additional singles, Chong and bandmate Wes Henderson missed a Friday night performance to apply for green cards so they could become American citizens. Chong was fired by Chris Clark and Motown producer Johnny Bristol for arriving late to the gig. Later, when Berry Gordy told Chong that he wasn't fired after all, that it had been a mistake, Chong said he wanted to stay fired. "I said I want to become a Berry Gordy, I don't want to just work for a Berry Gordy. And he says I can, I can dig that. So he was nice. He gave me $5,000 as the severance and to me that was a fortune." The group broke up shortly afterwards, when Chong tried to reduce the number of players covered by the Vancouvers' contract. He intended that he, Taylor, and Henderson would constitute the group, while other members would be classified as sidemen and session artists.

In 1975, Chong married Shelby Fiddis in Los Angeles. They had three children, sons Paris (b. 1974) and Gilbran (b. 1981) and daughter Precious Chong (b. 1968). In 1978, the couple adopted Marcus Wyatt. Rae Dawn, Robbi, Marcus, Paris, and Precious Chong have each pursued careers in acting. In addition to film work, in May 2011, Precious Chong had her play, Push ... One Mother of a Show, produced in Toronto.

Cheech & Chong, while a very successful comedy act, split in 1985 due to creative differences and Marin's desire to focus on a mainstream acting career. This began a difficult time for Chong. He developed an unsold pilot for CBS called The Martinez Family, which was redeveloped as the 1988 sitcom Trial and Error. In 1990, he directed, wrote and starred in the movie Far Out Man. He did not act regularly until filling the recurring role (later a regular role) as the fun-loving, aging hippie "Leo" (similar to his Chong character) on That '70s Show. Chong was absent during the fifth and sixth seasons of the show as he was serving a brief jail sentence; upon his release, he returned to the series for its final two seasons. He also played a role as a hippie in Dharma and Greg.

Paris Chong had started Nice Dreams in 1999. He was never charged with his crimes in relation to the investigation, as part of a plea bargain. When asked why the government had focused on Chong rather than his son the CEO, US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said that "Tommy Chong was the more responsible corporate officer because he financed and marketed the product."

Chong appeared with his long-time comedy partner, Cheech Marin, in a 2000 South Park episode called "Cherokee Hair Tampons", where they played fictionalized versions of themselves.

In 2003, Chong became caught up in two American investigations, code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter, which tried to trace drug traffic and users through businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly bongs. Operation Pipe Dreams was run from Pittsburgh. US Attorney for Western Pennsylvania Mary Beth Buchanan oversaw the case. The estimated cost of Operation Pipe Dreams was over $12 million and included the resources of 2,000 law enforcement officers. Fifty-five companies that sold drug paraphernalia over the Internet were the subject of the investigation, and Nice Dreams was one of them.

In December 2004, Chong was to appear in an off-Broadway show entitled The Marijuana-Logues, a parody of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. His parole officer barred him from the show and the tour was cancelled, as audience members were smoking pot during performances. Such exposure would cause Chong to violate the terms of his parole. In 2006, Chong published a memoir about his experiences in jail and his exploration of meditation, called The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint.

In September 2005, a/k/a Tommy Chong premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary, produced, written and directed by Josh Gilbert, chronicles Chong's comedic and personal history. It includes material related to his prosecution by the US Justice Department and imprisonment. The project features interviews with Cheech Marin, Bill Maher, George Thorogood, Peter Coyote, Lou Adler, Eric Schlosser and Jay Leno. In 2011, Chong appeared as a Judge in an episode of Franklin & Bash.

On May 7, 2008, federal agents raided Spectrum Labs in an investigation related to its "detoxification" products. The search was one of nine conducted for Operation True Test, an investigation being led by Buchanan, still the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. It targeted companies that sold so-called "masking products," intended to help drug users pass employer drug tests. No federal law bans such products; they are regulated on a state-by-state basis. Of the nine search warrants issued, none was for businesses within Buchanan's district.

In mid-2008, Cheech & Chong reunited and started touring. The tour was called Light Up America and Canada and The Felimony Tour, which referred to major experiences of each. In October 2008, they appeared on The Howard Stern Show , the Opie and Anthony Show, and the Ron and Fez Show on SIRIUS/XM Satellite Radio. On March 1, 2010, they hosted WWE Raw in Oklahoma City. On March 13, 2011, Cheech & Chong were guest stars on The Simpsons episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dream", where, during a reunion tour, Homer briefly replaced Chong before the pair reconciled.

In 2010, Chong and Cyril Wecht appeared at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to aid the campaign against Mary Beth Buchanan, the United States Attorney who prosecuted him. She was running as a Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives. She was defeated in the Republican primary.

Chong announced on June 9, 2012, that he is battling prostate cancer. He described the cancer "as a slow stage one [that I've] had for a long time". He said that he had been drug free for about three years, during which time he began having prostate-related problems. On July 15, 2012, Chong tweeted that the hemp oil treatment he had been using to cure his cancer was effective and that he is "99% cancer free". However, on June 16, 2015, Chong stated that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer and was "using cannabis like crazy" in order to endure the treatment.

On September 4, 2014, Chong was announced as one of the celebrities participating on the 19th season of Dancing with the Stars. He paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd. Despite being at the bottom of the leaderboard numerous times, Chong and Murgatroyd were able to make it to the night of the semi-finals but were eliminated at the end of that night. Chong is the oldest contestant to have made it to the semi-finals of the show.

Cheech Marin appeared in Tommy Chong's first dance in the season opener of Dancing with the Stars on September 15, 2014. Around this same time, Cheech and Chong appeared together on the Internet-based, pro-marijuana show, Getting Doug with High.

On April 4, 2015, Chong appeared as a guest speaker at the annual "Hash Bash" event in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which focuses on cannabis legalization.

Chong was originally going to voice the character of Shenzi, the hyena in the Disney film The Lion King. Cheech Marin voiced Banzai. (The Shenzi character was changed to a female and was voiced instead by Whoopi Goldberg.) Chong provided the voice of the character Yax in the 2016 Disney film Zootopia.

In November 2017, Chong guest-starred as himself in an episode of the Trailer Park Boys spinoff Out of the Park: USA. In 2017, Chong also partnered with smoking subscription box service Daily High Club to create the DHC Tommy Chong Signature Smoking Supply Box.

On January 9, 2019, he was revealed at the end of the second episode of The Masked Singer (U.S. TV series) to be the singer known as the Pineapple, singing "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor.

On May 23, 2019, Chong appeared on episode #1303 of the internet video podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, hosted by Joe Rogan.

On June 19, 2019, Chong appeared on episode #694 of the internet video podcast "The Church Of What's Happening Now", hosted by Joey Diaz.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Cheech & Chong among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Learn Some Fun Facts About Tommy Chong On His 82nd Birthday

Tommy Chong celebrates his birthday on May 24! In honor of his special day, learn some fun facts about his life and career.

Tommy Chong to Celebrate 81st Birthday at the High Times Cannabis Cup in SoCal May 25 & 26

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Tommy Chong 80th Birthday Bash | Buy Alcoholic Push-Pops | Boozy Sorbets | Frozen Boozy Treats

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In honor of Tommy Chong's 76th birthday on May 24, we've complied a fun quiz. How's your Chong IQ? About 420? Well, let's see… | Epic beard, Beard, Cheech and chong

May 24, 2014 - In honor of Tommy Chong's 76th birthday on May 24, we've complied a fun quiz. How's your Chong IQ? About 420? Well, let's see...

Happy 75th Birthday, Tommy Chong!

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Happy 74th Birthday, Tommy Chong Check out our interview with him and Richard "Cheech" Marin. | Cheech and chong, American medical association, Comedians

May 24, 2012 - Happy 74th Birthday, Tommy Chong Check out our interview with him and Richard "Cheech" Marin.