Tommy Chong
Birthdate: May 24, 1938
Birthplace: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Tommy Chong (birth name: Thomas B. Kin Chong) is one-half of the longtime comedy duo with on-and-off partner Cheech Marin, and for over thirty years delivered trend-setting, stoner culture comedy that included several feature movies, beginning with the smash hit Up in Smoke (1978), which Chong wrote with Marin and also co-starred in with Tom Skerritt, Edie Adams, Strother Martin and Stacy Keach under Lou Adler’s direction, and grossing a knockout $104 million on a $2 milllion budget for Paramount Pictures. Chong directed and co-wrote, and co-starred (with Marin) in Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie (1980), grossing $41.7 million for Universal Pictures.
Chong again directed the duo’s third studio-made comedy, Nice Dreams (1981), co-written and co-starring Chong and Cheech Marin, with Stacy Keach, Paul Reubens, Timothy Leary, and Sandra Bernhard, and earning $35 million for Columbia Pictures. Chong co-starred and co-wrote with Marin the duo’s fourth studio comedy (again for Columbia Pictures), Things Are Tough All Over (1982), grossing $21 million, and then Chong returned to the director’s chair for the Amsterdam-set Still Smokin (1983), which he wrote and starred in with Marin, and which grossed $15.5 million for Paramount Pictures.
Tommy Chong, with Cheech Marin, joined forces with members of Monty Python and British comedy geniuses Peter Cook and Spike Milligan as part of the cast of Yellowbeard (1983), with Graham Chapman, Peter Boyle, Michael Hordern, Eric Idle, Madeline Kahn, James Mason, John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Peter Bull under Mel Damski’s direction, and grossing only $4.3 million. Chong returned to directing and co-writing, and co-starring (with Marin) for the duo’s sixth and final narrative comedy movie (and their only non-stoner movie), Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers (1984), a parody of Alexandre Dumas’s 1844 novel, and grossing $3.7 million for Orion Pictures.
Chong was cast (with Cheech Marin) by Martin Scorsese for a supporting role in his dark comedy, After Hours (1985), starring Griffin Dunne, with Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, John Heard and Catherine O’Hara, and won Scorsese the Cannes Film Festival Palme for Best Director and grossing $10.6 million for The Geffen Brothers/Warner Bros. Chong was director/writer/star of the stoner comedy, Far Out Man (1990), his final feature as director and his first comedy without Marin as creative partner (though Marin appears in a cameo as himself) and which featured C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, Shelby Chong, Martin Mull, Judd Nelson, and Paul Bartel, and released by New Line Cinema.
Tommy Chong took on his first voice role in the U.S./Australia animated musical fantasy, FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), with the voice cast of Tim Curry, Samantha Mathis, Christian Slater, Robin Williams and Grace Zabriskie under Bill Kroyer’s direction, grossing $32.7 million for 20th Century Fox.
Chong co-starred with Jeremy Renner, Matt Frewer and Valerie Mahaffey in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip (1995), directed by Kelly Makin and earning $4.7 million for New Line Cinema, followed by Chong taking on comedy roles in the remake of McHale’s Navy (1997); in the Tamra Davis-directed stoner comedy, Half Baked (1998), co-starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, Guillermo Diaz and Clarence Williams III, and grossing $17.5 million for Universal Pictures; and a small role in director/writer/producer/co-star DJ Pooh’s The Wash (2001), starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, George Wallace, Eminem, Xzibit, Ludacris, Shaquille O’Neal and Pauly Shore, earning a poor $10 million take for Lionsgate.
Chong delivered an extended cameo in the stoner horror-comedy, Evil Bong (2006), directed by Charles Band, and after appearing as himself in a few non-fiction movies, reunited with Cheech Marin for a concert movie capturing their “Light Up America” tour, Chong doc Cheech & Chong’s Hey, Watch This! (2010), directed by Christian Charles, and released by The Weinstein Company. Chong was cast in a voice role in the widely panned animated sequel, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011), with the voices of Hayden Panettiere, Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton, Joan Cusack, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Martin Short, Andy Dick and David Ogden Stiers, under Mike Disa’s direction, and earning a poor $23 million (on $30 million costs) for The Weinstein Company.
Tommy Chong reunited with Cheech Marin as the voices in an animated feature version of their sketch comedy bits, Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie! (2013), written by Cheech and Chong and directed and produced by Branden Chambers and Eric D. Chambers, and released by 20th Century Fox. Chong did a small role in a stand-up comedy movie starring comedian Gabriel Iglesias, The Fluffy Movie (2014), and then returned to the mic as a voice actor in the hit original Disney animated buddy cop comedy, Zootopia (2016), starring the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Bonnie Hunt, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer and Shakira, under Byron Howard’s and Rich Moore’s direction, and grossed a knockout $1 billion (on a $150 million budget) and the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
Chong was cast in his first sci-fi horror movie, the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation by director/co-writer Richard Stanley, Color Out of Space (2019), starring Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, and Q’orianka Kilcher, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and released by RLJE Films to a poor $1 million gross. Chong did a small role in Kevin Smith’s sequel, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), released to a poor $4.7 million return by Saban Films, and then Chong returned to the movie screen for another reunion with Cheech Marin in the documentary about Cheech & Chong, Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie (2025), directed and produced by David L. Bushell, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival and released wide by Keep Smokin’.
Personal life
Tommy Chong was born in Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta, and raised in Edmonton and Calgary, Canada, by his parents Stanley and Lorna Jean Chong. Chong has one older brother, Stan. Chong dropped out of Crescent Heights High School in Calgary and survived busking for money as a guitarist, and launched a first career as a musician/songwriter. Chong was married to Maxine Sneed from 1961 until they divorced in 1974; the couple has two children, including actor Rae Dawn Chong. Chong has been married to Shelby Chong since 1975; the couple has four children. Chong’s height is 5′ 9½ ”. Chong’s estimated net worth is $20 million.
Known For
Tommy Chong Movies
actor
Previous (64)
- 2025 |
Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie
asTommy Chong
Exploring their 5-decade career performing stand-up, making records, and starring in hit films. It covers their lives, comedy partnership, and lasting influence on pop culture.
- 2023 | Aliens Uncovered: Origins
- 2023 | American Pot Story: Oaksterdam
- 2023 | Nectarball: The Story of Cannabis
- 2022 | Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain
- 2022 | To Be Blunt
- 2021 | Alien Danger! With Raven Van Slenderas Lord Green
- 2021 | More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story
- 2020 | Growing Goldas (Self)
- 2020 | Scare Bear
- 2020 |
Color Out of Space
asEzra
A secluded farm is struck by a strange meteorite which has apocalyptic consequences for the family living there and possibly the world.
- 2018 | The Genius of Lenny Breau Remembered
- 2017 | Double Dutchess: Seeing Doubleas Partygoer (segment "L.A.LOVE")
- 2017 | I Am Sam Kinison
- 2017 | It's Gawd!as Gawd
- 2017 | The Legend of 420
- 2017 | The Peach Panther
- 2016 |
- 2014 | Boardwalk Hempire: The Rise and Fall of the Medical Kush Beach Clubas Tommy Chong
- 2014 | Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood
- 2013 | Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie
- 2013 | Cheech & Chong's Animated Movieas Buster 'The Body' Crab
- 2013 | Cheech & Chong's Animated Movieas Man
- 2013 | Cheech & Chong's Animated Movieas Ticket Guy
- 2010 | Hey Watch This
- 2010 | Hey Watch Thisas Self
- 2010 | Hey Watch Thisas Various
- 2007 | The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
- 2006 | A/k/a Tommy Chong
- 2006 | American Stag
- 2006 | Evil Bongas Jimbo Leary
- 2006 | Greasy Rider
- 2005 | Secret Agent 420as QP
- 2002 | High Times Potluckas Tommy Chong
- 2001 | The Washas Dee's Connection
- 1998 | Half Bakedas Squirrel Master
- 1995 | National Lampoon's Senior Tripas Red
- 1992 | Life After Sex
- 1992 | FernGully: The Last Rainforestas Root
- 1990 | Far Out Man
- 1990 | Far Out Man
- 1990 | Far Out Manas Far Out Man
- 1989 | Tripwireas Merle Shine
- 1985 | Get Out of My Roomas The Man
- 1985 | After Hoursas Pepe
- 1984 | Cheech & Chong's: The Corsican Brothers
- 1984 | Cheech & Chong's: The Corsican Brothers
- 1984 | Cheech & Chong's: The Corsican Brothersas Lucian Corsican
- 1983 | Yellowbeardas El Nebuloso
- 1983 | Still Smokin
- 1983 | Still Smokin
- 1983 | Still Smokinas Chong
- 1982 | It Came from Hollywood
- 1982 | Things Are Tough All Over
- 1982 | Things Are Tough All Overas Chong
- 1982 | Things Are Tough All Overas Prince Habib
- 1981 | Nice Dreams
- 1981 | Nice Dreams
- 1981 | Nice Dreamsas Chong
- 1980 | Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
- 1980 | Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
- 1980 | Cheech and Chong's Next Movieas Chong
- 1978 | Up in Smoke
- 1978 | Up in Smokeas Man
Facts About Tommy Chong
Prison: Tommy Chong was the only person of 55 arrested in the DEA’s “Operation Pipe Dreams” to serve actual time in prison. Chong served additional time for federal drug paraphernalia charges in 2003.
Inspired: Chong urged his federal prison cellmate Jordan Belfort to write his life story, which turned into the bestseller, The Wolf of Wall Street, made into a movie by Martin Scorsese, who had directed Chong decades before in After Hours
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