Biography
Early life
Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the son of Lorna Jean , a waitress, and Stanley Chong, a truck driver. Chong's father was of descent and his mother was of Scots-Irish ancestry. Chong graduated from Victoria Composite High School, a school now recognized in Edmonton as a major performing and visual arts K-12 IB school. When Chong was still young, the family moved to Calgary, Alberta, to a neighbourhood Chong refers to as the ''Dog Patch''. He says that his father had "been wounded in World War II, and there was a veterans' hospital in Calgary. He bought a five-hundred dollar house in Dog Patch, and raised his family on fifty dollars a week". He later went on to graduate from Victoria School back in Edmonton, Alberta.
Music career
By age eleven Chong was playing guitar, chiefly music. Soon, he was introduced to rhythm and blues and became a professional musician. He formed one of Calgary's earliest rock and roll/rhythm and blues bands, ''the Colors'' or ''the Shades'', but was eventually requested by the police to leave town after a particularly rowdy gig, according to his account. Chong and the Shades then left for the closest metropolis, Vancouver, where Chong bought a club, the Elegant Parlour, and played guitar and sang in the house band, a Motown-style band named Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers. He co-wrote the Motown hit "Does Your Mama Know About Me," released in 1968.
It has been reported that Jimi Hendrix played with the group. Hendrix did briefly visit Vancouver in 1965, and ended up playing with Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers. Chong disputes this ever happened and that any such appearance is a product of Taylor's "imagination."
Cheech & Chong
Later career
Cheech & Chong, while one of the most successful comedy acts of all time, experienced creative differences and split in 1985. This was devastating to Chong. To him, Cheech Marin was "closer than a wife. The only thing we didn't do was have sex." Of their split, he says, "It was like a death in the family. I don't know if I'll ever get over it". Chong was a recurring character and later a regular character as the hippie "" during the second, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth seasons of ''That '70s Show''. He also played a role as a hippie in ''Dharma and Greg''.
Chong was originally going to voice the character of the hyena in the Disney film The Lion King, which would have had him performing once more with Cheech Marin, who voiced Banzai.
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, which motivated Federal Prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanan to target him in the Justice Department's 12 million dollar sting, "Operation Pipe Dream", under Attorney General John Ashcroft. The project features interviews with Cheech Marin, Bill Maher, George Thorogood, Peter Coyote, Lou Adler, Eric Schlosser and Jay Leno.
Personal life
Chong was married to his first wife, Maxine Sneed from 1960 until their divorce in 1970. Their children were and . He married his second wife Shelby in 1975. He has three children with her: sons Paris and Gilbran, and daughter Precious. Precious was born to Chong and Shelby while he was still married to Maxine. is Chong's son by adoption. Maxine Sneed's brother, Floyd Sneed, is the original drummer for Three Dog Night.
Both Robbi, Rae Dawn, and Marcus have pursued careers in acting. Although not widely recognized or active in the Asian Canadian community, Chong is certainly one of the most famous Asian Canadian hippies, and among the most famous Asian Canadian comics of all time. In the late 1980s, Chong became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Chong is a marijuana activist and is a supporter of marijuana legalization and medical use of marijuana.
Chong was charged for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris. Chong’s case never went through a federal trial; instead Chong came to a settlement with US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan’s office in which he admitted to distributing 7,500 bongs and water pipes on the Internet through Nice Dreams, a family company that was named for one of his movies. Chong agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drug paraphernalia in exchange for non-prosecution of his wife, Shelby, and his son, Paris. Chong fully cooperated with the government and was the first of the Operation Pipe Dreams defendants to plead guilty. US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan also was present at the sentencing and released a statement to the press stating, ''"there are consequences for violating the law, even if the violator is a well-known entertainer like Thomas Chong."''
In investigating the operations of Nice Dreams, federal agents posed as head-shop owners from Pittsburgh’s neighboring Beaver County and pled with Paris to sell them his pipes through the mail to a fictitious shop in Beaver Falls. Paris had set in place a company prohibition against selling to Pittsburgh or anywhere in western Pennsylvania.
In 2006, Chong wrote a book about his experiences in jail and his interest in meditation, called ''The I Chong: Meditations From The Joint'' . There was also a documentary film chronicling the Drug Enforcement Administration raid on his house and his subsequent jail sentence entitled ''a/k/a Tommy Chong''. Chong has stated publicly that he has no ownership in the film.
Seizure of a/k/a Tommy Chong DVDs
On May 7, 2008, federal agents raided Spectrum Labs in an investigation related to Spectrum Labs’ detoxification products. The raid, one of nine during the day, was part of Operation True Test, an investigation being led by U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan. The investigation targeted companies that sell "masking products" that are supposed to help drug-users pass employer drug tests. Of the nine search warrants issued, none were for businesses within Mary Beth Buchanan's district, the Western District of Pennsylvania.
In executing their search warrant, the federal agents seized over 10,000 copies of Chong’s yet to be released documentary, ''a/k/a Tommy Chong''. It has yet to be determined exactly why the DVDs were seized during the raid. Chong has speculated that the seizure may rest with prohibitions against one benefiting financially from a crime; however Chong has not released publicly that he has been charged with such an offense. In a statement released to the press, Chong stated ''"It's a way to punish the distributor financially. There's no way to get the DVDs back until the investigation is over."'' Chong also stated that he has no ownership in the film, ''a/k/a Tommy Chong''.
Filmography
TV Series
* PLAYBOY Comedy Roast for Tommy Chong
* ''Miami Vice'' - T.R. 'Jumbo' Collins
* '' The George Carlin Show'' - Unknown
* ''Nash Bridges'' - Barry Chen
* ''Sliders'' - Van Elsinger
* ''Dharma & Greg'' - Carl
* ''South Park'' - Chief Running Pinto
* ''That 70s Show'' -
* ''The George Lopez Show'' - Mr. Gutierez
* ''Code Monkeys'' - Laird Boone
* ''Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld - Himself
Voices
* '' - Root
* '' - super hippie
Movies
* Up in Smoke ... Anthony 'Man' Stoner
* Cheech & Chong's Next Movie ... Chong
* Nice Dreams ... Chong
* It Came from Hollywood ... Himself
* Things Are Tough All Over ... Chong/Prince Habib
* Still Smokin' ... Chong
* Yellowbeard ... El Nebuloso
* Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers ... Corsican Brother
* Get Out of My Room ... The Man
* ... Pepe
* Tripwire ... Merle Shine
* Far Out Man ... Far Out Man
* ... Stoner
* Life After Sex ... ???
* ... Root
* National Lampoon's Senior Trip ... Red
* McHale's Navy ... Armando/Ernesto
* Half Baked ... Squirrel Master
* The Wash ... Dee's Connection
* Best Buds ... Tommy Chong/Carlos
* Secret Agent 420 ... QP
* Evil Bong ... Jimbo Leary
* American Drug War: The Last White Hope ... Himself
* Chinaman's Chance ... Deputy Tom
* ''a/k/a Tommy Chong'' ... Himself
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