Thomas "Tommy" B. Kin Chong (born May 24, 1938) is a Canadian comedian, actor and musician who is well-known for his stereotypical portrayals of hippie-era stoners. He is most widely known for his involvement in the marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy movies with Cheech Marin, as well as playing the character Leo Chingkwake on Fox's That '70s Show. The terms Chonger (a large cannabis joint), Chonging and To Chong (to smoke cannabis) are based on his last name.
Chong's father was of Chinese descent and his mother was of Scots-Irish ancestry. Chong graduated from Victoria Composite High School. When Chong was still young, the family moved to Calgary, Alberta, to a neighborhood 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 Canada

In 2007 at the 20th Annual Cannabis Cup, Tommy was inducted into the Cannabis Cup Hall of Fame.

Entertainment Bio

In 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 band member Bobby Taylor, Chong opened a Vancouver nightclub in 1963 called the Blues Palace, formerly the Alma Theatre. 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 Vancouver's signed with Gordy Records (a subsidiary of Detroit, Michigan's Motown Records) and recorded its debut album, an eponymous release, and their debut single, the Tommy Chong co-composition "Does Your Mama Know About Me," peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.  After the band released two further singles, Tommy Chong and Wes Henderson were fired by Clark and Motown producer Johnny Bristol for missing a gig to apply for Green cards. The group broke up shortly afterwords, when Chong attempted to have the Vancouver's' contract halved, so that he, Taylor, and Henderson would constitute the group, while other members would simply be regarded as sidemen and session artists.

After the Smoke Cleared

Cheech & Chong, while a very successful comedy act, 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 "Leo" 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 Shenzi the hyena in the Disney film The Lion King, which would have had him performing once more with Cheech Marin, who voiced Banzai. (The Shenzi character was later changed to be female, and voiced instead by Whoopi Goldberg.)

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.

US vs. Chong

In 2003, Chong was targeted by two American investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter, which sought out businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly bongs. Operation Pipe Dream was run from Pittsburgh, PA. US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan oversaw the case. The estimated cost of Operation Pipe Dream was over $12 Million and included the resources of 2,000 law enforcement officers.

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 to trial; instead Chong accepted a plea agreement with the United States Attorney'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.

At Chong’s sentencing, Assistant US Attorney Mary McKeen Houghton stated in her sentencing arguments that Tommy Chong "used his public image to promote this crime" and marketed his products to children. 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."

While Chong argued for community service and home detention at his sentencing, the district judge denied his requests and sentenced him to 9 months in federal prison, a fine of $20,000, forfeiture of $103,514, and the loss of all merchandise seized during the raid of his business. Chong served his sentence in Taft Correctional Institution from October 8, 2003 to July 7, 2004.

The entire episode was chronicled in the 2006, award-winning documentary by Josh Gilbert, The United States Government vs. Thomas B. Kin Chong, a/k/a Tommy Chong. The documentary premiered theatrically at the Film Forum in New York City in 2006.

Back Together Again

In mid 2008, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong reunited and started touring. The tour is called "Light Up America and Canada" and "The Felimony Tour," which references the expenses both have recently incurred - Tommy Chong's losses related to his conviction for his involvement in his son's water pipe business, and Cheech Marin's recent divorce and subsequent alimony payments. In October, 2008, they appeared on The Howard Stern Show on SIRIUS/XM Satellite Radio.