Gabriel Iglesias

Early life

Gabriel Iglesias was born Gabriel Jesus Iglecias in San Diego, California, the youngest of six children to a single mother. He is of Mexican heritage. His mother placed a letter "c" in his surname in retaliation for his father's absence during his birth, though he does not use this spelling in his everyday life, preferring to use the one with the "s". He grew up in Riverside, Corona, Santa Ana, Baldwin Park, and Compton before settling in Section 8, low-income housing in Long Beach, where Iglesias spent most of his youth.

Career

Iglesias worked for a cell phone company in Los Angeles and in 1997 went into comedy full-time, though it resulted in his being evicted from his home and losing his car.

Iglesias often references his weight in his comedy, often saying, "Oh, I'm not fat, I'm fluffy". He also employs voices, sound effects and storytelling in his act, and his other trademark signatures include his Hawaiian shirts and a "nice-guy veneer".

In 2000, he appeared in season 6 of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That, co-starring with Amanda Bynes and Nick Cannon.

In 2007, Iglesias voiced an entire Mexican family in "Padre de Familia", a sixth season episode of the Fox TV animated comedy Family Guy. That same year, he began voicing a recurring set of identical twin characters on The Emperor's New School, a Disney animated series that he describes as his favorite voice work.

Iglesias was a contestant on the fourth season of reality TV series Last Comic Standing in 2006, surviving elimination to become one of the final eight comics. He was disqualified at that point for having used a smuggled BlackBerry to communicate with family and friends, which violated the rules of the show.

In 2011, Comedy Central debuted Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution, a standup showcase series which Iglesias produces and hosts. Hector Saldaña of the San Antonio Express-News praised Iglesias and the other comedian he assembled for the show, calling it "one of the all-time funniest comedy package tours" and Iglesias a "comedy genius".

Iglesias has hosted/co-hosted six episodes of Equals Three. In 2012 he played a strip club DJ and drug dealer in the 2012 film Magic Mike.

Iglesias voiced Ned and Zed in the 2013 DisneyToon Studios film, Planes. He also voiced characters in the animated films The Nut Job (2014) and El Americano: The Movie (2016).

Iglesias is featured in the new reality show Fluffy Breaks Even, which is currently shown on Fuse TV.

Awards and honors

On February 10, 2012, Iglesias was presented with several awards by the city of El Paso, Texas, including the key to the city and the Beacon of H.O.P.E Award from the nonprofit organization Operation H.O.P.E.

Personal life

Iglesias lives in Whittier, California. In The Fluffy Movie, Iglesias describes how at his heaviest, which he states was 445 pounds (202 kilograms), he was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, and with his blood sugar spiking to over 300 regularly, was given two years to live by his doctor. He said the shock of being told he had two years to live prompted him to reevaluate how he took care of himself, and explained that he decided to lose weight in order to insure his continued presence in the lives of his loved ones. Iglesias described the struggle to incorporate a healthier lifestyle, relating how he was told by a specialist that his heavy touring schedule precluded him from being a candidate for bariatric surgery, and how he resorted instead to weight-lifting, Diamond Dallas Page Yoga, and a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, which helped him shed over 100 pounds (45 kilograms).

Discography