Gabriel Iglesias Biography

All About the Stand-up Comedian and Actor

Gabriel Iglesias

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Gabriel Iglesias was born on July 15, 1976, in San Diego, California but was raised mostly in Long Beach before later going on to become a famous stand-up comedian and voice actor. Due to his heavyset appearance, Iglesias dubbed himself "The Fluffy Man" early on in his career and a good deal of his act is related to his weight and appearance, though he also performs observational comedy about race and growing up Hispanic in America.

Iglesias has become one has become one of the most successful touring comedians of the 2000s, selling out shows in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Europe, and Saudi Arabia. Known for his high energy and cartoonish character voices, Iglesias always seems to be having a ton of fun on stage. His audiences can usually say the same.

Early Career and Commercial Success

Always regarded as the "class clown" and considered to be an all-around funny guy, Iglesias finally made his debut performing stand-up comedy in 1997 at the age of 21. He was a regular on the Nickelodeon sketch series "All That" in the early 2000s before taping his first half-hour "Comedy Central Present" stand-up special six years later in 2003. It was named "Half-hour Special of the Year" by Comedy Central viewers in 2003. 

During the next three years, Iglesias spent time touring and performing in local comedy clubs, gaining relatively little support until 2006 when he entered a reality competition for stand-up comics. Iglesias went on to be a finalist on the NBC summer reality competition series "Last Comic Standing" but was disqualified for a rules violation when he was caught using a Blackberry.

He bounced back in 2007. though, recording his first hour-long stand-up special for Comedy Central. Entitled "Hot and Fluffy," the DVD version of the show went triple platinum in sales, instantly propelling Iglesias to fame. In 2009 he followed with another hour-long special, "I'm Not Fat...I'm Fluffy," and a double-CD album called "We Luv Fluffy" combining live shows from Atlanta and San Antonio. Of other note, Iglesias has headlined the "Just for Laughs" comedy festival in both Montreal and Toronto. 

Television and Later Success

In 2011 he began hosting "Gabriel Iglesias' Stand-up Revolutionon Comedy Central, making his debut on an episodic television series during its run. This was quickly followed by his third stand-up special, "Aloha Fluffy Parts 1 & 2" which premiered on Comedy Central in 2013. In 2014, Iglesias released The Fluffy Movie, his first stand-up concert film recorded live at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

2014 also brought Iglesias to network television sitcoms with his recurring role in the hit ABC comedy "Cristela." A year later, Iglesias joined the ranks of comics like Andrew Dice Clay, ​Steve Martin, Kevin Hart, and Aziz Ansari by being one of the few comedians to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

That same year, he made his big-screen debut playing a supporting role as a DJ in the movies "Magic Mike" and its sequel "Magic Mike XXL." Since then, Iglesias has gone on to continued commercial success, regularly featured on Comedy Central programming as well as still touring with his own comedy show.