The proverbial phrase “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is usually used to bring about a positive attitude when faced with a difficult or uncomfortable situation. But more often than not, we’re either too broken or too angry to turn an ugly situation into something good that we just let drown out to our own detriment. This is the early life story of Cuban-American comedian, actor and podcast host Joey Diaz who was orphaned as a young boy and due to the pain of losing his parents decided to live a reckless life, using drugs and himself engage in fights and all sorts of criminal activities.
However, his life took a positive turn after spending some time in prison for kidnapping and committing robberies as it was his stay there that enabled him to discover his talent for comedy.
Joey Diaz Bio (Age)
Born José Antonio “CoCo” Díaz on February 19, 1963, in Havana, Cuba, the comedian is his parents’ only child. He was raised Catholic and his family moved to North Bergen, New Jersey from Cuba in the 1970s. Prior to that, his father had already died when he was just a three-year-old toddler.
Joey Diaz attended McKinley Elementary School before transferring to North Bergen High School, where he graduated in 1982. During his school years, the talented bundle received many awards for the performing arts.
At the age of 16 he was struck by the sudden death of his mother, whom he found dead on the floor of their home. After this event, his life went downhill as he became involved in a variety of vices including taking drugs, fighting, robbery, kidnapping, etc.
This behavior made it impossible for him to live with a family, so as a teenager he moved with a total of four different families in Nord-Bergen.Joey moved to Colorado in 1982 but his sense of nostalgia brought him back to New Jersey in 1984, originally to celebrate his birthday but he spent a year and six months there. During this time, his cocaine abuse got worse. Speaking later of this comeback, Joey Diaz described it as the worst eighteen months of his life as well as the biggest mistake of his life.
The entertainer eventually moved back to Colorado and enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder to study economics, but he didn’t find it interesting so he dropped out. To make ends meet, he took a job as a roof salesman and when it seemed his life was starting to fall apart, he became involved in kidnapping and aggravated robbery, ending up in prison in 1988.
During his 14-month stay in prison, he discovered his talent for comedy and began performing for his fellow inmates. However, he didn’t give stand-up comedy a chance until three years later, when he made his debut appearance at the Comedy Works in Denver on a show starring Matt Woods.
His capital
Although he started out as a stand-up comedian, Joey Diaz has since specialized in acting and podcast hosting. He has appeared in films and TV series such as BASEketball (1998), Spider-Man 2 (2004) , Taxi (2004), The Longest Yard (2005), Grudge Match (2013) My Name is Earl and The Longest Yard among others. Since 2012, Diaz has hosted the podcast, The Church of Now .
Despite his ugly beginning, Joey Diaz was able to turn the tide of his life around, finding success in the entertainment industry and earning an estimated net worth of $500,000.
Family – mother, wife, daughter
Although Joey Diaz’s mother’s name is not known, she greatly influenced his life during his lifetime. She ran a bar and a successful illegal lottery known as the Numbers Game in North Bergen, New Jersey. Unfortunately, she didn’t see her son grow into the man he is today when she died when he was only 16.
Diaz is married to a woman from Nashville,Tennessee named Terrie Clark. They married on November 25, 2009 and welcomed their first child, Mercy, in 2013. This was the second time the comedian got married.
His first marriage, to a lady whose name is not known, ended in 1991 and as a result of the divorce, Joey Diaz’s relationship with his daughter was severed from the marriage. It was actually this event that motivated him to pursue a career in stand-up comedy in 1991 so he could come back and make his little girl proud.
Height
The comedian stands at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m). Despite having a large height, Joey managed to lose some weight in 2009 after appearing in the film The Dog Who Saved Christmas. He previously weighed 390 pounds, but later that same year he was seen with a completely transformed body weighing 295 pounds.
