Just like a sculptor who splinters off the marble, adversity has a way of breaking away from us and forming us into what we are and what we become. Two events changed his life: Joey Diaz lost his mother as a teenager, which made him reckless, but his incarceration led him to discover one of his talents, comedy, which made him a better person.
He grew up with stories in his mother’s bar and was fascinated by the art of storytelling. This boy would grow up to conquer the hearts of many fans with his talent and skills in the same art, albeit on a standing pedestal. He had also learned early on, as an only child, to justify everything in his head with comedy. Jose Antonio Diaz is his name, but he is better known as Joey Diaz, a Cuban-American comedian, actor, and podcaster.
Joey Diaz Bio – Age
Joey was born on February 19, 1963, in Havana, Cuba, and is also known by his nicknames Mad Flavor and CoCo. His father died when he was three years old and he moved to New York City but moved with his mother to North Bergen, New Jersey in the 1970s. He attended McKinley School and graduated from North Bergen High School in 1982.
His eyes were on art from the beginning and he won performing arts prizes at school. He was raised a Catholic, and stories about Francis of Assisi and St. Michael interested him greatly. Twelve years after he lost his father, his mother was found dead on the floor of her house at the age of fifteen and made him an orphan.
This unfortunate event left him in the care of foster families who took him in at various times in his life. He became reckless and experimented with drugs, took part in fights, and committed crimes. This lifestyle made his stay with these families short-lived, and he lived with up to four families, including one Italian family.
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He counts up to 20 people who took care of him during the first years of his orphanage and helped him to survive adversity. To this day he still has a relationship with them. One of them is his primary school teacher, with whom he went to the premiere of The Grudge Match.
When he turned 19, he left New Jersey for Colorado but returned in 1984 to celebrate his birthday and stayed for the next 18 months. However, he described this comeback as a mistake and the worst 18 months of his life as his drug abuse increased. Later Joey returned to Colorado and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He left school on the grounds that he was not enjoying his time there and was arrested in 1988 for kidnapping and aggravated robbery. This would result in him spending fourteen months in prison. During the time of his imprisonment, he discovered his talent for comedy and performed in front of his fellow inmates.
Joey Diaz Career
It took him three years to fully engage in stand-up. He made his first appearance in 1991 at the Comedy Works in Denver at a show directed by Matt Woods. Coco also participated in comedy competitions where he was either the front runner or in the top ten. Since then, he has made a comedy, either in stand-up or in his own audio and video podcast The Church of What’s Happening Now, which he launched on September 2, 2012.
His influences include albums by Richard Pryor, who has been described by Jerry Seinfeld as the Picasso of the comedy profession, and he appears regularly on The Joe Regan Experience.
Joey’s comedy career exposed him and earned him a place in the acting arena. He has had roles in the television series NYPD Blue, My Name is Earl, Law & Order, and in films such as The Longest Yard, Taxi, Spider-Man 2, which was his first major feature film, Grudge Match, and The Dog Who Saved Christmas.
Today, he can be considered a huge success, as he has transformed himself from a troubled child to a life coach who has developed a cult following. Joey ended his longstanding cocaine abuse in 2007 after his cats died from ingesting the substance in one of his bags. About his break, he said it had to do with his peace of mind. While it took some people 10 years to get it, it took him a long 30 years to get it.
Diaz Mom, Wife, and Daughter
The name of his mother may not be known, but she had a great influence on his life during his lifetime. She ran a bar and a successful gambling business. When Joey was a teenager he came home late from a Halloween party and his mother got mad at him and beat him. However, she apologized the next morning and explained that what she had done to him was because she wanted him to grow up to be a man. As if she wanted to prepare him for her demise, she died a week later. And Joey became the man his mother wanted him to become.
CoCo was married twice, but the name of his first wife is not known. They had a daughter but were divorced in 1991. After their separation, however, he lost contact with their daughter. The divorce and the loss of contact with their daughter served as motivation for his entry into comedy in 1991 and he decided to do a stand-up so that he could come back and make her proud.
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Although he became successful, they never got back together. On November 25, 2009, he became a second husband to his second wife, Terrie Clark, a woman born in Nashville, Tennessee. They had their first child, a daughter, Mercy, in 2013.
His Height and Weight Loss
Mad Flavor is known for his large body size during his early days in show business. However, he looks slimmer and seems to have lost some weight. He starred in the TV movie “The Dog that Saved Christmas in 2009″ and weighed 390 pounds at the time of the shooting. However, at the end of 2009, Joey Diaz weighed almost one hundred pounds less at 295 lbs. A big change, one would say. His height is 5′ 10” (1.78 m).
Joey Diaz’s Net Worth
Joey Diaz has worked both as a bouncer and car salesman but is currently flourishing as a sought-after comedian and actor. His years of dedication to his course really pay off. He has earned a net worth of an estimated $500,000.