Gabriel Iglesias

Custom made ( (James Larson ))

Gabriel Iglesias was born Gabriel J. 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. Before going into comedy, Iglesias worked for a cell phone company in Los Angeles. Although his family urged him to remain in that job for its financial security, he insisted on trying his hand at comedy.

When maintaining both occupations proved too difficult to handle, he decided in 1997 to take the risk of doing comedy full-time, against the advice of his mother, who cautioned him against such a move. Iglesias nonetheless left the phone company, which eventually resulted in his being evicted from his home and losing his car. Despite this, he persisted with comedy. Iglesias often references his weight in his comedy, often saying, "Oh, I'm not fat, I'm fluffy", a term he says was popular among overweight people in the 1940s, which he decided to use in his act. He also references different "Levels of Fatness" in his act, having once described "Five Levels of Fatness", and eventually adding a sixth, called "Oh, Hell no!" in 2009. 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".

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+fluffyguy (Gabriel Iglesias )

On February 10, 2012, Iglesias was presented with several awards by the city of El Paso, Texas, including the key to the city, a resolution from the El Paso County Commissioners, Congressional Recognition from Congressman Silvestre Reyes, and the Beacon of H.O.P.E Award from the nonprofit organization Operation H.O.P.E, during a luncheon fundraiser that raised an estimated $5,000.

(http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Gabriel-Iglesias-Alo (Blueray.com))

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, DDP Yoga, and a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, which helped him shed over 100 pounds (45 kilograms).