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Gabriel Iglesias

Gabriel Iglesias is an actor, born 1976.

Gabriel Iglesias built his career on stand-up, where he performs as Fluffy, and the specials are the actual work: I'm Not Fat... I'm Fluffy and Hot and Fluffy among them, for Comedy Central and later Netflix. He hosted Stand Up Revolution on Comedy Central and Fluffy's Food Adventures on Fuse, and Netflix eventually built him a sitcom, Mr. Iglesias, in which he plays a high school teacher.

The screen career splits cleanly in two. On one side is a very large pile of animated voice work: Jimmy across both Nut Job films, Cuatro in Ferdinand, Jokey in the Smurfs film, Babo in UglyDolls, Rufus in The Star, a clerk in Coco, Speedy Gonzales in Space Jam: A New Legacy. Most of it is interchangeable and he is not the reason any of those films exist. His voice is warm and carries a laugh inside it, which is why casting directors keep reaching for it and also why the roles so rarely ask for anything else.

On the other side is Tobias, the one live-action part that has stuck. In Magic Mike he is the club's MC, and Steven Soderbergh uses him the way you use a comedian in a drama: as the man who says the quiet thing out loud and then leaves. It is small and specific and it is the best evidence available that he can act rather than simply deliver. He came back for Magic Mike XXL with less to do. The recent run has widened again, with Kris Kringle in The Santa Clauses and one of the three warriors in Maya and the Three.

Movies (23)

TV (27)

Where to start with Gabriel Iglesias

The stand-up is the real reason to be here and none of it sits in this catalogue, so treat the screen credits as a supplement rather than the main course.

Of those, Magic Mike is the one to watch. Tobias has a handful of minutes and Iglesias plays him as a man who has seen every version of this night before, which is precisely the note the film needs from someone standing outside the spectacle. Magic Mike XXL brings him back with thinner material.

Mr. Iglesias is the closest thing to a showcase, a broad sitcom built entirely on his likeability, and it works to the exact extent that you like him already.

For the animation, Coco is the best film he is in despite the part being one scene, The Book of Life is where the vocal casting actually fits the world, and Space Jam: A New Legacy is where he took over Speedy Gonzales. Ferdinand is the pick with children in the room.

The animated films

The bulk of the screen career. Coco and The Book of Life are the two worth watching on their own terms, and both use him in a register that suits the stand-up: fast, warm and slightly overwhelmed.

The live-action roles

Tobias in the Magic Mike films is the role that surprises people, and it is a proper supporting part rather than a cameo. Mr. Iglesias is the Netflix sitcom built around him, playing a high-school teacher.

The television appearances

The stand-up is the actual career and the specials are where the audience came from. The rest is a long run of guest appearances, hosting and voice work for children's programming.

Genres Gabriel Iglesias works in