It co-stars Paul Rodriguez, Daniel Stern, Kamala Lopez, Jan-Michael Vincent, Lupe Ontiveros and Jason Scott Lee in his feature film debut.

Born in East L.A. marked Marin's first solo film, without the involvement of his comedy partner, Tommy Chong, at the insistence of executive Frank Price, who was fired between greenlighting and production due to the failure of Howard the Duck.

Born in East L.A. was ultimately a financial success, and bolstered Marin's reputation in the Latino community, winning several awards at the Havana Film Festival.

Guadalupe Rudolfo "Rudy" Robles is told by his mother to pick up his cousin Javier at a factory in Downtown Los Angeles before she and his sister leave for Fresno.

Having left home without his wallet, Rudy works for Jimmy as doorman at a strip club, earning extra money selling oranges and teaching five would-be immigrants to walk and talk like East Los Angeles natives.

Rudy and Dolores escape during the East Los Angeles Cinco de Mayo parade, ending up on a float with a priest, who they ask to marry them.

[7] During shooting, the film's producer, Peter MacGregor-Scott, was interviewed by a Mexican radio station, where he called for extras to come to the set to appear in the movie, where they would receive American scale pay, lunch and transportation paid for by the production.

"[6] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Born in East L.A. is an across-the-board winner" and said that it had "more energy and drive" than La Bamba.

[9] Caryn James, film critic for The New York Times, wrote:Born in East L.A. is enormously good-natured—exactly the wrong tone for a comedy that needs all the rambunctious lunacy it can get.

Instead, this story of an American mistakenly deported to Mexico as an illegal alien is amiable and plodding, the very last things you'd expect from Cheech, with or without Chong.

The Blu-ray edition included new interviews with Cheech Marin, Paul Rodriguez and Kamala Lopez, an audio commentary by Marin, the trailer, the theatrical cut in high definition and the extended television version in standard definition and in 4:3 (1.33:1) aspect ratio,[12] although High Def Digest reported that the television cut was presented in widescreen at 1.85:1.