Chelsea Lately Bios: Chelsea Handler and Chuy Bravo

Bio of the late-night host and her little nugget

By Chelsea Lately Staff Dec 23, 2013 8:36 PMTags
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Chelsea Handler

Chelsea Handler is one of the most exciting and successful figures in the entertainment industry. Handler was honored as one of Glamour Magazine's 2011 "Women of the Year" and was also featured in TIME Magazine's annual "TIME 100" Portfolio last year.  Both publications recognized the media mogul for her multiplatform success as a bestselling author, talk show host, stand-up comedian, and an actress.  The self-made Handler is a cultural phenomenon whose business savvy is matched only by her comedic talents.

As the host of E!'s "Chelsea Lately", Handler remains the only female to break into the otherwise male-dominated late night arena.  She has built "Chelsea Lately" into one of the highest rated shows on E!,  she consistently draws higher ratings than her late night competitors (especially among women 18 to 34) bringing in an average of 900,000 viewers per episode.  The show is also groundbreaking for female comedy writers as it is the first of its kind to have an unprecedented five women on staff compromising half of the writing team.  In April 2011, Handler introduced audiences to "After Lately", a semi-scripted series that follows the outside lives of Chelsea along with her late night co-stars, guest comedians, and writers.  With impressive ratings and an immediate cult following, "After Lately" recently concluded its third season on E!.

Chelsea is also building her resume as a film and television actress with credits including Paramount's comedy FUN SIZE opposite Johnny Knoxville and Victoria Justice., Universal Picture's 2011 family comedy HOP starring James Marsden and Russell Brand as well as director McG's recent action-comedy THIS MEANS WAR co-starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy. Television credits include Oxygen's "Girls Behaving Badly" (now syndicated in over 90 markets); "The Chelsea Handler Show"; "Are You There, Chelsea?" and the web series "In The Motherhood."

Handler is one of the leading nonfiction authors and was named "one of the clear winners of 2010" by Publisher's Weekly with four bestselling books currently in print.  Her next book Uganda Be Kidding Me, about her travels, is due out in March 2014. This will be the third book published by her Grand Central imprint "Borderline Amazing/A Chelsea Handler Book," the first was Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me, and the second was Ross Mathew's book Man Up: Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence which released in May 2013. Her first book, My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands (Bloomsbury Publishing), sold over a million copies in more than twenty countries.  Are You There, Vodka?  It's Me, Chelsea (Simon Spotlight), Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (Grand Central Publishing), and her most recent Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me (Borderline Amazing/A Chelsea Handler Book) all debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List.  On March 28th, 2010, Handler had three books ranked at #1, #2, and #3 on the Bestseller Lists simultaneously – a remarkable feat for any author.    

In 2010, Chelsea partnered with Live Nation and Belvedere Vodka for the "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang" comedy tour.  She performed 79 shows in 53 markets across the United States and in Canada and sold over 250,000 tickets total to become one of the highest grossing of 2010. Her second Live Nation tour later that year, "Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me", was equally successful with sold out shows in the top 20 US markets.

Handler, who grew up in New Jersey, currently resides in Los Angeles.

Chuy Bravo

Now famous as the personal assistant of basic–cable TV host Chelsea Handler, Chuy Bravo's path to Hollywood stardom was long and arduous mainly because he has little nugget legs, so it takes him twice as long to get anywhere.

Born Jesus Melgoza, Chuy's first exposure to Hollywood was as a young man, when the production of The Three Amigos rolled into his tiny Mexican village, which led to a temporary job arranging nightly hookers for the production crew.

Bitten by the Hollywood bug and a poisonous tarantula, but that's another story Chuy was determined to make it to Los Angeles and pursue his dreams of big–screen stardom. He has now, more appropriately, settled for the small screen.

Armed with nothing more than a condom full of cocaine that a local drug lord paid him to swallow and smuggle, Chuy hopped aboard a little horsey and proceeded on an eight-month trail ride to the United States.

After years of odd jobs that most notably included stints as the stunt double for Fantasy Island star Hervé Villechaize and The Hulk's Lou Ferrigno, Chuy has settled into what he hopes is a lifelong position as the assistant to one of cable TV's fastest-rising stars. In his spare time, Chuy moonlights as an actor and can be seen in The Rundown, starring The Rock, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.And he can now add author to his list of desirable traits. Order Chuy's very first book, Little Nuggets of Wisdom: Big Advice from the Small Star of Chelsea Lately at Amazon.com.

Chuy is single. He has no children (that he publicly acknowledges), lives in the prestigious San Fernando Valley and drives a Toyota Corolla. Watch out, ladies!

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