Carlos Mencia

Carlos Mencia
Carlos Mencia in concert in 2009.
Born	Ned Arnel Mencía (1967-10-22) October 22, 1967 (age 49) San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Other names	Carlos Mencia, Ned Holness
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer
Years active	1990–present

Ned Arnel Mencia (born October 22, 1967), known professionally as Carlos Mencia (and previously Ned Holness) is a Honduran-born American comedian, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race, culture, criminal justice, and social class. He is best known as the host of the Comedy Central show Mind of Mencia which produced four seasons before being cancelled in 2008.

Mencía was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the seventeenth of eighteen children. His mother, Magdelena Mencía, was Mexican, and his father, Roberto Holness, was Honduran. At the time of his birth, Mencía's mother was engaged in a domestic dispute with his father, and declined to give her son his biological father's last name. The name appearing on his birth certificate is "Ned Arnel Mencía," although Mencia has said that out of respect for his biological father, he went by the Holness name anyway, and was known as "Ned Holness" until he was eighteen years old.

Mencia was raised Roman Catholic in East Los Angeles, California, by his aunt Consuelo and uncle Pablo Mencia. By his own admission, staying out of trouble was difficult while growing up, but with the help of his family, he excelled in school and stayed out of gangs. He attended Garfield High School in Los Angeles County. Mencia dealt drugs when he was 19 years old and burglarized a house. He majored in electrical engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, but left early to pursue a career in comedy after a successful performance at an open mic night at The Laugh Factory. He has an older brother named Joseph Mencia who often appeared on Mind of Mencia.