Marzán was born in Vega Baja, a coastal town in north central Puerto Rico, just west of San Juan. He grew up working in sugar cane fields, did not attend school past first grade, and later gained carpentry skills as a teenager through building wooden frames for suitcases.
After retiring from toy-making at the age of sixty-five, he created a large variety of sculptures from everyday, common objects. His objects often portray either animals or American patriotic figures, such as many diverse renditions of the Statue of Liberty. He eventually moved to a nearby brownstone on East 111th street where he lived alone, and ultimately moved into a studio apartment in the George Washington Carver Houses public housing projects in East Harlem, Manhattan, and found work through the Works Projects Administration at Novelty Toys, a New York toy manufacturer where he stuffed dolls and created toy animals up until he retired in 1971.
In his free time, he also created small art novelties and boxes.
