Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop on December 13, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, Grammy-nominated R&B singer, pianist, and comedian. He won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Ray, a biopic about the life of the late musician Ray Charles.
Jamie Foxx | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Eric Marlon Bishop |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
Personal
Foxx was born in Terrell, Texas to Shaheed Abdulah and Louise Annette Dixon, who divorced shortly after he was born. He has two half-sisters: Deidra and Diondra Dixon; Diondra has Down Syndrome. At a young age, he was adopted by his grandparents Mark Talley and Estelle Marie Nelson. Foxx's early life in a Bible Belt town was peppered with difficulty. Foxx says his grandparents kept him in line with belts, switches, and sarcasm. However, he was a Boy Scout, sang in the church choir, and was the quarterback on his high school football team.
He came to Los Angeles in the late 1980s to start a music career. He released an album in 1994, called Peep This and later sang the theme for Any Given Sunday. Even as he pursued a music career, Foxx did stand-up at comedy clubs, mostly on open-mic nights. On his name: "I wrote down all these unisex names at this comedy place because they would always choose the girls to go up... So I wrote down Stacy King, Tracy Brown, Jamie Foxx... And they picked Jamie Foxx. I got up, had a great night and that's how the name stuck." In California, he won the 1991 Oakland Comedy Competition and then joined the cast of In Living Color, which at the time starred Keenen Ivory Wayans.
In 1995, his daughter Corrine Marie Bishop was born. Corrine was Foxx's date to the 2005 Academy Awards.
His first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, where Foxx played a heavy-partying football player. Considering his athletic background, it wasn't much of a stretch. He has since evolved into a respected dramatic actor. Following Any Given Sunday, Foxx was featured as taxi driver Max Durocher in the film Collateral alongside Tom Cruise, for which he received outstanding reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His real standout performance, however, was his portrayal of the late Ray Charles in the biopic Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Lead Actor.
In Living Color
Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991. Here he won over viewers with many unusual characters and impressions, which included ugly girl Wanda, fictitious boxer, Carl "The Tooth" Williams, and The Dirty Dozens champion T-Dog Jenkins. His impersonation of Garrett Morris would eventually find him starring against the former Saturday Night Live cast member in his sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show.
Characters
- Ace
- Carl "The Tooth" Williams
- Cornbread Turner (Duke)
- T-Dog Jenkins (The Dirty Dozens)
- Tyrone (The Dysfunctional Home Show)
- Wanda
Impressions
- Arsenio Hall
- Bill Cosby
- Don King
- Eddie Murphy
- Garrett Morris
- Jaleel White
- JoJo
- Lionel Richie
- Stevie Wonder
- Louis Farrakhan
- Martin Lawrence
- Prince
- Sean "Diddy" Combs (when he hosted Saturday Night Live)
- Sir Mix-A-Lot
- Snoop Dogg
- Tito Jackson
- Tony Blair (in an episode of Chappelle's Show)
Music career
Jamie Foxx |
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Jamie Foxx is a singer and accomplished musician. He started playing piano at a young age, and later took classical piano lessons while attending college. In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the FOX record label) entitled Peep This, which was unsuccessful. In 2001, he hosted the MTV Video Music Awards.
His music career went into a higher gear when, in 2004, he was featured on rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", which also featured Kanye West. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, as well as number three on the UK singles chart. Foxx's second collaboration with Kanye West, "Gold Digger", in which he sang the "I Got a Woman" Ray Charles-influenced hook, went straight to #1 on the Billboard Top 100, and remained there for 10 weeks straight. In 2005, Foxx was featured on the hit single "Georgia" by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob. The song sampled Ray Charles' hit "Georgia on My Mind".
Unpredictable is Jamie Foxx's second studio release. It sold over 598,000 copies in its first week but reached the U.S. #1 spot in its 2nd week.
After debuting in the first week at No. 2, Unpredictable rose to the top of the Billboard pop album chart, with 2nd-week sales of 200,000 copies in the United States. The album also charted in the UK top 10 album chart, peaking at No. 9. It has since been certified silver.
Foxx became the fourth artist to have won an Academy Award for acting (for his portrayal of Charles in Ray) and achieved a No. 1 album in the US. (The other three to accomplish this feat were Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Barbra Streisand.) Foxx's first single from the album, the title track, "Unpredictable" (featuring Ludacris) samples "WildFlower" by New Birth. The song peaked inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and also made the UK top 20 singles chart. The second US single from the album was "DJ Play A Love Song", which reunited Foxx with Twista. In the UK, however, the second single was "Extravaganza", which saw Foxx once again collaborate with Kanye West. He was not, however, featured in the song's music video.
At the 2006 BET Awards , Foxx won two awards: Best Duet/ Collaboration w/ Kanye West for "Gold Digger" and Video of the Year for the same video. Kanye's video tied with Mary J. Blige's (Be Without You) for Video of the year.
On 8 Dec 06, Foxx received a 3 Grammy nominations:
- Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Love Changes feat Mary J. Blige.
- Best R&B Album for Unpredictable.
- Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob feat Jamie Foxx.
Trivia
This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- No relation to Redd Foxx whose real name was John Sanford. However, Jamie used the last name Foxx as a tribute to Sanford.
- His selection for the title role in Ray was personally approved by Ray Charles himself. Charles had helped train Foxx in understanding his process at the piano.
- Hosted Saturday Night Live's first episode of the year 2000 (January 8, 2000). The musical guest was pop-punk band Blink-182.
- While hosting SNL, Foxx impersonated Martin Luther King, Jr., Stevie Wonder (on a Weekend Update segment about Stevie Wonder's surgery to correct his vision and realizing how ugly everything is when he finally can see), and Puff Daddy.
- He had a very minor role as a soldier in Eddie Murphy's 1988 comedy motion picture, Coming to America.
- He claims in a comedic way that he was the person who covered Janet Jackson's breast in a semi-nude photoshoot including his own nude photo with his genitalia covered by "Michael Jackson's" hand. The photos he presented in MTV Icon are obviously digitally edited. The special does not repeat anymore due to the Jackson trial.
- Cousin of Michael Bishop, a quarterback in the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League with the Chicago Rush and the Toronto Argonauts respectively. Bishop was also a former quarterback with the New England Patriots, and was runner-up in the 1998 Heisman Trophy balloting when he played for the Kansas State Wildcats.
- Jamie Foxx is listed as an alumnus of Alliant International University
- In April of 2003 Foxx was involved in an incident with two police officers who were attempting to escort him and his sister out of Harrah's casino in New Orleans. Employees claimed they had failed to show identification upon entry. [1] Originally charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace, battery on police officers and resisting arrest, Foxx pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in exchange for the other charges being dropped, and was sentenced to community service.
- In the Kid N' Play movie House Party 3 Foxx plays one of the members of Ras Posse
- He is the first person to have been nominated for three acting awards at the Golden Globes in the same year.
- It is rumored he might be a playable character in the upcoming Def Jam: Icon.
- Foxx's name has recently been connected to the Harvey Dent role in the sequel to Batman Begins
Filmography
- Coming To America (1988) (extra, name not listed in credits)
- Toys (1992)
- Straight from the Foxxhole (1993)
- The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996)
- The Great White Hype (1996)
- Booty Call (1997)
- Held Up (1999)
- Any Given Sunday (1999)
- All Jokes Aside (2000) (documentary)
- Bait (2000)
- Ali (2001)
- I Might Need Security (2002)
- Shade (2003)
- Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (2004)
- Breakin' All the Rules (2004)
- Collateral (2004) – ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION FOR BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
- Ray (2004) – ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
- Stealth (2005)
- Jarhead (2005)
- Miami Vice (2006)
- Dreamgirls (2006)
Upcoming:
Template:S-awardsDiscography
Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
 |
Peep This |
 |
Unpredictable
|
Singles
Solo Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US R&B/Hip-Hop | UK Singles Chart | ||
| 1994 | "Infatuation" |
#92 | #36 | - |
| 1994 | "Experiment" |
- | #88 | - |
| 2006 | "Unpredictable" (featuring Ludacris) |
#8 | #2 | #16 |
| 2006 | "Extravaganza" (featuring Kanye West) |
- | #52 | #43 |
| 2005 | "DJ Play A Love Song" (featuring Twista) |
#45 | #5 | - |
| 2006 | "Can I Take U Home" |
- | #48 | - |
Collaborations
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US R&B/Hip-Hop | UK Singles Chart | ||
| 2004 | "Slow Jamz" (Twista featuring Jamie Foxx & Kanye West) |
#1 [1 Week] |
#1 | #3 |
| 2005 | "Gold Digger" (Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx) |
#1 [10 Weeks] |
#1 [8 Weeks] |
#2 |
| 2005 | "Georgia" (Ludacris featuring Jamie Foxx & Field Mob) |
#39 | #31 | — |
| 2006 | "Live In The Sky" (T.I. featuring Jamie Foxx) |
— | #76 | — |
Guest Vocals
Album appearances
- 1998: Adina Howard, "T-Shirt And My Panties On" (from the album Woo: Music From The Motion Picture)
- 2002: Busta Rhymes, "Pass the Courvoursier" (from the album Genesis)
- 2003: MC Lyte, "Where Home Is" (from the album Da Undaground Heat, Vol. 1)
- 2004: Twista, "Slow Jamz" (from the album Kamikaze)
- 2005: 50 Cent, "Build You Up" (from the album The Massacre)
- 2005: Kanye West, "Gold Digger" (from the album Late Registration)
- 2005: Twista, "When I Get You Home" (from the album The Day After)
- 2005: DTP, "Georgia" (from the album Disturbing Tha Peace)
- 2005: Loon, "No I Aint Gangsta (from the album Loon)
- 2006: T.I., "Live In The Sky" (from the album King)
- 2006: LL Cool J, "Best Dress" (from the album Todd Smith)
- 2006: Diddy, "Partners For Life" (from the album Press Play)
- 2006: The Game, "Around The World" (from the album Doctor's Advocate)
- 2006: Snoop Dogg, "Psst!!" (from the album The Blue Carpet Treatment}
Compilation appearances
- 2005: "Creepin'" (from So Amazing)
External Links
