JAMIE FOXX

Date of Birth
13 December 1967, Terrell, Texas, USA

Birth Name
Eric Marlon Bishop

Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography
Jamie's mother, Louise, was an adopted child. When her marriage to his father failed, his grandparents, Mark and Estelle Talley, stepped in and, at age 7 months, adopted him too. He says he had a very rigid upbringing that placed him in the Boy Scouts and the church choir. During high school, he played quarterback for his high school team and was good enough that he got press in Dallas newspapers. He studied music in college. He released a music album in 1994, "Peep This" and sings the theme song for his 1999 movie, Any Given Sunday (1999). However, in 1989, his life changed when a girl friend challenged him to get up onstage at the Comedy Club. In fact, he says he took his androgynous stage name because he learned that women got preference for mike time on open stage nights. That led to his being cast in "Roc" (1991) and "In Living Color" (1990) and ultimately to his own WB network TV series. He has a daughter, Corrine, born in 1995, who lives with her mother.

Trivia
1/8/00: First man of the decade to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Was a football quarterback in high school.

He started as a stand up comedian.

Auditioned for the Cuba Gooding Jr. role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

Had the role of Slim in The Wood (1999), but had to drop out when he got the role of Willie Beamen in Any Given Sunday (1999).

2/04: Pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace involving charges of battery against a New Orleans policeman in a casino last April. He received two years probation and a $1500 fine.

His piano lessons started at the age of three at his grandmother's insistence.

His top five favorite songs are "Do Me, Baby" by Prince, "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye, "Always and Forever" by Heatwave, "It's All About the Benjamins" by Sean Combs and "Lady" by Lionel Richie.

Attended United States International University (now known as Alliant International University) from 1986 to 1988 on a music scholarship.

As a second grader, he was so talented in telling jokes that his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Foxx would tell them jokes.

In Ray (2004/I), he wore prosthetic eyelids which made him virtually blind.

Went to the United States International University in San Diego after graduation on a music scholarship.

Is the first person to have been nominated for three acting awards at the Golden Globes in the same year.

He said that Richard Pryor is his idol in comedy, Denzel Washington is his idol in acting, and that Steve Hardin is his idol in music.

His three Golden Globe nominations were announced on his 37th birthday.

Started out as a stand-up comedian, often doing imitations of former president Ronald Reagan.

On January 25th, 2005, he became one of the elite eleven thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Cate Blanchett, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter and Julianne Moore.

Is only the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies. The first male to do so was Al Pacino.

First African-American to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year.

At the 2005 Grammy Awards, he performed "Georgia on my Mind" with Alicia Keys as a tribute to Ray Charles, whom he portrayed in Ray (2004/I) the previous year and became good friends with him before he passed away.

As of January 25th, 2005, he became the sixth actor nominated for playing a pianist. The first to be nominated (and win) was F. Murray Abraham, who beat out co-star Tom Hulce for the Best Actor Oscar in Amadeus (1984). The second to be nominated was Holly Hunter, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as a mute pianist in The Piano (1993). Geoffrey Rush won the Best Actor Oscar for his work in Shine (1996). In 2002, Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Pianist (2002). Foxx was nominated, and won, for his performance as the legendary musician Ray Charles in the hit biopic Ray (2004/I).

His Oscar win for Ray (2004/I) along with Morgan Freeman's win for Million Dollar Baby (2004), was the second time two African-Americans won Oscars in the same year. The first was in 2002 when Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Training Day (2001) and Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster's Ball (2001).

He and Holly Hunter have both won Oscars for playing pianists - and for playing the piano themselves in their respective roles. In 1993, the same year that Hunter won Best Actress, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm (1993) in which she appeared opposite Tom Cruise. In 2004 Foxx was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004), also opposite Cruise.

Only one of a few actors to win the quadruple award crown during motion picture award season. Foxx won a Golden Globe, the SAG Award, the BAFTA Award and topped it off with the Oscar.

Was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People Magazine in 2005

Is a Miami Heat fan.

Invited to join AMPAS in 2005.

His 10-year-old daughter accompanied him to the Oscars in 2005.

Second actor to win an Academy Award for "Best Actor" and to have had a #1 billboard single ("Gold digger" by Kanye West). The first to do so was Bing Crosby.

To play Ray Charles from the years 1949 to 1979 for the movie Ray (2004/I), he dropped more than 30 pounds, going from 189 to 157.

Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category for his performance in the film Stealth (2005), however, he failed to receive a nomination.

During 2005 he was nominated nine times for both Best Actor in Ray (2004/I) and Best Supporting Actor in Collateral (2004). Eight out of those nine times he won Best Actor for Ray (2004/I) and lost for Best Supporting Actor for "Collateral (2004).

Idolizes R. Kelly and attributes his musical stylings, as well as personal style, to his influence.

His performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004/I) is ranked #31 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

In 2006, a region of his Unpredictable Tour ad campaigns were by filmmaker, Shane Stanley.

Ray (2004/I), which he played the titled role in, is ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006).

Is one of only five performers to have both a Billboard #1 single and an Oscar for acting. The others are Barbra Streisand, Cher, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

His "SSG Sykes" character in Jarhead (2005) ironically took place the same time (during the Gulf War of 1990) as his "In Living Color" (1990) stint.

He often impersonated Ray Charles when he was a cast member on "In Living Color" (1990), satirizing Charles' 1992 Diet Pepsi advertisements.

When he sings "I Got a Woman" for Ray (2004/I), he recites almost the same backup refrain in Kanye West's "Gold Digger".

While performing as a stand-up comedian, changed his last name to Foxx after one of his favorite comics Redd Foxx and changed his first name to Jamie because it could be a girls name as well. In comedy clubs, female comics often perform before the male comics so when a club manager read his name on the list, he would often be moved up on the list of performers.

Named one of People Magazine's "Hottest Bachelors" in 2006.

Won 22 awards for his performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004/I).

Huge fan of Professional Wrestling.

Good friends with his Any Given Sunday (1999) Co-Star and current WWE Superstar Marty Wright.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Is one of 8 actors to have won an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, Critics' Choice Award, and SAG Award for the same performance. The others in chronological order are 'Geoffrey Rush' for Shine (1996), 'Philip Seymour Hoffman' for Capote (2005), Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006), 'Javier Bardem' for No Country for Old Men (2007), Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008), and Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Lives in Hidden Valley, California.

Former roommate of Gary LeVox.


Personal Quotes
[on wearing prosthetic eyelids which made him blind in Ray (2004/I)] After six hours of being blind, you lose the sense of how a person is physically. It was amazing to hear the little buzzing voices all around you.

[2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ray (2004/I)] I guess we got to do it again. "Oh, ah!" Yeah, you're ready. That's for Ray Charles. Give it up for Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy. And thank you, Ray Charles, for living. I got so many people to thank tonight. First I want to start it out with Taylor Hackford. Taylor, you took a chance, man. I mean that love for Ray Charles was deep, down in the earth. It's cracked open. And it's spilling. And everybody's drowning in this love. I thank you for taking a chance on this film. And thank you for waiting 15 years to get me to do it. I want to thank you. I want to thank Crusader. I want to thank my agents. I want to thank Rick Kurtzman. I want to thank Kim Hodges. I want to thank 'Steve Smooke'. I want to thank my managers, Jaime King [Jaime Rucker King] and Marcus King. Let's live this African-American dream. It's beautiful. I'm glad I'm with you. I ain't never leaving you. I'm glad I'm with you. I got a chance to meet a whole lot of people, experiencing this. And other people I want to thank, I want to thank my sister. Four feet, eleven inches of nothing but pure love. I want to thank my daughter for telling me just before I got up here, "If you don't win, dad, you're still good. I'm just ... I see Oprah [Oprah Winfrey] and I see Halle [Halle Berry]. I just want to say your names. I want to talk to you later. Both of you. Because Oprah got -- allowed me to meet somebody by the name of Sidney Poitier. And, yes, Sidney Poitier said, "I saw you once. And I looked in your eyes and there was a connection." And he says, "I give to you responsibility." So, I'm taking that responsibility tonight. And, thank you, Sidney. This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother's name, "Marie." My grandmother's name is Estelle Marie Talley. She's not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense. We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you've been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whipped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whipped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you.

You know what? I never really factor Hollywood into anything. I'm a black actor, so I can't really control what Hollywood thinks. I gotta go do my thing, and my jokes have got to be funny. Whatever I do has got to be great.

CCH Pounder taught me one thing. She said, "Characters are like putting on a coat. You put the coat on while you work, you take the coat off after it's over. You need that freshness. I know people who stay in character, and it's the worst thing in the world. You can't go out. They're still in their character and the character residue is too much. I like to go do it, flip it on like a light switch and then flip it off. Then, when we come back in the next morning I flip it back on. That's what keeps things fresh for me.

I'd like to say I'm R&B's savior. Whether that's the truth or not, I'm definitely going out there with my mic and my shield to declare, "I am here to save R&B." I will have the people saying, "Sire, there is a man at the musical gates saying he is here to save R&B."

(2005) I'm a real person, and I'm angry. I'm trying to use this celebrity thing to get people some help. AIDS, poverty, racism-I want to be one of the hands that helps stop all that. I'll put it on my shoulders. I'll charge it to my account."I don't look around to see what others are doing. No, I see me. And I feel in my own heart that I'm not doing enough. I want to do more.

(On creating the name Jamie Foxx when he first started in showbiz) The way I looked at the whole situation was, if I fail as Jamie Foxx, I'll just change my name and come back as something else.

(2005) When I was growing up in Terrell, Texas, I felt that it was not where I was supposed to be. I knew that I was meant for a different destination. I think that the minute I was born, there was something inside telling me where I would go, it's like energy-an intangible destiny. And if you have someone to help clear your way ahead, it will take you where you're meant to go. (2005)

I come from Tyler, Texas, where the railroad tracks separated us. On one side it was all black. On the other side it was all white. Whenever there were white people on our side of town, either somebody was going to jail or somebody was coming for the insurance. It's a different flow. So when I got to LA, I know it sounds funny, but I was like, 'Man, we free.' It was amazing to me what I had been missing.

(2010, on staying grounded) My homies that are around me never give me that 'star pass.' I've hung out with some stars who are playing basketball and everyone let's them score all the baskets. Shooting pool, they let them make all the shots. My homies don't let me get away with that. Also, I think having that comic gene kind of makes you look at things in a different way. If you take yourself so seriously, eventually you end up one of those people having a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on their lives. You see them drawing the curtains and they don't even realize that they've kind of drifted off somewhere. You have to pay attention to it -- fame and success. When people are saying that you're at the top of the world, it's tough to kind of turn your back on it and say, 'Well, let me look at it in a different way.' Or, you can take advantage of it and really make yourself look bad.

When a project becomes magic and special it means that at certain points in the script it parallels your story.

[on riding a galloping horse in 'Django Unchained'] On the outside I look like Django, but on the inside I was Little Richard. "Oh no, Jesus! Jesus! Jesus, stop this horse!"


Salary
Miami Vice (2006) $10,000,000

Where Are They Now
(October 2007) Attended the premiere of The Kingdom (2007) in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Oct. 1st.

(August 2012) Paris, France