Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop on December 13, 1967 in Terrell, Texas) is an American actor and musician.
Foxx acted in a variety of comedic TV series before moving on to movies. He was a part of the original lineup of In Living Color, with Jim Carrey and the Wayans brothers. Foxx was also the star of a sitcom, titled The Jamie Foxx Show
Foxx's first prominent dramatic role was that of a star quarterback in the 1999 Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday. In the following years he worked on several other movies, and in 2004 he received critical acclaim for his work opposite Tom Cruise in the action movie Collateral. Also that year Foxx starred in a biographical movie of the famous deceased singer Ray Charles, titled simply Ray.
In recognition of his work in 2004, Foxx received an unprecedented three Golden Globe Award nominations in acting categories. He was nominated for his lead role in Ray, his supporting role in Collateral and for his portrayal of death row inmate and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley Williams in the television movie Redemption .
Recognition of Foxx's work continued to the Academy Awards where his performance in Ray earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. This made him only the third African American male actor to do so after Sidney Poitier and Denzel Washington. He also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral, making him only the tenth person to have been nominated for both acting categories in the same year.
Foxx is also a singer. In 2004 he was featured on the rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", also featuring Kanye West. The song reached No. 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, as well as No. 3 on the UK singles chart. Foxx had previously released an album in 1994 on the Fox record label entitled Peep This , and had hosted the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards .
Foxx's public persona as of 2005 is one of a spiritually-centered Christian with strong family ties, particularly to his grandmother whom he has accredited with supporting him on his road to success. However this persona directly conflicts with behaviour by Foxx prior to his movement into mainstream success after the success of "Ray." In particular he was known for his involvement in the "thug" subculture; in April of 2003 Foxx pleaded not guilty to charges that he assaulted police officers who were attempting to escort he and his sister out of Harrah's Casino in New Orleans. Casino employees claimed that the two refused to show identification upon entry into the casino. [1]
Jamie Foxx has contributed vocals to 50 Cent's The Massacre album and is scheduled to record an album on Clive Davis' J Records.
Partial filmography
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