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Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx promoting Stealth, July 2005
Born	Eric Marlon Bishop December 13, 1967 (1967-12-13) (age 40) Terrell, Texas
Awards won Academy Awards Best Actor 2004 Ray BAFTA Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role 2004 Ray Golden Globe Awards Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 2005 Ray NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series 1998 The Jamie Foxx Show Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture 2002 Ali Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special 2005 Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture 2005 Ray Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Actor - Motion Picture 2004 Ray

Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop; December 13, 1967) is an Academy Award winning American actor, singer, musician and stand-up comedian. Foxx is possibly best known for his portrayal of musician Ray Charles in Ray. With Ray, he became one of the few African Americans to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Foxx received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 14, 2007.

Early life

Foxx was born in Terrell, Texas, the son of Louise Annette Talley Dixon and Darrell Bishop, who sometimes worked as a stockbroker and changed his name to Shahid Abdula after converting to Islam.^[1][2] Shortly after his birth, Foxx was adopted and raised by his mother's adoptive parents, Esther^[3] Marie (née Nelson), a domestic worker and nursery operator, and Mark Talley, a yard worker.^[2][4][3] He has had little contact with his birth parents, who were not part of his upbringing.^[1] Foxx was raised in the black quarter of Terrell, Texas, at the time a racially segregated community^[1] (In The Kingdom, Foxx makes reference to Terrell). He had a strict Baptist upbringing.^[4][5] He has frequently cited his adoptive grandmother's influence on his life.^[4][6]

At his grandmother's urging, Foxx began piano lessons at the age of five. He went on to play for church groups in Terrell, and studied classical music in college. He also played football (quarterback) at Terrell High School, and had an ambition to play for the Dallas Cowboys.^[7] He has a daughter named Corrine who was born in 1995.

Career

Jamie Foxx's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Foxx changed his name while doing stand up comedy , when he found out that female comedians were often called first to perform. He felt Jamie Foxx was an ambiguous enough name to disallow any biases.^[8] His last name was chosen as a tribute to Redd Foxx.

In Living Color

Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991.^[4] 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. During this time Jamie also had a small recurring role on the live episodes of the TV series Roc, 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.

Acting career

Foxx's first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, where he played a heavy-partying football player.^[4] He was cast in the role in part because of his background as a football player.^[4] Foxx 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.^[4] His standout performance, however, was his portrayal of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.^[4]

Foxx is the second male, and the first African American, in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies, Collateral and Ray. The only other male actor to achieve this was Al Pacino. In 2005, Foxx was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[9]

Following this success, Foxx appeared in three more movies: Jarhead, Miami Vice, and Dreamgirls which were hits at the box office and lifted Foxx even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood. 2007 brought him the lead role in the film The Kingdom, opposite Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Ashraf Barhom.

In September 2007, Foxx was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He said, upon receiving the honor, "[it was] one of the most amazing days of my life."^[10]

Music career

Foxx began piano lessons at age three, and later took classical piano lessons while attending college. In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the FOX record label) entitled Peep This. 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 Kanye West's song, "Slow Jamz", which also featured Twista. 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. 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. number one spot in its 2nd week.

Debuting at number two, 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 number nine. It has since been certified Platinum. Foxx became the fourth artist to have won an Academy Award for acting and to have achieved a number-one record 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 with 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 December 8, 2006, Foxx received a 4 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.
• Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictable feat Ludacris.

On January 22, 2007, Foxx was on Sirius Satellite Radio, announcing his new "Foxxhole" channel. This channel now features comedy and music by Jamie but also music and comedy by those Jamie respects most.

Foxx recorded a song with country superstars Rascal Flatts entitled "She Goes All The Way" for their album, "Still Feels Good".

Foxx also does background vocals for artist/songwriter Tank. He and The-Dream are featured on Plies' (rapper) "Please Excuse My Hands"

He is to feature in a remix version of "Miss Independent" by Ne-Yo from his third album, Year of the Gentleman.

Jamie Foxx collaborated with rapper The Game on the song "Around The World".

Legal issues

In April of 2003 Foxx 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. 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 a six month suspended jail term with two years probation and a $1500 fine.^[11][12]

Filmography

• • 2009, Shaft

Film awards

• Academy Awards
  • 2005, Best Actor: Ray
  • 2005, Best Supporting Actor: Collateral (nominated)

• BAFTA Awards
  • 2005, Best Actor: Ray
  • 2005, Best Supporting Actor: Collateral (nominated)

• BET Awards
  • 2007, Best Actor: Dreamgirls (nominated)
  • 2006, Best Actor: (nominated)
  • 2005, Best Actor: Ray

• Black Movie Awards
  • 2006, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Jarhead (nominated)

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2007, Best Actor: Dreamgirls (nominated)
  • 2005, Best Actor (Drama): Ray
  • 2005, Best Actor (Network/Cable): Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
  • 2005, Best Supporting Actor: Collateral
  • 2005, Best Actor (Musical/Comedy): Breaking All the Rulez (nominated)
  • 2002, Best Supporting Actor: Ali
  • 2000, Best Supporting Actor: Any Given Sunday (nominated)

• Boston Society of Film Critics
  • 2004, Best Actor: Ray

• Broadcast Film Critics
  • 2005, Best Actor: Ray
  • 2005, Best Supporting Actor: Collateral (nominated)

• Florida Film Critics
  • 2004, Best Actor: Ray

• Golden Globes
  • 2005, Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy: Ray
  • 2005, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Collateral (nominated)
  • 2005, Best Actor in a Television/Mini-Series: Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (nominated)

• Image Awards
  • 2007, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Dreamgirls (nominated)
  • 2006, Outstanding Male Artist
  • 2005, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Ray
  • 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Collateral (nominated)
  • 2005, Outstanding Actor in a Mini-Series/Television Movie: Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
  • 2002, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Ali
  • 2001, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show (nominated)
  • 2000, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show (nominated)
  • 1999, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show (nominated)
  • 1998, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show

• Independent Spirit Awards
  • 2005, Best Male Lead: Redemption: The Stan Tookie Wiliams Story (nominated)

• Kansas City Film Critics
  • 2005, Best Actor: Ray

• MTV Movie Awards
  • 2005, Best Male Performance: Ray (nominated)
  • 2005, Best Breakthrough Male Performance: Any Given Sunday (nominated)

• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • 2005, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Ray
  • 2005, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (nominated)
  • 2005, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Collateral (nominated)

Music awards

• American Music Awards
  • 2006, Favorite R&B/Soul Male Artist
  • 2006, Favorite R&B/Soul Album: "Unpredictable" (nominated)

• BET Awards
  • 2006, Best Collaboration ("Unpredictable") with Jamie Foxx [Nominated]

• Grammy Awards
  • 2007, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Unpredictable") with Ludacris [Nominated]
  • 2007, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Georgia") with Ludacris & Field Mob [Nominated]

• MOBO Awards
  • 2006, Best R&B Act (nominated)

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2006, Best Hip-Hop Video: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2006, Best Ringtone: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2006, Best R&B Video: "Unpredictable" featuring Ludacris (nominated)
  • 2004, MTV2 Award: "Slow Jams" with Twista & Kanye West (nominated)

• Soul Train Awards
  • 2007, Best R&B/Soul Album, Male: Unpredictable
  • 2006, Best Music Video: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West
  • 2006, Best R&B/Soul Dance Cut: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)

• Vibe Awards
  • 2005, Best Collabo: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2004, Best Collabo: "Slow Jams" with Twista & Kanye West (nominated)

Discography

Main article: Jamie Foxx discography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Jamie Foxx

• Official Site
• Official UK Site
• Jamie Foxx at the Internet Movie Database
• Jamie Foxx at MySpace
• Jamie Foxx - biography, filmography and awards