Jamie Foxx biography
Jamie Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop; December 13, 1967) is an Academy Award winning United States actor, singer, musician and stand-up comedian. Foxx is possibly best known for his portrayal of musician Ray Charles in
Ray (film). 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. Marie (married and maiden names Nelson), a domestic worker and nursery operator, and Mark Talley, a yard worker. He has frequently cited his adoptive grandmother's influence on his life.
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 American football (quarterback) at Terrell High School, and had an ambition to play for the Dallas Cowboys.
He has a daughter named Corrine who was born in 1995.
Career
Foxx started his stand up career in San Diego while attending USIU. Fellow comedian Dante (comedian), drove him to his first show at the La Jolla Comedy Store. 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. His last name was chosen as a tribute to Redd Foxx.
In Living Color
Foxx joined the cast of
In Living Color in 1991.
Following this success, Foxx appeared in three more movies:
Jarhead (film),
Miami Vice (film), and
Dreamgirls (film) 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 (film), opposite Chris Cooper (actor), 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."
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
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 RIAA Certification. 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 (band). 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:
- Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for
Love Changes feat Mary J. Blige.
- Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for
Unpredictable.
- Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for
Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob feat Jamie Foxx.
- Grammy Award for 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 Identity document upon entry. Originally charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace, battery (crime) on police officers and resisting arrest, Foxx pleaded Nolo contendere 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.
Jamie Foxx in the news
Jamie Foxx's The Soloist Pushed Back Again to April 24th - ...
Urban NetworkJamie Foxx's The Soloist Pushed Back Again to April 24thUrban Network, CA - 7 hours agoUsually it isn't a good sign when a film's release date keeps getting changed, but there has been so much positive hype about Jamie Foxx's performance in ...JAMIE FOXX'S 'SOLOIST' NOW DUE IN APRIL: Release date pushed back ... Eurweb.comall 2 news articles
read moreJamie Foxx Wants to be First Black Bond - Hollyscoop
LIVENEWS.com.auJamie Foxx Wants to be First Black BondHollyscoop, CA - 13 hours agoAfter Barack Obama became the first black president, the current Bond Daniel Craig suggested that they celebrate by having the next Bond be African American ...JAMIE FOXX - FOXX DREAMS OF PLAYING FIRST BLACK BOND Contactmusic.comJamie Foxx's Bond dream PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung)all 23 news articles
read moreCover Art of Jamie Foxx's 'Intuition' - Ace...
AceShowbizCover Art of Jamie Foxx's 'Intuition'AceShowbiz - 1 hour agoJamie Foxx dons a black leather jacket on the cover art of his forthcoming third studio album 'Intuition'. An official cover art for Jamie Foxx's third ...
read moreAlbum Cover: Jamie Foxx - ‘Intuition’ - Rap-Up.com
Rap-Up.comAlbum Cover: Jamie Foxx - ‘Intuition’Rap-Up.com, CA - 8 hours agoCheck out the official cover for Jamie Foxx’s new album Intuition, available December 16th. The album includes The-Dream and Tricky Stewart-helmed first ...
read moreJamie Foxx would like to be the first black 007 - MSNBC
Jamie Foxx would like to be the first black 007MSNBC - Nov 19, 2008A little hip-hop, you know,’ says the actor Chris Pizzello / AP Jamie Foxx (pictured with his daughter Corinne) knows how to wear a suit, which gives him a ...
read moreDowney x 2: Roberts, Jr. and Sr., Dominate Thursday Screenings - NB...
Downey x 2: Roberts, Jr. and Sr., Dominate Thursday ScreeningsNBC Los Angeles, CA - Nov 20, 2008Robert Downey Jr. is a columnist who befriends a down-on-his-luck violinist played by Jamie Foxx. Joe Wright -- he directed the luscious "Pride and ...
read more'Tyra Banks Show' Moves Its Fierce Self to The CW -...
Zap2it.com'Tyra Banks Show' Moves Its Fierce Self to The CWZap2it.com - 10 hours agoand "The Jamie Foxx Show." "Tyra" has been airing in syndication for four seasons. So this means that there will be triple the Tyra, adding the double-shot ...
read moreFoxx: 'I want to play James Bond' - Digital Spy
Foxx: 'I want to play James Bond'Digital Spy, UK - Nov 20, 2008By Simon Reynolds, Entertainment Reporter Jamie Foxx has said that he wants to be the first black man to portray James Bond. The Oscar winner told Access ...
read more'Tyra Banks Show' moving to the CW - Hollywood Repo...
Variety'Tyra Banks Show' moving to the CWHollywood Reporter, United States - 12 hours agoand "The Jamie Foxx Show." "We think moving 'Tyra' to network affiliates who have enjoyed such tremendous success with 'Top Model' creates a great ..."THE TYRA BANKS SHOW" COMES TO THE CW The Futon Criticall 4 news articles
read moreFoxx Really Bites Into His Latest Role - CareFair.com
Foxx Really Bites Into His Latest RoleCareFair.com, Switzerland - Nov 18, 2008It seems the commitment of Jamie Foxx to his craft is without question. First he donned prosthetic eyelids and shed over 30 pounds to play the legendary Ray ...
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