Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), professionally known asJamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, rapper, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Rayearned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a musical/comedy. He is also aGrammy Award winning musician, producing three albums which have charted highly on the Billboard 200: Unpredictable, which topped the chart, Best Night of My Life and Intuition.

 

Born in Terrell, Texas, Foxx was raised by his mother's adoptive parents. He performed in high school and was awarded a scholarship toUnited States International University. In his twenties, Foxx began performing stand-up at comedy clubs and eventually joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991; this exposure helped him land film roles and star in his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show. He released his debut album,Peep This, in 1994, but did not gain significant musical success until 2004, when he was featured in the song "Slow Jamz" by Twista and Kanye West. Also in 2004, Foxx played critically acclaimed roles in the filmsCollateral and Ray. He released his second album, Unpredictable, in 2005, which was helped by his collaboration on Kanye West's number-one single "Gold Digger". His third album Intuition was released in 2008 and was anchored by the single "Blame It". Foxx released his fourth studio album, Best Night of My Life, in 2010.

 

Life and career

Early life

Foxx was born Eric Morlon Bishop in Terrell, Texas.[2] He is 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 toIslam.[3][4] Shortly after his birth, Foxx was adopted and raised by his mother's adoptive parents, Esther Marie (Nelson), a domestic worker and nursery operator, and Mark Talley, a yard worker.[5][6][7] He has had little contact with his birth parents, who were not part of his upbringing.[3] Foxx was raised in the black quarter of Terrell, at the time a racially segregated community.[8] He had a strict Baptist upbringing.[6][9] As a teenager, he was a part-time pianist and choir leader in Terrell's New Hope Baptist Church.[3] He has frequently cited his adoptive grandmother's influence on his life.[6][10]

 

Foxx attended Terrell High School, where he received top grades, played basketball and football as quarterback, and had an ambition to play for the Dallas Cowboys. He was the first player in the school's history to pass for more than 1,000 yards.[3][11] He also sang in a band called Leather and Lace.[3] After completing high school, Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University, where he studied classical music andcomposition.[3][12] He has often acknowledged his grandmother's influence in his life as one of the greatest reasons for his success.[6][13]

 

1989-94: Stand-up career, acting debut, Peep This and legal issue

After accepting a girlfriend's dare, Foxx told jokes at a comedy club's open mic night in 1989. When he found that comediennes were often called first to perform, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx, feeling that it was an ambiguous enough name to disallow any biases.[1][3] He chose his surname as a tribute to comedian Redd Foxx.[1]In addition, his recurrent In Living Color character LaWanda shared names with Redd's friend and co-worker,LaWanda Page.

 

Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991 and subsequently played a recurring role in the comedy-drama sitcom Roc.[14] From 1996 to 2001, Foxx starred in his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, and made his film debut in the 1992 comedy Toys. His first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, wherein he portrayed a hard-partying American football player.[6] He was cast in the role, in part, because of his background as a football player.[6] 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 theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[6] In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the Fox record label) entitledPeep This.

 

In April 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. 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 $1,500 fine.[15][16]

 

In 2003, Foxx made a cameo in Benzino's music video for "Would You", which features LisaRaye McCoy and Mario Winans.

 

2004-06: Ray, Collateral, and Unpredictable

 

Foxx and Kanye West performing "Gold Digger"

 

His music career shifted into a higher gear when, in 2004, he was featured onrapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", which also featured Kanye West. The song reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, as well as #3 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 Hot 100, and remained there for 10 weeks. In 2005, Foxx was featured on the single "Georgia" by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob. The song sampled Ray Charles' hit "Georgia on My Mind." He also had a beginning verse on Kanye's "Gold Digger."

 

His standout performance, however, was his portrayal of Ray Charles in thebiopic Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor[6] and theBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Foxx is the second male 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.[17]

 

Foxx released his second studio album, Unpredictable, in December 2005. It debuted at #2, selling 598,000 copies in its first week.[18] The following week, the album rose to #1, selling an additional 200,000 copies.[19]To date, the album has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, and was certified double Platinum by theRIAA.[20][21] The album also charted on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at #9.[22] Foxx became the fourth artist to have won an Academy Award® for an acting role and to have achieved a #1 album in the U.S. (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 in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and also made the UK Top 20 singles chart. The second U.S. 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 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Foxx won Best Duet/Collaboration with Kanye West for "Gold Digger" and tied with Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" for Video of the Year. On December 8, 2006, Foxx received four Grammy Award® nominations, which included Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals forLove Changes featuring Mary J. Blige, Best R&B Album for Unpredictable, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Groupfor Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictablefeaturing Ludacris.

 

2006-2009: Dreamgirls, The Soloist, Intuition and Miley Cyrus incident!

 

Foxx's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

 

Following these successes, Foxx appeared in Jarhead, Miami Vice, andDreamgirls, which were box-office hits, and lifted his profile even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood. 2007 brought him the lead role in the film The Kingdom opposite Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, 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."[23]

 

On January 22, 2007, Foxx was on Sirius Satellite Radio, announcing his new channel The Foxxhole. The channel features talk-radio programs, stand-up comedy albums, and music primarily by African-American performers, and features much of Foxx's own material as well. The Jamie Foxx Show, Foxx's own talk-radio variety program, airs Friday evenings on The Foxxhole, and features Johnny Mack, Speedy, The Poetess, Lewis Dix, and T.D.P., as his co-hosts. Guests include popular musicians, actors, and fellow comedians. He recorded a song with country superstars Rascal Flatts entitled "She Goes All the Way" for their album, Still Feels Good. Foxx also performed background vocals for artist/songwriter Tank. He andThe-Dream are featured on Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands." He also appeared on the remix of Ne-Yo's "Miss Independent" entitled "She Got Her Own." The track also features Fabolous. Foxx then collaborated with rapperThe Game on the track "Around The World." In April 2009, Foxx played the lead role in the dramatic film The Soloist. A few months later in October 2009, He played a starring role along side Gerard Butler in the thrillerLaw Abiding Citizen. In April 2011, Foxx voiced Nico, a canary in the movie Rio.

 

Foxx released his third album titled Intuition in 2008, featuring such artists as Kanye West, T.I., Ne-Yo, andT-Pain. The album's first single, "Just Like Me" featuring T.I., was promoted by a video directed by Brett Ratner and featuring an appearance by Taraji P. Henson. The second single "Blame It" featured T-Pain and became a top 5 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and a number-one single on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The "Blame It" music video, directed by Hype Williams, features cameo appearances by Forest Whitaker, Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Howard, Quincy Jones, and Jake Gyllenhaal, among others. Foxx was also featured on T.I.'s single "Live in the Sky" from the album King. On April 6, 2009 Foxx performed the George Strait song "You Look So Good in Love" at the George Strait Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert. Foxx has been a fan of country music for many years. Jamie Foxx hosted the 2009 BET Awards ceremony on June 28, 2009, which featured several tributes to pop star Michael Jackson, who had died three days prior to the show. Aside from performing "Blame It" with T-Pain and "She Got Her Own" with Ne-Yo and Fabolous, Foxx opened the show with a rendition of Jackson's "Beat It" dance routine and closed the show with a cover of The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" with Ne-Yo. Foxx stated during the ceremony, "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else."

 

On the April 17, 2009 episode of The Jamie Foxx Show on Foxxhole Radio, Foxx and his co-hosts made several sexually suggestive and disparaging jokes regarding teenaged singer Miley Cyrus, in response to a caller's comment on a recent altercation between Cyrus and rock band Radiohead.[24] Foxx issued a public apology on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno several days later in response to growing public outcry as well as televised criticism by Cyrus's father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus.[25]

 

2010-present: Django Unchained and Best Night of My Life

In 2011, Foxx was officially cast in the title role of, Django Unchained. It will be written and directed byQuentin Tarantino, and he will star alongside his Ray co-star Kerry Washington, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson. As a producer, Foxx played a role in In the Flow with Affion Crockett on Foxin summer 2011.[26]

 

Foxx released his fourth album, Best Night of My Life, on December 21, 2010.[27] The first single is "Winner", featuring Justin Timberlake and T.I..[28] The second single is "Living Better Now" featuring rapper Rick Rossand the third single is "Fall for Your Type" featuring rapper Drake.[27] On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Foxx (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release his future material on the RCA Recordsbrand.[29][30] In 2011, Jamie Foxx was featured in the rapper Pitbull's album 'Planet Pit' in the song "Where Do We Go".

 

Personal life

This section requiresexpansion. (March 2009)

Foxx has a daughter, Corinne Bishop, who was born in 1994.[3] Former Jamie Foxx Show co-star Garcelle Beauvaismade a public announcement stating that Foxx has a second child.[31] Foxx was spotted with the baby in Miami on New Year's Eve 2010, and it was revealed to be a girl.[32]

 

Foxx performed a public service announcement for Do Something to promote food drives in local communities.[33]

 

Jamie Foxx began playing the piano when he was five years old.

 

Discography

 Peep This (1994)

 Unpredictable (2005)

 Intuition (2008)

 Best Night of My Life (2010)

 

Hosted Mixtapes

 Young Buck - Chronic 2006

 

Tours

 The Unpredictable Tour (2006)

 The Blame It Tour (2009)