Jamie

I was born Eric Bishop in Terrell, Texas, When my mother had difficulty supporting me when her marriage dissolved early on, but my maternal grandparents stepped in and raised me as their own, and I would later credit my grandmother for the lion's share of my successes in life. A piano student--at my grandmother's insistence--since the age of three, I ultimately attended the United States International University in San Diego on a music scholarship and later studied music at Julliard before embarking on a career in acting and comedy. Then I altered my name into the more feminine-sounding Jamie Foxx in order to get preferential palcement on stand-up open mic stages, began performing in comedy clubs soon after reaching Los Angeles in 1989. Within the next few years, I appeared on stage at The Comedy Store and The Improv, and at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. I won the 1991 Oakland (California) Comedy Competition. That same year, I joined the cast of Fox's variety show "In Living Color" as one of the sketch players, creating Wanda, one of the ugliest women in the world. In 1992, I won my first feature role, a supporting part to Robin Williams, in "Toys". In 1996, I had supporting roles in two features, the uneven comedy "The Great White Hype", as a boxer's manager, and "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" (1996), as Ben Chaplin's friend trying to make sense of the confusion.I have continued to perform comedy on TV. I was a guest on "Paul Rodriguez: Crossing Gang Lines", a 1991 Fox special, and have appeared on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam". In 1993, I starred in the one-man concert special, "Jamie Foxx: Straight From the Foxxhole" (HBO) and three years later was back in my own sitcom, "The Jamie Foxx Show" (The WB, 1996-2001). In the latter, I played an ambitious actor who goes to work for relatives at a somewhat run-down hotel. Although never a ratings smash or even a cult hit, the series allowed Foxx to build an audience and hone my talents, leading to big screen roles, first cast obviously in comedies pitched to urban audiences such as "Booty Call" (1997) opposite Tommy Davidson as two buddies who get in over their heads pursuing women; "The Players Club" (1998), a strip-club comedy from writer-director Ice Cube; and "Held Up" (1999), playing a hapless man caught in an outrageous hostage situation.I first ventured into more dramatic territory when Oliver Stone cast me as a nervous third-string quarterback turned overnight sensation in "Any Given Sunday" (1999), and I equated myself well with an impressive performance. I then balanced action and comedy in the middling thriller "Bait" (2000) from director Antwone Fuqua, playing an ex-con used by federal agents to lure a killer out of hiding before turning in his most complex performance to date when I played Muhammad Ali's troubled ring man Drew 'Bundini' Brown in director Michael Mann's biopic "Ali" (2001).I had a major breakthrough year in 2004: first I starred in the f/x telepic "Redemption: The Stan 'Tookie' Williams Story," giving a widely praised performance as the founder of the L.A. street gang The Crips, a man who went from Death Row to being nominated for a Nobel Peace Price—Then I took an active hand in trying to prevent Williams' execution, was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor; next, the actor was praised for my turn in the otherwise forgettable comedy "Breakin' All the Rules" as a dumped boyfriend-turned-breakup expert author; Then I surprised audiences with my engrossing and sophisticated portrayal of an L.A. cabbie who finds himself at the mercy of a fare who revealed to be a mercenary hit man (Tom Cruise), and the strong performance rocketed me into Hollywood's leading man A-list, earning me nominations for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. I followed up with an extraordinary turn as legendary R&B singer Ray Charles in the big-screen biopic "Ray," an explosive performance that transcended a mere impersonation of the musician and firmly established I as one of the most talented and versatile actors of his generation. The resultant raves culminated in a series of professional accolades and nominations, and I took home the choicest of the three Golden Globe awards I was nominated for that year, winning for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. My subsequent wins at the BAFTA Awards, SAG Awards and a multitude of critics' awards preceded my Best Actor victory at the Academy Awards.My first follow-up to hit theaters, in progress since before my "Ray" breakout, was decidedly less impressive: the action film "Stealth" (2005), next effort was "Stealth" (2005), a stupefyingly lowbrow cross between "Top Gun" and "2001," I was cast as a hotshot pilot of high-tech military planes, was a forgettable sidetrip before the juicier post-Oscar offers rolled in. I was working on one of the them when I won his trophy: "Jarhead" (2005), director Sam Mendes' inightful, psychological adaptation of former U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's bestselling recounting his experience during the 1990 Gulf War in Iraq. I was cast in a potentially familiar role as a hard-driving Marine training sergeant (a composite character), but the script, direction and My performance served up enough subtle curves and quirks to establish the character as a counterpoint to Swofford (played in the film by Jake Gyllenhaal) by his grounded, centered desire and satisfaction to be serving in the military. At the same time, I began pushing my musical career (my debut album Peep This was released in 1994) forward: I appeared on Kanye West's song "Gold Digger," which held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks straight in 2005, and in December of that year I released the R&B album Unpredictable.
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