Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Trivia (53)



[January 2000] First man of the decade and century to host Saturday Night Live (1975).

Was a football quarterback in high school.



Began his career as a stand up comedian.





Had the role of Slim in The Wood (1999), but had to drop out when he got the role of Willie Beamen in An jedem verdammten Sonntag (1999).

Pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace, involving charges of battery against a New Orleans policeman in a casino in April 2003. He received two years probation and a $1500 fine. [February 2004]



His piano lessons started at the age of three at his grandmother's insistence.



Attended United States International University (now known as Alliant International University) from 1986 to 1988 on a music scholarship.



As a second grader, he was so talented in telling jokes that his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Foxx would tell them jokes.





In Ray (2004), he wore prosthetic eyelids which made him virtually blind.

Is the first person to have been nominated for three acting awards at the Golden Globe Awards in the same year.



His three Golden Globe Award nominations were announced on his 37th birthday.





Started out as a stand-up comedian, often doing imitations of former president Ronald Reagan



Is only the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies. The first male to do so was Al Pacino

Is the first African-American to be nominated for two Academy Awards in the same year.





At the 2005 Grammy Awards, he performed "Georgia on My Mind" with Alicia Keys as a tribute to Ray Charles , whom he portrayed in Ray (2004) the previous year and became good friends with him before he passed away.



He and Holly Hunter have both won Oscars for playing pianists - and for playing the piano themselves in their respective roles. In 1993, the same year that Hunter won Best Actress, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Die Firma (1993) in which she appeared opposite Tom Cruise . In 2004, Foxx was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004), also opposite Cruise.

Only one of a few actors to win the quadruple award crown during motion picture award season. Foxx won a Golden Globe Award, the SAG Award, the BAFTA Award and topped this off with the Academy Award.



Named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (2005).



Is a huge fan of the Miami Heat basketball team and professional wrestling.



Invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2005.





His 10-year-old daughter, Corinne Foxx , accompanied him to the Academy Awards (2005).



Second actor to receive an Academy Award for "Best Actor" and to have had a #1 Billboard single ("Gold Digger" by Kanye West ). The first to do so was Bing Crosby



To play Ray Charles from the years 1949 to 1979 for the movie Ray (2004), he dropped more than 30 pounds, going from 189 to 157.



Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category for his performance in the film Stealth - Unter dem Radar (2005). However, he failed to receive a nomination.



During 2005, he was nominated nine times for both Best Actor in Ray (2004) and Best Supporting Actor in Collateral (2004). Eight out of those nine times he won Best Actor for Ray (2004) and lost for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004).



Idolizes R. Kelly and attributes his musical stylings, as well as personal style, to his influence.



His performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004) is ranked #31 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).



In 2006, a region of his Unpredictable Tour advertising campaigns were by filmmaker, Shane Stanley



Ray (2004), which he played the titled role in, is ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006).



He often impersonated Ray Charles when he was a cast member on In Living Color (1990), satirizing Charles' 1992 Diet Pepsi advertisements.



When he sings "I Got a Woman" for Ray (2004), he recites almost the same backup refrain in Kanye West 's "Gold Digger".



While performing as a stand-up comedian, changed his last name to Foxx after one of his favorite comics Redd Foxx and changed his first name to Jamie because it could be a girls name as well. In comedy clubs, female comics often perform before the male comics so when a club manager read his name on the list, he would often be moved up on the list of performers.

Named one of People magazine's "Hottest Bachelors" (2006).





Won 22 awards for his performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 14, 2007.



Currently resides in Hidden Valley, California.





Former roommates with Gary LeVox



Has played Kerry Washington 's husband in two movies: Ray (2004) and Django Unchained (2012). As of 2018, those are the only two Best Picture Oscar nominated films that either has appeared in.



Attended the premiere of Operation: Kingdom (2007) in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 1, 2007.



Best friends with Garcelle Beauvais

He is a lifelong Democrat.



At the AFI tribute to Al Pacino he credited ''Any Given Sunday'' and his work with Oliver Stone and Al Pacino for helping him become a better actor and cementing his path to win an Oscar five years later for ''Ray.''.



Personal Quotes (16)



[on wearing prosthetic eyelids which made him blind in Ray (2004)] After six hours of being blind, you lose the sense of how a person is physically. It was amazing to hear the little buzzing voices all around you.





I got so many people to thank tonight. First I want to start it out with



I got a chance to meet a whole lot of people, experiencing this. And other people I want to thank, I want to thank my sister. Four feet, eleven inches of nothing but pure love. I want to thank my daughter for telling me just before I got up here, "If you don't win, dad, you're still good.



I'm just ... I see Oprah [



This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother's name, "Marie." My grandmother's name is Estelle Marie Talley. She's not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense.



We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you've been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whipped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whipped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you.

[2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ray (2004)] I guess we got to do it again. "Oh, ah!" Yeah, you're ready. That's for Ray Charles . Give it up for Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy. And thank you, Ray Charles, for living.I got so many people to thank tonight. First I want to start it out with Taylor Hackford . Taylor, you took a chance, man. I mean that love for Ray Charles was deep, down in the earth. It's cracked open. And it's spilling. And everybody's drowning in this love. I thank you for taking a chance on this film. And thank you for waiting 15 years to get me to do it. I want to thank you. I want to thank Crusader. I want to thank my agents. I want to thank Rick Kurtzman . I want to thank Kim Hodges. I want to thank Steve Smooke . I want to thank my managers, Jaime King [ Jaime Rucker King ] and Marcus King . Let's live this African-American dream. It's beautiful. I'm glad I'm with you. I ain't never leaving you. I'm glad I'm with you.I got a chance to meet a whole lot of people, experiencing this. And other people I want to thank, I want to thank my sister. Four feet, eleven inches of nothing but pure love. I want to thank my daughter for telling me just before I got up here, "If you don't win, dad, you're still good.I'm just ... I see Oprah [ Oprah Winfrey ] and I see Halle [ Halle Berry ]. I just want to say your names. I want to talk to you later. Both of you. Because Oprah got -- allowed me to meet somebody by the name of Sidney Poitier . And, yes, Sidney Poitier said, "I saw you once. And I looked in your eyes and there was a connection." And he says, "I give to you responsibility." So, I'm taking that responsibility tonight. And, thank you, Sidney.This is probably going to be the toughest part of this speech. My daughter shares my grandmother's name, "Marie." My grandmother's name is Estelle Marie Talley. She's not here tonight. And this is going to be the toughest part. But she was my first acting teacher. She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense.We would go places. And I would wild out. And she would say, "Act like you've been somewhere." And then when I would act the fool, she would beat me. She would whup me. And she could get an Oscar for the way she whupped me because she was great at it. And after she whipped me, she would talk to me and tell me why she whipped me. She said I want you to be a southern gentleman. She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me, in my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you.

You know what? I never really factor Hollywood into anything. I'm a black actor, so I can't really control what Hollywood thinks. I gotta go do my thing, and my jokes have got to be funny. Whatever I do has got to be great.





CCH Pounder taught me one thing. She said, "Characters are like putting on a coat. You put the coat on while you work, you take the coat off after it's over. You need that freshness. I know people who stay in character, and it's the worst thing in the world. You can't go out. They're still in their character and the character residue is too much. I like to go do it, flip it on like a light switch and then flip it off. Then, when we come back in the next morning I flip it back on. That's what keeps things fresh for me.

I'd like to say I'm R&B's savior. Whether that's the truth or not, I'm definitely going out there with my mic and my shield to declare, "I am here to save R&B." I will have the people saying, "Sire, there is a man at the musical gates saying he is here to save R&B."



(2005) I'm a real person, and I'm angry. I'm trying to use this celebrity thing to get people some help. AIDS, poverty, racism - I want to be one of the hands that helps stop all that. I'll put it on my shoulders. I'll charge it to my account. I don't look around to see what others are doing. No, I see me. And I feel in my own heart that I'm not doing enough. I want to do more.



[on creating the name Jamie Foxx when he first started in show business] The way I looked at the whole situation was, if I fail as Jamie Foxx, I'll just change my name and come back as something else.



(2005) When I was growing up in Terrell, Texas, I felt that it was not where I was supposed to be. I knew that I was meant for a different destination. I think that the minute I was born, there was something inside telling me where I would go, it's like energy-an intangible destiny. And if you have someone to help clear your way ahead, it will take you where you're meant to go.



I come from Tyler, Texas, where the railroad tracks separated us. On one side it was all black. On the other side it was all white. Whenever there were white people on our side of town, either somebody was going to jail or somebody was coming for the insurance. It's a different flow. So when I got to L.A., I know it sounds funny, but I was like "Man, we free." It was amazing to me what I had been missing.



(2010, on staying grounded) My homies that are around me never give me that 'star pass'. I've hung out with some stars who are playing basketball and everyone let's them score all the baskets. Shooting pool, they let them make all the shots. My homies don't let me get away with that. Also, I think having that comic gene kind of makes you look at things in a different way. If you take yourself so seriously, eventually you end up one of those people having a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on their lives. You see them drawing the curtains and they don't even realize that they've kind of drifted off somewhere. You have to pay attention to it -- fame and success. When people are saying that you're at the top of the world, it's tough to kind of turn your back on it and say, "Well, let me look at it in a different way." Or you can take advantage of it and really make yourself look bad.



When a project becomes magic and special it means that at certain points in the script it parallels your story.





[on riding a galloping horse in Django Unchained (2012)] On the outside, I look like Django, but on the inside I was Little Richard . "Oh no, Jesus! Jesus! Jesus, stop this horse!"

I faced racism as a kid and I felt like I knew the DNA of the script because I had lived it. I already had pieces of Django inside me and I could bring that to the character. I don't trip on the racial stuff. I get it. I don't trip on the word nigger. I've heard it, it's been said. My life prepared me for this.





[on working with Quentin Tarantino on Django Unchained (2012)] Quentin took the right steps. He shot it eloquently, and with every take, he stopped to make sure that Kerry Washington and I were doing okay. It was really different because Hollywood is not like that. Hollywood is very much about getting the shot, getting it right, and moving on. Even when we're shooting an incredibly difficult scene and we have to do a few takes, he's just like "That's alright, man. All we need to do is get it right, one time. It'll work." When you have a director like that, it speaks volumes.



[referring to Sleepless: Eine tödliche Nacht (2017) in a speech at the BET Awards] I can't wait to tell you about that joint Baby Driver (2017)! It's crazy, it's cool, and it ain't a typical film. It brings a thrill ride, so everybody can experience it. And it's good too! It ain't like that last joint I had. I know, it's tough. It's tough when you still gotta promote it. You know it's bad when they don't ask you nothing about the movie like "Man that jacket you was wearing is tight." Yeah, I know it sucked. [June 2017]

[on Kanye West's 2020 Presidential Bid]Ain't Got Time for the Bullsh*t



Salary (2)