b. Eric Bishop, 13 December 1967, Terrell, Texas, USA. Actor, comedian and R&B singer Jamie Foxx overcame a difficult upbringing to become one of the most prominent American performers of his generation. Adopted by his grandparents shortly after his birth, Eric Bishop endured a troubled adolescence to win a scholarship to study classical piano at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. He finished his musical studies at the United States International University in San Diego. In 1989 he began performing stand-up at comedy clubs, in the process dropping his birth name and adopting the stage moniker Jamie Foxx. His success on the comedy circuit led to television roles in the popular series In Living Color and Roc. In 1992, he made his film debut in Toys and two years later launched an early attempt at a music career with the flop album Peep This. In 1996 he landed his own series The Jamie Foxx Show, which proved successful enough to run for over five years and 100 episodes. His first starring role came in the 1999 American football-based movie Any Given Sunday, and further prominent roles followed in Bait (2000) and Ali (2001). During this period he kept his hand in with the music business, collaborating with artists including Adina Howard and Gladys Knight and appearing on the Any Given Sunday soundtrack.
Foxx’s breakthrough year was 2004. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Collateral, but the critical acclaim for this performance was dwarfed later in the year by the success of his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray. To prepare for the role Foxx spent pre-production time with the legendary singer, and the result was a striking performance in which he captured every nuance of Charles’ inimitable style. He was rewarded with an Oscar for Best Actor, only the third black male actor to win the award.
During 2004 Foxx also relaunched his music career. He appeared alongside Kanye West on rapper Twista’s US chart-topping ‘Slow Jamz’. The following year he appeared on West’s ‘Gold Digger’ singing the Ray Charles-sampling hookline. ‘Gold Digger’ stayed at the top of the US singles chart for an impressive 10 weeks. Released at the end of 2005, Foxx’s follow-up Unpredictable reached the top of the US charts in its second week of release. This solid modern R&B collection included guest appearances from the Game, Ludacris, Common, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Twista and West. Foxx was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for his version of Luther Vandross’ ‘Creepin’’, from the J Records tribute album So Amazing: An All Star Tribute To Luther Vandross.
