Jamie Foxx

December 13, 1967 was born Eric Marlon Bishop, in the future - an Oscar winner and a good musician. True, he became famous under a different name - Jamie Foxx.

Eric was born in the Texas town of Terrell. His father was a broker Shahid Abdullah (he changed his name after adopting Islam), his mother - a girl named Louise Annette Talley Dixon. Soon after his birth, Eric was adopted by his birth mom's foster parents (that is, grandparents) - nurse Esther Marie and warehouse worker Mark Talley. Sometimes the kid saw his real parents, but Esther and Mark were much more involved in his upbringing.

It was his grandmother (and part-time - foster mom) instilled in Jamie a love of music. He began taking piano lessons, then played in church ensembles, and finally studied classical music as a college student. In addition to music, Jamie had a passion for soccer as well as stand-up comedy. During the first performances in the genre of stand-up Eric and came up with the pseudonym Jamie Foxx.

In 1991, the young actor got his first role on the television screen - in the series "In bright colors, and a year later debuted on the big in Barry Levinson's comedy "Toys". True, then for four years abandoned his acting career for the sake of musical. In 1994, Jamie released his first album.

But in 1996, Fox returned to the screens - with the movie "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" and "The Great White Deception". Then he played in the movie Ice Cube "Strip Club" and comedy "Robbery" (it was the first major role of Jamie). In 1999, Fox invited to his movie himself Oliver Stone - Jamie played one of the roles in "Every Sunday".

Apparently, thanks to "Every Sunday" producers saw in Jamie not only a comedy actor - it became clear that he can play in any genre. So in 2000, Foxx received a major role in the action movie "Live", and a year later in the famous biographical drama "Ali", where, in fact, Mohammed Ali played Will Smith.

The 2000s began well for Fox the musician, in 2001 he received the MTV Video Music Awards.

However, the real triumph awaited Jamie a little later. In 2004, he starred in the comedy "Encyclopedia of Divorce" and the thriller "Accomplice". But his main project that year, of course, was the movie "Ray" - it is a picture made on the biography of the legendary Ray Charles.

For a long time, no movie studio did not want to shoot this picture, but then, finally, the producers were found. Jamie thoroughly prepared for the role - thoroughly studied the biography of Ray Charles, as well as to play as best as possible blind, attended classes at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles. By the way, Ray Charles himself familiarized himself with the script - especially for him it was printed in Braille. The musician died shortly after the end of filming. After his death, the movie was called simply "Ray" (before it was planned that it will be called "Free My Heart: The Ray Charles Story").

For Jamie, the role of Charles especially meant a lot - after all, he is a musician himself. By the way, in all scenes Fox himself plays the piano. In 2005, Jamie in cooperation with Kanye West recorded Ray's song I Got a Woman.

For the role of Charles Jamie Foxx was honored with three major cinematic awards - he received a BAFTA, "Golden Globe" and, finally, the "Oscar" award.

After "Ray" Jamie starred in three action movies - "Stealth", "The Marines" Sam Mendes and tape "Miami Vice: Vice Squad. In 2006, viewers again saw him in a musical picture - this time, it was "Dreamgirls" Bill Condon.

In 2007, Fox again played a "tough guy" in the action movie "Kingdom", and in 2009 - a musician in the touching drama "The Soloist".

Recent films with Jamie, seen in the light - it is "Law Abiding Citizen", "Valentine's Day" and a very fresh comedy "Inпритык" (however, in it, the hero of Foxx - also, incidentally, the "tough guy" - appears for only a few minutes). In the latter, he played with Robert Downey Jr. with whom he got a great duet in the aforementioned "Soloist".

James plans to have two films - their premieres are scheduled for 2011. In addition, we will probably soon hear about his musical achievements. After all, Jamie seems to be a rare example of an artist who succeeds in everything he undertakes. The platinum status of one of his albums (Unpredictable), as well as the notorious Oscar, is proof of that.