Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop, known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and comedian. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, for his work in the 2004 biographical film Ray. The same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the crime film Collateral...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth13 December 1967
CityTerrell, TX
CountryUnited States of America
We didn't know we were being unpredictable with the decision we were making. I just looked at people like Chris Rock and Will Smith, and they had their slots of how they became successful. We did things off the beaten path.
With the first album, the timing wasn't right and it wasn't a good situation. The situation is perfect now. The movie set everything up and people are more accepting now. The good thing is that it's not forced. If people dig the music, it will do well, and if they don't -- well, I won't do an album for another 10 years.
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, 'Sir, there is a man at the musical gates saying he is here to save R&B.'
I look forward to working with the NAACP in bringing immediate and ongoing aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was a heart attack that revealed a long history of social illnesses. You can't be human and watch all these different things go down and not do anything, ... People from all over the world are looking at these images and saying, wow; we just really want to help. So at the end of the day it's all of us.
To be the leading man it's about the celebrity and the looks, and it's tough to do that. People who do it great are people like Tom Cruise and Will Smith - they're built for that. I ain't. I'm more of a character guy.
Now ballads, I can mess around and get up on somebody on a ballad. People ain't seen it yet, but I can mess around and get up in there. I've had Ruben Studdard up in my house, Brian McKnight, Tank. Every once in a while I throw down with them.
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 guys have so much energy. I threw a party in Toronto and there were, like, 4,000 people who couldn't get in.
Being just an actor, sometimes people are like, "Hey, man, we don't wanna see you no more, in front of the camera," and I don't want that.
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, 'Sir, there is a man at the musical gates saying he is here to save R&B.
We can't wave a magic wand and get rid of any of these people's problems, but what they want is they want to be heard.
Then I was playing the piano at eight, and that helps you learn about women because most of the people I was playing for were women.
That's what's great about the arts. Everything inspires you, and you get a chance to grow from watching other people and how they do their work.
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.