Man of the Week is voted on by you. Each week a different man is selected.
This week's "Man of the Week" is :
JAMIE FOXX
ABOUT JAMIE FOXX
First discovered by audiences as a confident, fresh faced comic who was incredibly proficient at playing outrageous characters
and sending up famous celebrities on the small screen after joining the TV sketch comedy "In Living Color" in 1991, and over
time developed into one of the big screen's most admired performers after earning an Oscar for his uncanny and unforgettable
performance as the iconic musician Ray Charles in the 2005 biopic "Ray."
Born Eric Bishop in Terrell, Texas, Foxx's young mother was had difficulty supporting him when her marriage dissolved early
on, but his maternal grandparents stepped in and raised him as their own, and the actor would later credit his grandmother
for the lion's share of his successes in life. A piano student--at his grandmother's insistence--since the age of three, he
ultimately attended 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. Foxx, who altered his 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, he appeared on stage at The Comedy Store and The Improv, and at the famed
Apollo Theater in Harlem. He won the 1991 Oakland (California) Comedy Competition. That same year, Foxx 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, Foxx won his first feature role, a supporting part to Robin Williams, in "Toys". In 1996, he 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.
Foxx has continued to perform comedy on TV. He was a guest on "Paul Rodriguez: Crossing Gang Lines", a 1991 Fox special,
and has appeared on HBO's "Def Comedy Jam". In 1993, he starred in the one-man concert special, "Jamie Foxx: Straight From
the Foxxhole" (HBO) and three years later was back in his own sitcom, "The Jamie Foxx Show" (The WB, 1996-2001). In the latter,
he 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 his 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.
Foxx first ventured into more dramatic territory when Oliver Stone cast him as a nervous third-string quarterback turned
overnight sensation in "Any Given Sunday" (1999), and the actor equated himself well with an impressive performance. He 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 he played Muhammad Ali's
troubled ring man Drew 'Bundini' Brown in director Michael Mann's biopic "Ali" (2001).
Foxx had a major breakthrough year in 2004: first he 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—Foxx, who 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 his turn in the otherwise forgettable
comedy "Breakin' All the Rules" as a dumped boyfriend-turned-breakup expert author; Foxx then surprised audiences with his
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 Foxx into Hollywood's leading man A-list, earning him nominations
for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He 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 Foxx 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 he took home the choicest of the three Golden Globe awards he was
nominated for that year, winning for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. His subsequent
wins at the BAFTA Awards, SAG Awards and a multitude of critics' awards preceded his Best Actor victory at the Academy Awards.
The actor's first follow-up to hit theaters, in progress since before his "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,"
cast him as a hotshot pilot of high-tech military planes, was a forgettable sidetrip before the juicier post-Oscar offers
rolled in. He was working on one of the them when he 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.
Foxx was cast in a potentially familiar role as a hard-driving Marine training sergeant (a composite character), but the script,
direction and Foxx's 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, Foxx began pushing his musical career (the former music student's debut album Peep This was released
in 1994) forward: he 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 he released the R&B album Unpredictable.
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