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Jamie Foxx on December 13, 1967 in Terrell, TexasJamie Foxx is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in

Foxx was born Eric Marlon Bishop on December 13, 1967 in Terrell, Texas. Shortly after he was born, he was adopted by his grandparents Mark Talley and Estelle Marie Nelson. Foxx's early life was peppered with difficulty.

Bishop changed his name to "Jamie Foxx" as a hook to get more opportunities to perform at comedy clubs, and he became known for his appearances on comedic TV series, particularly when he joined the cast of , which produced 100 episodes from 1996-2001 and still reruns in syndication. Foxx's film debut came in (1992) with Robin Williams.

Foxx's first prominent dramatic role came in 1999 when Oliver Stone cast him as the star quarterback in the football-based film , where he played an ordinary cab driver who was hired for a night by a hitman (Tom Cruise) on a killing spree.

Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 film earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. This made him only the third black male actor to win the award (the other two were Sidney Poitier and Denzel Washington). He also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for , making him only the tenth person to have been nominated for both acting categories in the same year. Foxx also became the first black actor to have double nominations in one year.

In recognition of his work in 2004, Foxx received an unprecedented three Golden Globe Award nominations in acting categories. He was nominated for his lead role in and for his portrayal of late death row inmate and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Stanley Williams in the television movie .

Foxx is also a singer and accomplished musician. In 2004 he was featured on rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", also featuring Kanye West. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, as well as number three on the UK singles chart. Foxx had previously released an album in 1994 on the Fox record label entitled .

During the 2005 Grammy Awards, Foxx performed live with Alicia Keys and Quincy Jones singing "Georgia on My Mind" in tribute to the late Ray Charles.

Jamie Foxx has contributed vocals to 50 Cent's , is set to be released on December 20, 2005. He has already released two singles from the album titled, Unpredictable (featuring Ludacris) and Extravaganza (featuring Kanye West). He is also featured on Kanye West's single, which topped the Billboard Hot 100.

Foxx was seen at many Miami Heat playoff games in the 2005 campaign. He is starring in a film version of Miami Vice, scheduled for release in 2006. He also has a film hitting the box offices in 2007 called Damage Control.

Currently Foxx is nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award for Best R is Jamie Foxx's second studio release. It sold over 598,000 copies in its first week but didn't reach the U.S. #1 spot due to Mary J. Blige's selling 730,000 copies of is the first album to ascend to the top without having debuted at No. 1 since February 2005, when Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company" (Hear MusicConcord) pulled off the feat. Foxx also becomes the fourth artist to have won an Academy Award for acting (ironically for his portrayal of Charles in ) and achieved a No. 1 album. (The other three to accomplish this feat were Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Barbra Streisand.)

In April of 2003 Foxx was involved in an incident with two police officers who were attempting to escort him and his sister out of a casino in New Orleans,Louisiana. Employees claimed they had failed to show identification upon entry. Originally charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace, battery on police officers and resisting arrest, Foxx plead no contest to disturbing the peace in exchange for the other charges being dropped, and was sentenced to community service.