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Trivia

CHILDHOOD & SCHOOL

  • His piano lessons started at the age of three at his grandmother’s insistence.
  • Was a football quarterback in high school
  • As a second grader, he was so talented in telling jokes that his teacher used him as a reward. If the class behaved, Foxx would tell them jokes.
  • Attended United States International University (currently known as Alliant International University) from 1986 to 1988.

OSCAR

  • His Oscar win for Ray along with Morgan Freeman’s win for Million Dollar Baby (2004), was the second time two African-Americans won Oscars in the same year. The first was in 2002 when Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Training Day (2001) and Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster’s Ball (2001).
  • First African American to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year.
  • He is the second male in the history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies. The first male was Al Pacino.
  • He and Holly Hunter have both won Oscars for playing pianists – and for playing the piano themselves in their respective roles. In 1993, the same year that Hunter won Best Actress, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Firm (1993) in which she appeared opposite Tom Cruise. In 2004, Foxx was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004), also opposite Tom Cruise.
  • Second actor to win an Academy Award for “Best Actor” and to have had a #1 billboard single (“Gold digger” by Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx). The first actor to do so was Bing Crosby.
  • His 10-year-old daughter accompanied him to the Oscars in 2005.

RAY

  • He wore prosthetic eyelids which made him virtually blind.
  • To play Ray Charles, he dropped over 30lbs in weight, going from 189lbs to 157lbs.
  • His performance as Ray Charles in “Ray” (2004) is ranked #31 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
  • Ray (2004), which he played the titled role in, is ranked #99 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006).
  • At the 2005 Grammy Awards, he performed “Georgia on my Mind” with Alicia Keys as a tribute to Ray Charles, whom he portrayed in Ray the previous year and became good friends with him before he passed away.

GOLDEN GLOBE

  • He is the first person to have been nominated for three acting awards at the Golden Globes in the same year.
  • His three Golden Globe nominations were announced on his 37th birthday.

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

  • During 2005, he was nominated 9 times for both Best Actor in Ray, and Best Supporting Actor in Collateral. 8 out of those 9 times, he won Best Actor for Ray, and lost for Best Supporting Actor for Collateral.
  • As of January 25th, 2005, he became the sixth actor nominated for playing a pianist. The first to be nominated (and win) was F. Murray Abraham, who beat out co-star Tom Hulce for the Best Actor Oscar in “Amadeus” (1984). The second to be nominated was Holly Hunter who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as a mute pianist in “The Piano” (1993). Geoffrey Rush won the Best Actor Oscar for his work in “Shine” (1996). And in 2002, Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in “The Pianist” (2002). And now, Jamie Foxx is nominated for his performance as the legendary musician Ray Charles in the hit biopic Ray (2004).
  • On January 25th, 2005, he became one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter and Julianne Moore.
  • Only one of a few actors to win the quadruple award crown during motion picture award season. Foxx won a Golden Globe, the SAG Award, the BAFTA Award and topped it off with the Oscar.
  • Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category for his performance in the film Stealth (2005), however, he failed to receive a nomination.
  • He is one of only five performers to have both a Billboard #1 single and an Oscar for acting. The others are Barbra Streisand, Cher, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.
  • He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
  • He is a record holder for the most Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations in a single year (3 for individual performances, 1 for ensemble performance in 2005): MALE LEAD – “Ray”, MOTION PICTURE CAST – “Ray”, MALE SUPPORT – “Collateral” and MALE MOVIE/MINISERIES – “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story”.

IDOLS

  • He said that Richard Pryor is his idol in comedy, Denzel Washington is his idol in acting, and that Steve Hardin is his idol in music.
  • He is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan.

ROLES

  • Had the role of Slim in The Wood (1999), but had to drop out when he got the role of Willie Beamen in Any Given Sunday (1999).
  • Auditioned for the Cuba Gooding Jr. role in Jerry Maguire (1996).
  • Has played Kerry Washington’s husband in two movies: Ray (2004) and Django Unchained (2012).

OTHER

  • Started out as a stand up comedian, often doing imitations of former president Ronald Reagan.
  • Former roommate of Gary LeVox, the lead singer for Rascal Flatts.
  • Cousin Michael Bishop is a former professional football quarterback. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots.
  • Was named one of the “50 Most Beautiful People” by People Magazine in 2005
  • First man of the millennium to host “Saturday Night Live” (1975). [January 8, 2000]