Jamie's mother, Louise, was an adopted child. When her marriage to his father failed, his grandparents, Mark and Estelle Talley, stepped in and, at age 7 months, adopted him too. He says he had a very rigid upbringing that placed him in the Boy Scouts and the church choir. During high school, he played quarterback for his high school team and was good enough that he got press in Dallas newspapers. He studied music in college. He released a music album in 1994, "Peep This" and sings the theme song for his 1999 movie, Any Given Sunday. However, in 1989, his life changed when a girl friend challenged him to get up onstage at the Comedy Club. In fact, he says he took his androgynous stage name because he learned that women got preference for mike time on open stage nights. That led to his being cast in Roc and In Living Color and ultimately to his own WB network TV series. He has a daughter, Corrine, born in 1995, who lives with her mother.


Miami Vice (2006): $10,000,000

1/8/00: First man of the decade to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975). He started as a stand up comedian. 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). His piano lessons started at the age of three at his grandmother's insistence. Attended United States International University (now known as Alliant International University) from 1986 to 1988 on a music scholarship. In Ray (2004/I), he wore prosthetic eyelids which made him virtually blind. 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. On January 25th, 2005, he became one of the elite eleven 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, Cate Blanchett, 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. First African-American to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year. 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). In 2002, Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Pianist (2002). Foxx was nominated, and won, for his performance as the legendary musician Ray Charles in the hit biopic Ray (2004/I). 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 Cruise. 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. Is a Miami Heat fan. His 10-year-old daughter accompanied him to the Oscars in 2005. To play Ray Charles from the years 1949 to 1979 for the movie Ray (2004/I), he dropped more than 30 pounds, going from 189 to 157. During 2005 he was nominated nine times for both Best Actor in Ray (2004/I) and Best Supporting Actor in Collateral (2004). Eight out of those nine times he won Best Actor for Ray (2004/I) and lost for Best Supporting Actor for "Collateral (2004). His performance as Ray Charles in Ray (2004/I) is ranked #31 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). Ray (2004/I), which he played the titled role in, is ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (2006). His "SSG Sykes" character in Jarhead (2005) ironically took place the same time (during the Gulf War of 1990) as his "In Living Color" (1990) stint. When he sings "What I'd Say" for Ray (2004/I), he recites almost the same backup refrain in Kanye West's "Gold Digger". Named one of People Magazine's "Hottest Bachelors" in 2006. Huge fan of Professional Wrestling. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Lives in Hidden Valley, California.