Felix Gary Gray (born July 17, 1969) is an American music video and film director.^[1] He directed cult classics Friday and Set It Off, the critically acclaimed thriller drama The Negotiator as well as the hit action thriller The Italian Job.

Life and career[link]

Gray began his career in 1989 when he appeared uncredited in the satire comedy film Major League.^[2] Three years later, he directed the music video for Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day." The video, a literal adaptation of the lyrics, was critically well received. He would go on to direct subsequent videos for Ice Cube, as well as celebrated artists such as Cypress Hill, Outkast, Dr. Dre, and Queen Latifah.

At 24, Gray directed his first film, the urban comedy Friday with rapper-producer Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. Next he directed the heist picture, Set It Off, with Jada Pinkett and Queen Latifah. He then went on to direct The Negotiator, which was budgeted at $50 million dollar budget, the highest ever given to an African-American director at that time. The film starred Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson, and earned Gray both Best Film and Best Director awards at the 1998 Acapulco Film Festival.

Gray is perhaps best known for The Italian Job, an action-thriller starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron and Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg. Gray garnered the Best Director award at the 2004 Black American Film Festival for his work on the film, which surpassed the $100 million mark in the domestic box office.

His next film was A Man Apart, a violent action thriller starring Vin Diesel. He would later direct Be Cool, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. The John Travolta vehicle was a critical flop, but made $93 million worldwide.

His next film was the thriller Law Abiding Citizen, starring Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. Scripted by Kurt Wimmer, it grossed over $100 million dollars worldwide.

Gary is also responsible for directing many music videos. He has worked artists like TLC, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Babyface, and Jay-Z, among others.

Gray received The Ivan Dixon Award of Achievement from the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center and was named one of the “50 Best and Brightest African Americans Under 40” by Black Enterprise magazine. He was honored by the African American Film Critics Association with their 2004 Special Achievement Award and was recognized by the Artist Empowerment Coalition with the Artist Empowerment Award that same year. He also received the Pioneer Director award from the Pan-African film and arts Festival in 2010.

Directorial credits[link]

Filmography

• Friday (1995)
• Set It Off (1996)
• The Negotiator (1998)
• Ryan Caulfield: Year One (1999) TV Series
• The Italian Job (2003)
• A Man Apart (2003)
• Be Cool (2005)
• Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Music videos

• "It Was a Good Day" by Ice Cube (1992)
• "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That" by Cypress Hill (1993)
• "When The Ship Goes Down" by Cypress Hill (1993)
• "Natural Born Killaz" by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube (1994)
• "Saturday Nite Live" by Masta Ace Incorporated (1994)
• "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" by OutKast (1994)
• "Black Hand Side" by Queen Latifah (1994)
• "Keep Their Heads Ringin" by Dr. Dre (1995)
• "I Believe In You And Me" by Whitney Houston (1995)
• "Waterfalls" by TLC (1995)
• "Diggin' On You" by TLC (1995)
• "How Come, How Long" by Babyface (1996)
• "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time" by R. Kelly (1999)
• "Ms. Jackson" by OutKast (2000)
• "Bang Bang Boom" by Drag-On (2004)
• "Show Me What You Got" by Jay-Z (2006)
• "Super High" by Rick Ross (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• F. Gary Gray at the Internet Movie Database
• F. Gary Gray at AllRovi

Gary Gray may refer to:

• Gary Gray (actor) (1936–2006), child actor in the 1940s
• Gary Gray (Australian politician) (born 1958), British-born Australian member of parliament
• Gary Gray (author) (born 1968), Playboy TV host and writer
• Gary Gray (baseball) (born 1952), former Major League Baseball first baseman
• Gary Gray (basketball) (born 1945), former NBA guard
• Gary Gray (recording engineer), Canadian recording engineer
• Gary LeRoi Gray (born 1986), American actor and voice actor

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

Ice cubes in a glass of iced tea

Ice cubes are small, roughly cube-shaped pieces of ice, conventionally used to cool beverages. Ice cubes are sometimes preferred over crushed ice because they melt more slowly; they are standard in mixed drinks that call for ice, in which case the drink is said to be "on the rocks."

Ice cubes that are crushed or sheared into irregularly-shaped flakes may add an interesting aesthetic effect to some cocktails. Crushed ice is also used when faster cooling is desired, since the rate of cooling is governed by the number and average radius of the ice particles.^[1]

Melting ice cubes sometimes precipitate white flakes, commonly known as "floaties". This is calcium carbonate which is present in many water supplies and is completely harmless.^{[citation needed]}

Origin[link]

Gorrie's ice machine.

American physician and humanitarian John Gorrie built a refrigerator in 1844 with the purpose of cooling air. His refrigerator produced ice which he hung from the ceiling in a basin. Gorrie can be considered the creator of ice cubes, but his aim was not to cool drinks: he used the ice to lower the ambient room temperature. During his time, a dominant idea was that bad air quality caused disease. Therefore, in order to help treat sickness, he pushed for the draining of swamps and the cooling of sickrooms.

Methods of production[link]

Ice cubes are produced domestically by filling an ice cube tray with water and placing it in a freezer. Many freezers also come equipped with an icemaker, which produces ice cubes automatically and stores them in a bin from which they can be dispensed directly into a glass.

Ice cube tray[link]

Ice cubes in a tray

Ice cube trays are designed to be filled with water, then placed in a freezer until the water freezes to ice, producing ice cubes. Trays are often flexible, so the frozen cubes can be easily removed by flexing the tray. Twist ice trays have a simple spring loaded mechanism with a lever that is used to turn the tray upside down and flex at the same time such that the cubes drop are collected in a removable tray below and return the ice cube tray to its upright position without removing it from the freezer which can save time and reduces accidents and mess, though the tray has to be removed to be collected and the ice cube tray still has to be removed to be refilled. An alternative system is an aluminum tray with a lever that raises the ice cubes, freeing them from the tray. A motorized version of this is found in most automatic ice-making freezers.

While the usual shape of the ice 'cube' is roughly cubical, there are trays that dispense hemispherical or cylindrical blocks. These are commonly referred to as ice tubes. Some novelty trays produce blocks of ice in seasonal, festive or other shapes.

The first rubber ice cube tray was invented by Lloyd Groff Copeman. One day in 1928, while walking through some woods collecting sap for maple syrup, Copeman noticed that slush and ice flaked off his rubber boots rather than adhering to them. Having recalled this incident over lunch with his patent attorney, he conducted experiments using rubber cups. Later, he set about designing and then patenting different types of tray: a metal tray with rubber separators, a metal tray with individual rubber cups, and a tray made completely of rubber.^[2]

The first flexible stainless steel, all-metal ice cube tray was created by Guy L. Tinkham in 1933. The tray bent sideways to remove the ice cubes.

Several companies now offer pre-filled disposable ice trays for home freezing, which they claim provide better taste and reduced risk of contamination.^[3]

Large-scale ice cube production[link]

Dedicated ice-maker machines can be used to produce ice cubes for laboratories and academic use. Ice cubes are also produced commercially and sold in bulk; these ice cubes, despite their name, are often cylindrical, and may have holes through the center.

An interesting characteristic of commercially made ice cubes is that they are completely clear, lacking the clouding found in the center of domestically made ice cubes. Cloudy ice cubes result when water is frozen quickly, or when the water is high in dissolved solids. When water is cooled to its freezing point, and ice starts to form, dissolved gases can no longer stay in solution and come out as microscopic bubbles. However, as ice floats in water, once there is enough ice to form a layer on the surface, the ice layer traps all bubbles within the ice cube. Commercial ice-makers use a flowing source of purified water to make ice with cooling elements at the bottom, allowing the bubbles to be washed away from the top as the cube grows.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Ice cube" article dated 2006-05-10, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ice cubes

• Ice pack
• Pagophagia
• Refrigeration
• Ice

References[link]

1. ^ Rauch, Jeffrey (1975). "The mathematical theory of crushed ice". Partial differential equations and related topics (Program, Tulane Univ., New Orleans, La., 1974). Berlin, New York (the state): Springer-Verlag. pp. 370–379. MR0427863. 
2. ^ "www.lloydcopeman.com: Biography". http://www.lloydcopeman.com/biography/CopemanStory.pdf. 
3. ^ "After Bottled Water? Purified Ice Cubes". http://www.aquaice.com/PressRelease_WSJ_2006.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-03. 

External links[link]

Look up ice cube in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Hot water can freeze faster than cold water (Subscription required)

Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler at the Berlin Film Festival 2011
Born	Gerard James Butler (1969-11-13) 13 November 1969 (age 42) Paisley, Scotland
Occupation	Actor/singer
Years active	1997–present

Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in the American miniseries Attila (2001). He garnered critical acclaim for his work as the lead in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera. In 2007, Butler gained recognition through his portrayal of King Leonidas in the film 300. Since then, he has appeared in projects including P.S. I Love You (2007), Nim's Island (2008), RocknRolla (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), Gamer (2009), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), The Bounty Hunter (2010), and as a voice actor in How to Train Your Dragon (2010).

Early life[link]

Butler was born in Paisley, which is in Renfrewshire, Scotland,^[1] the youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Butler, a bookmaker.^[2][3][4] Of Irish descent,^[5] he was brought up in a strict Roman Catholic family.^[6] Butler spent the first few years of his life in Montreal, Quebec,^[7] before the family returned to live in Scotland.^[8]

His mother Margret Butler returned from Quebec when her marriage broke down, when Gerard was aged 18 months.^[9] He attended High School in Paisley, achieved respectable grades - good enough to win a place at Glasgow University to study law - and rose to position of Head Boy at St Mirin's High School. He also attended Scottish Youth Theater whilst a teen. He did not see his father again until he was 16 years old, when Edward Butler called to meet him at a Glasgow restaurant. After this meeting, Butler cried for hours, and recalled of it later:

"That emotion showed me how much pain can sit in this body of yours; pain and sorrow that you don’t know you have until it is unleashed."^[9]

Butler came close to his father after this reunion, and accepted his offer to study law at Glasgow University. During his time as a student, he became the convener of the Law Society^[10] and sang in a rock band called Speed.^[11][12] He would ultimateley graduate with a 2-2 LLB degree in 1991.

Whilst a 22 year old student, his father was diagnosed with cancer, and died. This caused Butler's lifestyle to spiral out of control. He would say of this period in his life:

"I had gone from a 16-year-old who couldn’t wait to grasp life to a 22-year-old who didn’t care if he died in his sleep."^[13]

Upon graduation, he won a position as a trainee lawyer at an Edinburgh law firm. However, his lifestyle remained unrestrained and he frequently missed work due to his partying antics. One week before he qualified as a lawyer, he was fired.

Now, aged 25, and an unqualified lawyer, Butler moved to London to pursue his dream of becoming famous. He admitted,

"When I started out, I'm not sure I was actually in it for the right reasons. I wanted very much to be famous."^[9]

Unable to win any acting roles immediately, he was forced to accept blue collar jobs, which included being a waiter, a telemarketer and a demonstrator of how toys work at fairs. Whilst in London, he met an old friend from his teenage days in the Scottish Youth Theater, who was now a London casting agent, and was for a time her boyfriend and her assistant. She took him to an audition for Steven Berkoff's play of Coriolanus.^[10] The director said of Butler's audition:

"When he read, he had such vigour and enthusiasm – so much that it made the other actors seem limp – that I decided to cast him in the ensemble."^[13]

Now aged 27, Butler had his first professional acting job. Less than a year later, he won a part in a theater adaptation of Trainspotting, which he performed at the Edinburgh Festival. By age 30, Butler decided to move to Los Angeles to make it in the big league; where he won parts in Dracula 2000, Tomb Raider 2, Dear Frankie, and Phantom of the Opera. The director Vadim Jean said:

"I have never seen anybody work so hard to make their career happen."^[13]

Despite the early yearnings for fame, Butler would tell London's Daily Telegraph in a 2009 interview, when aged 39:

"I did expect to succeed and I did have faith that I would. In reality, though, it has turned out to be something very different to what I wanted. It’s the work and not the adulation that has proved to be the most fulfilling."^[13]

Career[link]

In London, Butler held a series of odd jobs until being cast by actor and director Steven Berkoff (who later appeared alongside him in Attila (2001)) in a stage production of Coriolanus. He was cast as Ewan McGregor's character Renton in the stage adaptation of Trainspotting, the same play that had inspired him to become an actor. His film debut was as Billy Connolly's character's younger brother in Mrs. Brown (1997).

His film career continued with small roles, first in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and then Russell Mulcahy's Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, Butler was cast in two breakthrough roles, the first being Attila the Hun in USA film Attila (2001/I) (TV). The film's producers wanted a known actor to play the part but kept coming back to Butler's screen tests and decided he was their man. He was cast as Dracula in Dracula 2000 (2000).

He then appeared in Reign of Fire (2002) as Creedy and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) as Terry Sheridan, alongside Angelina Jolie. In the role of Andre Marek in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel Timeline (2003), Butler played an archaeologist who was sent back in time with a team of students to rescue a colleague.

In 2003, director Joel Schumacher was deciding on the principal casting for the film The Phantom of the Opera, a film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name, and thought of Butler, whom he had seen earlier in the film Dracula 2000, to play the title character. Butler, who had had no musical experience other than singing in a rock band while he was studying to be a lawyer, was surprised at the interest, but immediately began taking singing lessons with a vocal coach.^[14] He then did an acting audition with Schumacher, and a singing audition with Lloyd Webber, both of whom were impressed by his performance.^[15] Despite the film receiving mixed reviews, Butler was praised for his performance.

Other projects that followed include Dear Frankie (2005), The Game of Their Lives (2005) and Beowulf & Grendel (2005).

In 2007, he starred as Spartan King Leonidas in the Warner Bros. production 300, which is often described as his breakthrough role.^[16] Butler, who said he "wanted to look really strong" in the film, trained with a high-intensity workout for four months prior to the film's shooting.^[17]

Gerard Butler on the set of the film, The Bounty Hunter, 2010

In 2007, he also appeared in Butterfly on a Wheel co-starring Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello, which aired on network TV under the title Shattered, and in the romantic comedy P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank. In 2008, he appeared in Nim's Island and RocknRolla. In 2009, he starred in the Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor film Gamer, The Ugly Truth and Law Abiding Citizen, which he also co-produced. In 2010 he starred in the action/comedy The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston, and did a voice-over in the 2010 animated film How to Train Your Dragon as Stoick the Vast.

On 15 and 16 October 2010, thanks to the popularity of his role as Spartan King Leonidas and the use of his lines during athletic events at Michigan State University, he was a guest at their Midnight Madness and homecoming football game, respectively.

On 18 December 2011, while filming Of Men and Mavericks, Butler was hospitalised after he was pulled under big waves. A safety patrolman spotted Butler and quickly rushed to his aid. He was taken to Stanford University Medical Center where he was observed and then later released.^[18]

Personal life[link]

Butler has been open in interviews about struggling with alcoholism. In February 2012, Butler's publicist announced that Butler had completed a course of treatment for substance abuse of pain killers, at a rehab-centre.^[19] This was after Butler was concerned he was too reliant on prescribed pain relief medication which escalated when he was involved in a surfing incident before Christmas 2011.^[19][20][21]

A fan of the Glasgow football club Celtic F.C. and played a charity match with them in 2011, Butler regularly attended Celtic Park as a supporter, but has found that moving to Hollywood can be a problem when trying to keep up with the results due to the time difference between Los Angeles and Glasgow.^[22]

Despite his sometimes turbulent personal life and the often violent characters he plays, Butler is well known to be a kind and very nice person in real life. He is known to be very friendly with fans and co-workers, and socializes with everyone on set.

Filmography[link]

Butler at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gerard Butler

• Gerard Butler at the Internet Movie Database

Jamie Foxx
Foxx promoting Stealth in July 2005
Birth name	Eric Marlon Bishop
Born	(1967-12-13) December 13, 1967 (age 44) Terrell, Texas, United States
Medium	Stand up, Film, Television, Radio, Music
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Musical comedy, Political satire, Observational comedy, Character comedy, Black comedy (as actor) R&B, hip hop, soul, pop(as singer and rapper)
Subject(s)	Race relations, Racism, African-American culture, Celebrities, Human sexuality, American politics, Current events, Self-deprecation
Influences	Redd Foxx[1]
Notable works and roles	Law Abiding Citizen Jamie King on The Jamie Foxx Show Ray Charles in Ray Nico in Rio
Website	Official site

Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, rapper, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host who began playing the piano when he was five years old. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a musical/comedy. He is also a Grammy Award winning musician, producing three albums which have charted highly on the Billboard 200: Unpredictable, which topped the chart, Best Night of My Life and Intuition.

Born in Terrell, Texas, Foxx was raised by his mother's adoptive parents. He performed in high school and was awarded with a scholarship to United States International University. In his twenties, Foxx began performing stand-up at comedy clubs, and eventually joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991; this exposure helped him land film roles and star in his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show. He released his debut album, Peep This, in 1994, but he did not gain significant musical success until 2004 when he was featured in Twista's song "Slow Jamz". Also in 2004, Foxx played critically acclaimed roles in the films Collateral and Ray. He released his second album, Unpredictable, in 2005, which was helped by his collaboration on Kanye West's number-one single "Gold Digger". His third album Intuition was released in 2008 and was anchored by the single "Blame It". Foxx released his fourth studio album, Best Night of My Life, in 2010.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Foxx was born as Eric Marlon Bishop on December 13, 1967, in Terrell, Texas.^[2] He is the son of Louise Annette Talley Dixon and Shaheed Abdulah. Foxx was abandoned seven months after birth, and was subsequently adopted and raised in Terrell by his mother's adoptive parents. Terrell was a racially segregated community at the time.^[3] Foxx had a strict Baptist upbringing^[4][5] and began piano lessons at the age of five by his grandmother's orders. As a teenager, he was a part-time pianist and choir leader in Terrell's New Hope Baptist Church.^[3]

Foxx attended Terrell High School, where he received top grades, played basketball and football as quarterback, and had an ambition to play for the Dallas Cowboys. He was the first player in the school's history to pass for more than 1,000 yards.^[3][6] He also sang in a band called Leather and Lace.^[3] After completing high school, Foxx received a scholarship to United States International University, where he studied classical music and composition.^[3][7] He has often acknowledged his grandmother's influence in his life as one of the greatest reasons for his success.^[4][8]

[edit] 1989-94: Stand-up career, acting debut, Peep This and legal issue

After accepting a girlfriend's dare, Foxx told jokes and at a comedy club's open mic night in 1989. When he found that comediennes were often called first to perform, he changed his name to Jamie Foxx, feeling that it was an ambiguous enough name to disallow any biases.^[1][3] He chose his surname as a tribute to comedian Redd Foxx.^[1] In addition his recurrent In Living Color character LaWanda shared names with Redd's friend and co-worker, LaWanda Page.

Foxx joined the cast of In Living Color in 1991 and subsequently played a recurring role in the comedy-drama sitcom Roc.^[9] From 1996 to 2001, Foxx starred in his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, and made his film debut in the 1992 comedy Toys. His first dramatic role came in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday, where he portrayed a hard-partying American football player.^[4] He was cast in the role in part because of his background as a football player.^[4] Following Any Given Sunday, Foxx was featured as taxi driver Max Durocher in the film Collateral alongside Tom Cruise, for which he received outstanding reviews and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[4] In 1994, Foxx released an album (on the Fox record label) entitled Peep This.

In April 2003, Foxx was involved in an incident with two police officers who were attempting to escort him and his sister out of Harrah's casino in New Orleans. 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 pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace in exchange for the other charges being dropped, and was sentenced to a six month suspended jail term with two years probation and a $1,500 fine.^[10][11]

In 2003, Foxx made a cameo in Benzino's music video for "Would You", which features LisaRaye McCoy and Mario Winans.

[edit] 2004-06: Ray, Collateral, and Unpredictable

Foxx and Kanye West performing "Gold Digger"

His music career shifted into a higher gear when, in 2004, he was featured on rapper Twista's song, "Slow Jamz", which also featured Kanye West. The song reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, as well as #3 on the UK Singles chart. Foxx's second collaboration with Kanye West, "Gold Digger," in which he sang the "I Got a Woman" Ray Charles-influenced hook, went straight to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained there for 10 weeks. In 2005, Foxx was featured on the single "Georgia" by Atlanta rappers Ludacris and Field Mob. The song sampled Ray Charles' hit "Georgia on My Mind." He also had a beginning verse on Kanye's "Gold Digger."

His standout performance, however, was his portrayal of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray (2004), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor^[4] and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Foxx is the second male in history to receive two acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different movies, Collateral and Ray. The only other male actor to achieve this was Al Pacino. In 2005, Foxx was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[12]

Foxx released his second studio album, Unpredictable, in December 2005. It debuted at #2, selling 598,000 copies in its first week.^[13] The following week, the album rose to #1, selling an additional 200,000 copies.^[14] To date, the album has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, and was certified double Platinum by the RIAA.^[15][16] The album also charted on the UK Albums Chart, where it peaked at #9.^[17] Foxx became the fourth artist to have won an Academy Award^® for an acting role and to have achieved a #1 album in the U.S. (The other three to accomplish this feat were Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Barbra Streisand.) Foxx's first single from the album, the title track "Unpredictable" (featuring Ludacris), samples "Wildflower" by New Birth. The song peaked in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles and also made the UK Top 20 singles chart. The second U.S. single from the album was "DJ Play a Love Song," which reunited Foxx with Twista. In the UK, however, the second single was "Extravaganza," which saw Foxx once again collaborate with Kanye West. He was not, however, featured in the song's music video.

At the 2006 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, Foxx won Best Duet/Collaboration with Kanye West for "Gold Digger" and tied with Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" for Video of the Year. On December 8, 2006, Foxx received four Grammy Award^® nominations, which included Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Love Changes featuring Mary J. Blige, Best R&B Album for Unpredictable, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for Georgia by Ludacris & Field Mob featuring Jamie Foxx, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for Unpredictable featuring Ludacris.

[edit] 2006-2009: Dreamgirls, The Soloist, Intuition and Miley Cyrus incident

Foxx's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Following these successes, Foxx appeared in Jarhead, Miami Vice, and Dreamgirls, which were box-office hits, and lifted his profile even higher as a bankable star in Hollywood. 2007 brought him the lead role in the film The Kingdom opposite Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Ashraf Barhom. In September 2007, Foxx was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He said, upon receiving the honor, "[it was] one of the most amazing days of my life."^[18]

On January 22, 2007, Foxx was on Sirius Satellite Radio, announcing his new channel The Foxxhole. The channel features talk-radio programs, stand-up comedy albums, and music primarily by African-American performers, and features much of Foxx's own material as well. The Jamie Foxx Show, Foxx's own talk-radio variety program, airs Friday evenings on The Foxxhole, and features Johnny Mack, Speedy, The Poetess, Lewis Dix, and T.D.P., as his co-hosts. Guests include popular musicians, actors, and fellow comedians. He recorded a song with country superstars Rascal Flatts entitled "She Goes All the Way" for their album, Still Feels Good. Foxx also performed background vocals for artist/songwriter Tank. He and The-Dream are featured on Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands." He also appeared on the remix of Ne-Yo's "Miss Independent" entitled "She Got Her Own." The track also features Fabolous. Foxx then collaborated with rapper The Game on the track "Around The World." In April 2009, Foxx played the lead role in the dramatic film The Soloist. A few months later in October 2009, He played a starring role along side Gerard Butler in the thriller Law Abiding Citizen. In April 2011, Foxx voiced Nico, a canary in the movie Rio.

Foxx released his third album titled Intuition in 2008, featuring such artists as Kanye West, T.I., Ne-Yo, and T-Pain. The album's first single, "Just Like Me" featuring T.I., was promoted by a video directed by Brett Ratner and featuring an appearance by Taraji P. Henson. The second single "Blame It" featured T-Pain and became a top 5 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and a number-one single on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The "Blame It" music video, directed by Hype Williams, features cameo appearances by Forest Whitaker, Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Howard, Quincy Jones, and Jake Gyllenhaal, among others. Foxx was also featured on T.I.'s single "Live in the Sky" from the album King. On April 6, 2009 Foxx performed the George Strait song "You Look So Good in Love" at the George Strait Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert. Foxx has been a fan of country music for many years. Jamie Foxx hosted the 2009 BET Awards ceremony on June 28, 2009, which featured several tributes to pop star Michael Jackson, who had died three days prior to the show. Aside from performing "Blame It" with T-Pain and "She Got Her Own" with Ne-Yo and Fabolous, Foxx opened the show with a rendition of Jackson's "Beat It" dance routine and closed the show with a cover of The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" with Ne-Yo. Foxx stated during the ceremony, "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else."

On the April 17, 2009 episode of The Jamie Foxx Show on Foxxhole Radio, Foxx and his co-hosts made several sexually suggestive and disparaging jokes regarding teenaged singer Miley Cyrus, in response to a caller's comment on a recent altercation between Cyrus and rock band Radiohead.^[19] Foxx issued a public apology on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno several days later in response to growing public outcry as well as televised criticism by Cyrus's father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus.^[20]

[edit] 2010-present: Django Unchained and Best Night of My Life

In 2011, Foxx was officially cast in the title role of, Django Unchained. It will be written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and he will star alongside his Ray co-star Kerry Washington, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson. As a producer, Foxx played a role in In the Flow with Affion Crockett on Fox in summer 2011.^[21]

Foxx released his fourth album, Best Night of My Life, on December 21, 2010.^[22] The first single is "Winner", featuring Justin Timberlake and T.I..^[23] The second single is "Living Better Now" featuring rapper Rick Ross and the third single is "Fall For Your Type" featuring rapper Drake.^[22] On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Foxx (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release his future material on the RCA Records brand.^[24][25] In 2011, Jamie Foxx was featured in the rapper Pitbull's album 'Planet Pitt' in the song "Where Do We go".

Personal life[link]

This section requires expansion.

Foxx has a daughter, Corinne Bishop, who was born in 1994.^[3] Former Jamie Foxx Show co-star Garcelle Beauvais made a public announcement stating that Foxx has a second child.^[26] Foxx was spotted with the baby in Miami for New Year's Eve 2010, and it was revealed to be a girl.^[27]

Foxx performed a public service announcement for Do Something to promote food drives in local communities.^[28]

Jamie Foxx began playing the piano when he was five years old.

Discography[link]

• Peep This (1994)
• Unpredictable (2005)
• Intuition (2008)
• Best Night of My Life (2010)

Hosted Mixtapes

• Young Buck - Chronic 2006

Tours[link]

• The Unpredictable Tour (2006)
• The Blame It Tour (2009)

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Television Awards

• Image Awards
  • 1998, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show
  • 1999, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show (nominated)
  • 2000, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show (nominated)
  • 2001, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series: The Jamie Foxx Show (nominated)

Music awards

• American Music Awards
  • 2009, Favorite R&B/Soul Male Artist (nominated)
  • 2006, Favorite R&B/Soul Male Artist (winner)
  • 2006, Favorite R&B/Soul Album: Unpredictable (nominated)

• BET Awards
  • 2006, Best Male R&B Artist (nominated)
  • 2006, Best Collaboration ("Unpredictable") with Ludacris (nominated)
  • 2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with T-Pain (Winner)
  • 2009, Video of the Year: ("Blame It") (nominated)
  • 2009, Best Male R&B Artist (nominated)

• Grammy Awards
  • 2010, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group ("Blame It") with T-Pain (winner)
  • 2010, Best Contemporary R&B Album (Intuition) (nominated)
  • 2010, Best R&B Song ("Blame It") (nominated)
  • 2007, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Unpredictable") with Ludacris (nominated)
  • 2007, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Georgia") with Ludacris & Field Mob (nominated)
  • 2007, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group ("Love Changes") with Mary J. Blige (nominated)
  • 2007, Best R&B Album (Unpredictable) (nominated)
  • 2006, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Slow Jamz") with Twista & Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2006, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Creepin") (nominated)

• Image Awards
  • 2009, Outstanding Male Artist (winner)
  • 2006, Outstanding Male Artist (winner)

• MOBO Awards
  • 2006, Best R&B Act (nominated)

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • 2006, Best Hip-Hop Video: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2006, Best Ringtone: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2006, Best R&B Video: "Unpredictable" featuring Ludacris (nominated)
  • 2004, MTV2 Award: "Slow Jamz" with Twista & Kanye West (nominated)

• Soul Train Awards
  • 2009, Record of the Year: "Blame It" (winner)
  • 2009, Album of the Year: Intuition (nominated)
  • 2007, Best R&B/Soul Album, Male: Unpredictable (winner)
  • 2006, Best Music Video: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (winner)
  • 2006, Best R&B/Soul Dance Cut: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)

• Vibe Awards
  • 2005, Best Collabo: "Gold Digger" with Kanye West (nominated)
  • 2004, Best Collabo: "Slow Jamz" with Twista & Kanye West (nominated)

Movie/TV Awards

• Academy Awards
  • 2004, Nominated Best Supporting Actor – Collateral
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Ray

• BAFTA Awards
  • 2005, Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Ray
  • 2004, Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Collateral

• BET Awards
  • 2006, Nominated Best Actor
  • 2005, Won Best Actor

• Black Movie Awards
  • 2006, Nominated Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Jarhead

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2007, Nominated – Best Actor – Dreamgirls
  • 2005, Won Best Actor, Drama – Ray
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)
  • 2004, Won Best Supporting Actor – Collateral
  • 2004, Nominated – Best Actor, Musical or Comedy – Breakin' All the Rules
  • 2002, Won Theatrical – Best Supporting Actor – Ali
  • 2000, Nominated – Best Supporting Actor – Any Given Sunday

• Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
  • 2000, Nominated – Favorite Supporting Actor – Drama – Any Given Sunday

• Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Ray

• Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2005, Won Critics Choice Award Best Actor – Ray
  • 2004, Nominated Critics Choice Award Best Supporting Actor – Collateral

• Florida Film Critics Circle Awards
  • 2004, Won FFCC Award Best Actor – Ray

• Golden Globes
  • 2005, Won Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy – Ray
  • 2004, Nominated Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)
  • 2004, Nominated Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture – Collateral

• Hollywood Film Festival
  • 2004, Won Hollywood Breakthrough Award Breakthrough Actor

• Image Awards
  • 2007, Nominated Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture – Dreamgirls
  • 2005, Won Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture – Ray
  • 2004, Won Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)
  • 2004, Nominated Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture – Collateral
  • 2002, Won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture – Ali
  • 2001, Nominated Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series – "The Jamie Foxx Show"
  • 2000, Nominated Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series – "The Jamie Foxx Show"
  • 1999, Nominated Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series – "The Jamie Foxx Show"
  • 1998, Nominated Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series – "The Jamie Foxx Show"

• Independent Spirit Awards
  • 2005, Nominated Best Male Lead – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)

• Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards
  • 2005, Won Best Actor – Ray (2004/I)

• Kids' Choice Awards
  • 2001, Nominated Favorite Television Actor – "The Jamie Foxx Show"
  • 2000, Nominated Favorite Television Actor – "The Jamie Foxx Show"

• Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2005, Won Sierra Award Best Actor – Ray

• London Critics Circle Film Awards
  • 2005, Won ALFS Award Actor of the Year – Ray

• MTV Movie Awards
  • 2005, Nominated Best Male Performance – Ray
  • 2000, Nominated Breakthrough Male Performance – Any Given Sunday

• MovieGuide Awards
  • 2005, Won Grace Award Most Inspiring Television Acting – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)

• National Board of Review
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Ray

• National Society of Film Critics Awards
  • 2005, Won Best Actor – Ray

• Online Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2005, Nominated Best Actor – Ray
  • 2004, Won Best Supporting Actor – Collateral

• People's Choice Awards
  • 2008, Nominated Favorite Leading Man
  • 2006, Nominated Favorite Leading Man

• Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
  • 2004, Won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role – Ray

• Prism Awards
  • 2005, Won Performance in a Feature Film – Ray

• Satellite Awards
  • 2005, Won Golden Satellite Award Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)
  • 2004, Won Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical – Ray
  • 2004, Nominated Golden Satellite Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama – Collateral

• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • 2007, Nominated Actor Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – Dreamgirls
  • 2005, Won Actor Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role – Ray
  • 2004, Nominated Actor Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – Ray
  • 2004, Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role – Collateral
  • 2004, Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries – Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story (TV)

• Seattle Film Critics Awards
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Ray

• Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Ray

• TV Land Awards
  • 2007, Nominated Little Screen/Big Screen Star
  • 2006, Nominated Little Screen/Big Screen Star

• Teen Choice Awards
  • 2007, Nominated Choice Movie: Liplock – Dreamgirls
  • 2005, Nominated Choice Movie Actor: Drama – Ray

• Vancouver Film Critics Circle
  • 2005, Won Best Actor – Ray

• Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards
  • 2004, Won Best Actor – Ray
  • 2004, Won Best Supporting Actor – Collateral

• Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award
  • 2005, co-recipient, Crystal Award^[29]

See also[link]

• List of Black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jamie Foxx

• Official website
• Official Jamie Foxx Music Site
• Jamie Foxx at the Internet Movie Database