It was love at first sight when Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx bought his 40-acre, $10.5 million bachelor pad in Hidden Valley, an idyllic rural nook on the western edge of Thousand Oaks. As he says Ray Charles told him, “If you feel it, you know it’s right.”
The 17,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style mansion built in 1995 includes a master bedroom suite with a sitting room, an atrium, a sauna, and a balcony. There’s also a library, family and game rooms, and a full gym. And a chess board is set up at all times, ready for Foxx to fulfill his addiction to the game.
On the grounds, there’s an Olympic-size pool, a cabana studio, a spa, a north-south tennis court, playing fields, and two guesthouses. Foxx’s teenage daughter, Corinne Bishop, lives nearby with her mother. “I teach her to be respectful,” he says, describing himself as a tough parent. “Kids today don’t have any discipline. When I was 13 and saw someone older, I’d call him ‘Sir’ and get out of the way. Kids come up to me and say, ‘Wassup, fool? You’re that dude, Jamie Foxx!’ I’m not a fool. Problem is: When I relay that to their parents, they say, ‘What’s the problem?’ They don’t even understand.”
While his career has blown up in recent years, Foxx’s daughter remains the most important thing in his life. “I want to be a man who shows up for her,” he says adamantly. “I want to have such a big influence on her so that she knows she can call on me for anything—which she does.”
Born Eric Marlon Bishop on December 13, 1967, Jamie Foxx was raised by his maternal grandparents, Mark and Estelle Marie Talley, in Terrell, Texas. His mother, Louise, was an adopted child, and when her marriage to his father, Shaheed Abdullah, failed, his grandparents adopted him as a toddler. He describes his grandmother as a loving disciplinarian who kept him in line with belts and switches—and he’s grateful for it.
“She was my first acting teacher,” he recalled in his Oscar-acceptance speech.
“She told me to stand up straight. Put your shoulders back. Act like you got some sense. We would go places and I would wild out, and she would say, ‘Act like you’ve been somewhere… I want you to be a southern gentleman.’”
Foxx started taking piano lessons at age three. He became a Boy Scout, a choirboy, and a high school football quarterback. As a fresh-faced, confident second grader, his joke-telling was so effective his teacher used him as a reward; if the class behaved, he’d be allowed to tell them jokes.
In 1989, his life changed when a girlfriend challenged him to get up onstage at the Comedy Club. A great admirer of Richard Pryor, he not only loved standup comedy, but he was a hit, particularly his imitations of former president Ronald Reagan. Indeed, he says he took the androgynous stage name of Jamie Foxx (honoring Redd Foxx) when he learned that women got preference for mic time on open stage nights. That led to his being cast as a sketch player in In Living Color (1990) and Roc (1991), leading to his own WB network TV series. His first feature role was supporting Robin Williams in Toys, followed by The Great White Hype, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Booty Call, The Players Club, Held Up, Any Given Sunday, Bait, Ali, Stealth, and Jarhead. His breakthrough performance as the hapless cab driver opposite Tom Cruise in Collateral served as proof that his talents extended well beyond what many had suspected.
Foxx went to university in San Diego on a music scholarship, and later studied classical piano at Julliard in Manhattan. He released his debut album, Peep This, in 1994 and appeared on Kanye West’s song “Gold Digger,” which held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks straight in 2005.
“It all happened when Kanye came to my house to talk music. The next thing I knew we had a number one hit…The truth is, I’ve loved music since I was five years old. It’s my big love.” At a recent Soul Train Music Awards at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Foxx clinched the big prize for his R&B album Unpredictable.
“I’d like to say I’m R&B’s savior. Whether that’s the truth or not, I’m definitely out there with my mic and my shield declaring, ‘I am here to save R&B.’ I will have the people saying, ‘Sire, there is a man at the musical gates saying he is here to save R&B,’” he jokes. “I’ve had style for a long time, but it’s always been stuck into a TV show here or flashed in an interview there. It may be new to you, but not to me.”
He’s a musician, singer, comic, actor, producer, and composer. And he does it all exceedingly well. So what isn’t Jamie Foxx good at? “Bowling,” he says. “I’m terrible at bowling. It seems like everyone I know can just throw that ball straight down the lane. I got the ball rolling three lanes over. I even go to the Lucky Strike Lanes, a bowling place in Hollywood, to embarrass myself. But then I leave early because I just can’t take it. I can’t let people see me mess up that bad.”
“Fame can be overwhelming,” Foxx admitted to Oprah Winfrey. “What keeps my head on straight is that I’ve learned to do what I call kill the beast. That’s the beast of who you could become. You could walk around saying, ‘I’m the powerful Oscar-winner.’ But, most of the time, you don’t want to go there. It isn’t healthy. I don’t get off on the beast thing like some people do. I’ve worked with people who actually enjoy being the worst human being they can be. That’s crazy. I just want to be the dude next door…I never planned to win an Academy Award. When I auditioned for Ray, I was just thinking about what a great project it would be.
Jamie Foxx has come a long way from Terrell, Texas to this idyllic rural nook of Ventura County. And he’s clearly reveling in his success. “I’m just chilling out and rolling with it,” he laughs, describing his multi-million dollar home purchase. “I bought a Lamborghini, too. It’s crazy. Right now, I’m having the time of my life. It’s Cinderella time…I wish I could take what I’m feeling here and put it in the water system, and we would all love each other a whole lot more.” 
09-01-07
