Chris Rock

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Chris Rock
Rock at the New York City premiere of Spike Lee's film, She Hate Me, on June 24, 2004.
Rock at the New York City premiere of Spike Lee's film, She Hate Me, on June 24, 2004.
Birth name Christopher Julius Rock III
Born February 7, 1965 (1965-02-07) (age 43)
Andrews, South Carolina, U.S.
Medium stand-up comedy, television, film
Nationality American
Years active 1985 - Present
Genres Satire/Political satire,
Observational comedy,
Musical comedy
Subject(s) racism, race relations, current events, American politics, African-American culture, pop culture, human sexuality, marriage
Influences Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Woody Allen, Steve Martin, Dick Gregory, Flip Wilson,[1] Sam Kinison, George Carlin, Mort Sahl[2]
Influenced Dave Chappelle,[2] George Lopez,[3] Christian Finnegan,[4]
Spouse Malaak Compton (November 23, 1996 - present) (2 children)
Website www.chrisrock.com
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program
1997 Chris Rock: Bring the Pain
1999 The Chris Rock Show
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special
1997 Chris Rock: Bring the Pain
Grammy Awards
Best Spoken Comedy Album
1998 Roll with the New
2000 Bigger & Blacker
Best Comedy Album
2006 Never Scared
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special
2000 Chris Rock: Bigger & Blacker

Christopher Julius Rock III[5] (born February 7, 1965)[6][7] is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted by Comedy Central as the fifth greatest stand-up comedian of all time.[8]

Contents

Early life

Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. A few years later, they relocated and settled in the working-class area of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.[5] His mother, Rosalie (née Tingman), was a teacher and social worker with the mentally handicapped; his father, Julius Rock, was a former truck driver and newspaper deliveryman. Both his parents are Christian.[9] Julius died in 1988 after ulcer surgery.[10] Rock has five younger siblings, Andre, Tony, Brian (a minister), Kenny, Andi, and a half-sibling, Jordan. His brothers Tony and Kenny are also in the entertainment business.[11] Rock has said that he was influenced by the performing style of his paternal grandfather, Allen Rock, a preacher.[5][12]

Early career

Rock began doing stand-up comedy in 1985 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star.[5] Rock slowly rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the TV series Miami Vice. Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy befriended and mentored the aspiring comic. Murphy gave Rock his first film role in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Rock became a cast member of the popular sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1990. He and other new cast members Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and David Spade became known as the Bad Boys of SNL. In 1991, he released his first comedy album Born Suspect and won acclaim for his dramatic role as a crack addict in the film New Jack City. His tenure on SNL gave Rock national exposure, but he was rarely used on the show, save for his recurring Nat X character.

Recurring characters on SNL

  • Nat X, militant African-American host of "The Dark Side."[13]
  • Onski, co-host of the Yo! MTV Raps parody, "I'm Chillin'" (B. Fats, Onski's fellow host, was played by Chris Farley).[14]
  • Kevin Stubbs, game show contestant on "Sabra Price is Right" and "The Bensonhurst Dating Game."[15]
  • Buster Jenkins, bow-tied senior citizen, exposing racism during a crime and on "Weekend Update."[16]
  • Young Pop, a sailor who saves the day with barbecued meat on "Tales From The Barbecue."[17]

Celebrity impersonations on SNL

Post-Saturday Night Live

Standup success

A frustrated Rock left Saturday Night Live in 1993, appearing instead as a "special guest" star on the predominately African-American sketch show In Living Color. The show, however, was canceled months later. Rock then decided to concentrate on a film career. He wrote and starred in the mockumentary CB4 but the film was not a success. Acting jobs became scarce, and Rock abandoned Hollywood to concentrate on stand-up comedy.[12]

Rock starred in his first HBO comedy special in 1994 titled Big Ass Jokes. But it was his second stand-up special, 1996's Bring the Pain, that reinvented Rock as one of the best comedians in the industry.[30][31] His routine, which featured commentaries on race in America, stirred up a great deal of controversy.[32] Rock won two Emmy Awards for that special. Adding to his popularity was his much-publicized role as a commentator for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect during the 1996 Presidential elections[30] which earned him another Emmy nomination.[33] Rock also was the voice for the "Lil Penny" puppet who was the alter ego to basketball star Penny Hardaway in a series of Nike shoe commercials from 1994-1998,[30] and hosted the '97 MTV Video Music Awards.

Rock later had two more HBO comedy specials: Bigger & Blacker in 1999, and Never Scared in 2004. Articles relating to both specials called Rock "the funniest man in America" in Time[34] and Entertainment Weekly,[2] respectively. HBO also aired his talk show, The Chris Rock Show, which gained critical acclaim for Rock's interviews with celebrities and politicians. The show won an Emmy for writing. His television work has won him a total of three Emmy Awards and 15 nominations.[33] By the end of the decade, Rock was established as one of the preeminent stand-up comedians and comic minds of his generation.

During this time, Rock also translated his comedy into print form in the book Rock This! and released the Grammy Award-winning comedy albums, Roll with the New, Bigger & Blacker and Never Scared.

He is currently working on his fifth HBO special.[5]

Film and television

It was not until the success of his stand-up act in the late 1990s that Rock began receiving major parts in films. These include roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, both as a writer and director of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife. In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show has garnered both critical and commercial success, and Rock describes it as "honest" and "very working-class, so people can relate."[35]

Academy Awards

In early 2005, Rock hosted the 77th Academy Awards ceremony. The decision to have Rock host the awards was seen by some as a chance to bring an "edge" to the ceremony and to make it more relevant or appealing to younger audiences. During one segment Rock asked "Who is this guy?" in reference to actor Jude Law seemingly appearing in every movie Rock had seen that year and implied Law was a low-rent Tom Cruise (he made a joke about filmmakers rushing production and being unable to get the actors they want: "If you want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law, wait [to make the film]!") . Nearly two hours later, a defensive Sean Penn took the stage to present and said, "In answer to our host's question, Jude Law is one of our finest young actors." (At the time, Penn and Law were shooting All the King's Men.) Law was not the only actor that Rock poked fun at that evening, however -- he turned the joke on himself at one point, saying "if you want Denzel [Washington] and all you can get is me, wait!" Many critics panned Rock's performance, with some comparing him to David Letterman.[citation needed]

Music videos

Rock's first music video was for his song "Your Mother's Got a Big Head" from his album Born Suspect. Rock also made videos for his songs "Champagne" from Roll With the New and "No Sex (In the Champagne Room)" from Bigger & Blacker. Chris Rock also directed and appeared in the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Hump de Bump".

Rock appeared in the Big Daddy Kane music video "Smooth Operator" as a guy getting his hair cut.

He also appeared in Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down", one of the many celebrities seen lip-synching the song.

Comedic style

Rock's subject matter typically involves family, politics, romance, music, class relationships, and race relations in the United States. Though not strictly autobiographical, much of his comic standpoint seem rooted in his teenage experience; his strict parents, concerned about the inadequacies of the local school system, arranged to have the adolescent Rock bused to a nearly all-white high school in Bensonhurst (an Italian-ethnic neighborhood of Brooklyn known at the time for poor race relations). In his memoir "Rock This," the comedian recalls, "My parents assumed I'd get a better education in a better neighborhood. What I actually got was a worse education in a worse neighborhood. And a whole bunch of ass-whippings."[36] The discontinuity between expectation and experience—between what you arrive expecting and what you leave understanding—is one basis of Rock's comic style, and seems to have come to him young.

The comedian has also expressed discomfort with the notion that success in standup comedy—or, indeed, in any aspect of the entertainment industry—should oblige him to serve as a role model. In this position, he finds himself directly at odds with one his comic idols, Bill Cosby. (Cosby has reprimanded Rock both explicitly—for his famous/notorious Niggas vs. Black People track[37]—and implicitly, for heavy use of the word "nigger."[38]) Rock has not wavered from a position explored in his 1996 Roll With The New show, and reiterated in his 1997 memoir: "Why does the public expect entertainers to behave better than everybody else? It's ridiculous...Of course, this is just for black entertainers. You don't see anyone telling Jerry Seinfeld he's a good role model. Because everyone expects whites to behave themselves...Nowadays, you've got to be an entertainer and a leader. It's too much."[39]

Live Earth controversy

At the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, which was broadcast live on the BBC. Before introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers Rock called the crowd "motherfuckers". Due to the broadcast being at 5:45pm Rock was immediately cut off, and the BBC made several apologies for his use of the word "motherfucker".[40]

Personal life

Rock has been married to Malaak Compton since November 23, 1996. She is the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, a non-profit, full-service salon that provides free services for women leaving welfare and entering the workforce. They have 2 daughters together, Lola Simone, born June 28 2002 and Zahra Savannah born 22 May 2004. Chris Rock has one son from his first marriage, Nazeeri Jafar (born February 8, 1984).[citation needed]

In November 2006, the entertainment news website TMZ.com reported that Rock was filing for divorce after nearly ten years of marriage to Malaak.[41] Two weeks later, however, TMZ reported that Rock had not filed divorce papers, and that it appeared that the couple had been able to work out their differences and stay together. In response to the reports, Rock released a statement to the press denouncing them as "untrue rumors and lies".[42]

Often the subject of tabloids, when asked about paparazzi and the other negative aspects of fame, Rock says he accepts the bad with the good: "You can't be happy that fire cooks your food and be mad it burns your fingertips."[43]

In 2007, freelance journalist and former actress Kali Bowyer filed a paternity suit against Chris Rock, claiming he was the father of her son, and in need of hospitalization.[44] DNA testing proved that Rock was not the child's father.[45]

Rock currently resides in Alpine, New Jersey.[46]

Rock is an avid supporter of the New York Mets baseball team. During the 2007 season he was seen nearly every game on the video screen leading the crowd in a chant of "Let's Go Mets."

On his UK tour, Chris stated, "I live in New Jersey and my house is worth $3 million" USD, and that Mary J Blige, Jay-Z and Denzel Washington all live in his neighborhood.

In 2008 Rock's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2. A DNA test shows that he is descended from the Udeme people of northern Cameroon.

Works

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1987 Beverly Hills Cop II Playboy Mansion Valet
1988 Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen Himself direct-to-video concert film
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka Rib Joint Customer
1989 Who Is Chris Rock? Himself documentary short
1990 Saturday Night Live Himself/Various (1990-1993)
1991 New Jack City Pookie
1992 Boomerang Bony T
1993 CB4 Albert/MC Gusto also co-writer
1995 The Immortals Deke Anthony
Panther Yuck Mouth
1996 Sgt. Bilko 1st Lt. Oster
1997 Beverly Hills Ninja Joey
1998 Dr. Dolittle Rodney voice
Lethal Weapon 4 Detective Lee Butters
1999 Torrance Rises Himself documentary short
Dogma Rufus
2000 Nurse Betty Wesley
2001 Down to Earth Lance Barton also co-writer
AI: Artificial Intelligence Comedian voice
Pootie Tang JB/Radio DJ/Pootie's Father also producer
Osmosis Jones Osmosis Jones voice
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Chaka Luther King
2002 Bad Company Jake Hayes/Kevin Pope/Michael Turner
Comedian Himself documentary
2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Himself
Head of State Mays Gilliam also director and co-writer
2004 The N-Word Himself documentary
Paparazzi Pizza Delivery Guy
2005 The Aristocrats Himself documentary
Madagascar Marty voice
The Longest Yard Caretaker
2007 I Think I Love My Wife Richard Cooper also director and co-writer
Bee Movie Mooseblood the Mosquito voice
2008 Madagascar 2 Marty voice

Discography

Album Information
Born Suspect
  • Released: 1991
  • Chart Positions: Did Not Chart
  • Last RIAA certification: Gold
  • Singles: "Your Mother's Got A Big Head"
Roll with the New
Bigger & Blacker
Never Scared

Selected television work

HBO specials

Books

See also

References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  1. ^ Album covers featured in the opening credits of Chris Rock: Bring the Pain, HBO, 1996.
  2. ^ a b c Wolk, Josh (2004-03-19). Chris Rock On Fire. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
  3. ^ George Lopez at MySpace. Retrieved on 2007-10-12.
  4. ^ Weiss, Rebecca (2007-04-27). Christian Finnegan Chats. The Cornell Daily Sun. Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Chris Rock". Inside the Actors Studio. Bravo. 2007-03-13. No. 6, season 13.
  6. ^ "Chris Rock and American Idol Fantasia's Big News". The Oprah Winfrey Show. 2007-02-28.
  7. ^ Note: Reliable sources differ on his year of birth. In his book, Rock This!, Rock gives his birth date as February 7, 1966. But Rock stated he was 42 years old on his February 2007 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
  8. ^ Stand Up Comedy & Comedians. www.comedy-zone.net. Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
  9. ^ Cindy Pearlman. "Rolling Rock: Chris Rock Hits His Hollywood Stride", Rolling Stone, January 29, 2001. 
  10. ^ Chris Rock Biography. Yahoo!.
  11. ^ Kenny Rock at the Internet Movie Database
  12. ^ a b Bennun, David (2000). Chris Rock. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  13. ^ The SNL Archives: Eight appearances, 10 November 1990—17 April, 1993 http://snl.jt.org/char.php?i=292
  14. ^ The SNL Archives: Six appearances, 12 January 1991—20 February, 1993 http://snl.jt.org/char.php?i=302
  15. ^ The SNL Archives: Two appearances, 9 May 1992, 10 October, 1992 http://snl.jt.org/char.php?i=345
  16. ^ The SNL Archives: Two appearances, 15 February 1992, 13 March, 1993 http://snl.jt.org/char.php?i=343
  17. ^ The SNL Archives: Two appearances, 28 September 1991, 7 December, 1991 http://snl.jt.org/char.php?i=321
  18. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Idi Amin, "Ultra Slim Fast," 20 October, 1990; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=788
  19. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Todd Bridges, "America's Most Wanted," 16 March, 1991; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=846
  20. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Luther Campbell, "2 Live Crew Party," "The Sinatra Group," 29 September, 1990; 19 January, 1991; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=775
  21. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Flavor Flav, "MTV Spring Break 2001," 13 April, 1991; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=849
  22. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Whoopi Goldberg, "Musicians for Free-Range Chickens," 20 April, 1991; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=862
  23. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Aresenio Hall, "The Tonight Show," "The Arsenio Hall Show," "The Tonight Show," 27 October, 1990; 15 February, 1992; 19 May, 1992; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=794
  24. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as M.C. Hammer, "The Sound of Music," 6 October, 1990; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=786
  25. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Michael Jackson, "Monologue," "The Dark Side," "SNL Halftime Spectacular," "Beverly Hills Town Meeting," 7 December, 1991;14 December, 1991; 6 February, 1993; 20 February, 1993; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=889
  26. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Eddie Murphy, "Ignorant Proposal," 10 April, 1993; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=981
  27. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Nipsey Russell, "Weekend Update," "Charles Grodin," 17 April, 1993; 2 November, 1996; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=984
  28. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Long Dong Silver, "Clarence Thomas Hearings," 12 October, 1991; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=873
  29. ^ SNL Achrives/Impression. Chris Rock as Jaleel White, "A Star Is Born," 22 February, 1992; http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=906
  30. ^ a b c Chappell, Kevin (May 1997). Chris Rock: hot comic is on the roll of his life. Ebony. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  31. ^ AllMovie.com review
  32. ^ Chris Rock: The funniest man in America?. The Guardian (2001-06-01). Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  33. ^ a b Chris Rock: Bring the Pain (1996) (TV) - Awards
  34. ^ Handy, Bruce (2001). America's Best Artist's and Entertainers. Time. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
  35. ^ Icon Chris Rock. Maxim (April 2007).
  36. ^ Rock, Chris. "Rock This," Hyperion, 1997, p. 46. Rock explains, "I got bused from Bed-Stuy to a white school in a poor white neighborhood: Gerretson Beach, Brooklyn... What I actually got was a worse education in a worse neighborhood..."
  37. ^ Sweeney, Kathy. The Guardian (UK). "Wind Them Up and Watch Them Go," 1 June, 2001: "Bill Cosby may have publicly reprimanded him for satirizing black Americans, but Rock is having the last laugh." http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,499318,00.html
  38. ^ Morano, Marc. CNSNews. "Bill Cosby to Blacks," 2 July, 2004. ""When you put on a record, and that record is yelling 'nigger this' and 'nigger that' and cursing all over the thing and you got your little six-year-old and seven-year-old sitting in the back seat of the car—those children hear that... That's all minstrel show stuff. I am tired of it."
  39. ^ Rock, Chris. Rock This; Hyperion, 1997, p. 16.
  40. ^ "Chris Rock defends Live Earth swearing: Comic is critical of climate change show despite being host"; nme.com; July 7, 2007.
  41. ^ Chris Rock Files for Divorce. TMZ.com (November 3, 2006).
  42. ^ Rock Slams Break-Up Rumors. Hollywood.com (March 2, 2007).
  43. ^ Everybody Loves Chris.
  44. ^ Paternity Papers Agsinst Comedian/Actor Chris Rock Filed In Bulloch Court
  45. ^ "DNA test clears Chris Rock in paternity case, lawyer says," Associated Press on CNN.com, 7 Aug 2007.
  46. ^ Century, Douglas (February 11, 2007). Alpine, N.J., Home of Hip-Hop Royalty. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-10-16.

External links


Preceded by
Billy Crystal
76th Academy Awards		 Oscars host
77th Academy Awards		 Succeeded by
Jon Stewart
78th Academy Awards
Preceded by
Dennis Miller
Ben Stiller
Jimmy Fallon		 MTV Video Music Awards host
1997
1999
2003		 Succeeded by
Ben Stiller
Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans
no host
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Rock"
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