Chris Rock: Difference between revisions

Christopher Julius Rock^[2] (born February 7, 1965)^[1] is an Emmy and Grammy Award-winning American comedian, actor, and director.

Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina and grew up in the working-class Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York.^[3] His mother, Rosalie Tingman,^[2] is a teacher and social worker with the mentally handicapped, and his father, Julius Rock, was a former truck driver and newspaper deliveryman.^[4] He has five younger siblings, Andre, Tony, Brian (a minister), Kenny, Andi, and a half-sibling, Jordan.^[2]

Rock auditioned to be an MTV VJ.^[5] In the mid-to-late 1980s, Rock slowly rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in films such as New Jack City and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy recommended Rock for Saturday Night Live.

He was a cast member of the popular sketch comedy series from 1990 to 1993. His tenure on the show gave Rock national exposure; but he was rarely used on the show, save for his recurring Nat X character. Rock was fired from SNL in the spring of 1993 as part of a regular cast turnover. Rock decided to concentrate on a film career and to lend his talent to the then-fading sketch show In Living Color. Unfortunately, acting jobs were few, so Rock abandoned Hollywood to concentrate on stand-up comedy.

• Nat X, a militant black host of the recurring sketch, "The Dark Side"
• Kevin Stubbs, a game show contestant (he was a contestant on "Sabra Price is Right" and "The Bensonhurst Dating Game")
• Onski, one of the hosts of the Yo! MTV Raps-esque show, "I'm Chillin'" (the cohost, B Fats, was played by Chris Farley)
• Buster Jenkins, an old black man who appears on Weekend Update
• Young Pop, a sailor who uses barbecued meat to save the day on "Tales From The Barbecue"

• Idi Amin
• M.C. Hammer
• Nipsey Russell
• Michael Jackson
• Whoopi Goldberg
• Luther Campbell
• Long Dong Silver
• former SNL cast member Eddie Murphy
• Flavor Flav
• Arsenio Hall
• Jaleel White
• Todd Bridges

In 1991, he released his first comedy album, Born Suspect. He starred in his first HBO comedy special in 1993 titled Big Ass Jokes.

His second 1996 stand-up special Bring the Pain reinvented Chris Rock as one of the hottest comedians in the industry. His routine, which featured commentaries on race in America, stirred up a great deal of controversy. Adding to his popularity was his much-publicized role as a commentator for Comedy Central's coverage of the 1996 Presidential elections.

Rock has since 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 and Entertainment Weekly, respectively. HBO also aired his talk show, The Chris Rock Show, which gained critical acclaim for Rock's interviews with celebrities and politicians. His specials and talk show established Rock as one of the preeminent stand-up comedians and comic minds of his generation. His television work has won him 3 Emmy Awards and 15 nominations for his performing and writing.

In 2004, Rock was ranked 5th on the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time list by Comedy Central (according to the link he is ranked 27th). During this time, Rock also translated his comedy into print form in the book Rock This! and released two bestselling comedy albums, Roll with the New and Bigger and Blacker.

While Rock has acted in movies since 1987 (beginning with a small role in Beverly Hills Cop II), 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 and Nurse Betty and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, both as a writer in CB4 and director of Head of State and the upcoming 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."^[6]

His comedy typically involves race relations in the United States, politics, music, romance, and class relationships. Though not directly based on it, many of his comedic views are rooted in his teen years; his very strict parents, concerned about the neighborhood schools, had him bused to an almost all-white high school in Bensonhurst (an Italian-ethnic neighborhood of Brooklyn that was known at the time for poor race relations). Rock claims to have been arrested four times: once for vehicular assault on a youth who had robbed him, and three times for traffic violations, including driving without a license and "driving too slow."

Rock is uncomfortable with the idea of being seen as a larger than life figure in standup comedy as opposed to some of his heroes like Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor; when pressed for a statement during an interview with Playboy, he hesitated and finally responded: "I talked about race differently. I'll go that far".

In the promotion's early days Chris Rock made an appearance for TNA wrestling in which he was introduced by BG James and was hit with a chair and beaten up by wrestlers including Jeff Jarrett. This event was covered in TNA's "50 greatest moments".

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. 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.)

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 has directed the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Hump de Bump". The video leaked to the internet on March 9, and can be viewed here: [1]

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

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. The couple has two daughters together, Lola Simone (born June 28, 2002) and Zahra Savannah (born May 22, 2004).

On November 3, 2006, the entertainment news website TMZ.com reported that Rock was filing for divorce after nearly ten years of marriage to Malaak. Two weeks later, however, TMZ reported that Rock had not filed divorce papers, and that it appeared that the couple was able to work out their differences and stay together.

Rock's brother, Tony Rock, is an actor. Their father died in 1989. Rock currently resides in Alpine, New Jersey.

• Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
• Comedy's Dirtiest Dozen (1988)
• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
• Who Is Chris Rock? (1989) (short subject)
• New Jack City (1991)
• The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (1992)
• Boomerang (1992)
• CB4 (1993) (also co-producer)
• The Immortals (1995)
• Sgt. Bilko (1996)
• Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)
• Dr. Dolittle (1998) (voice)
• Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)
• King of the Hill (1998) episode (voice of Roger Sack)
• Torrance Rises (1999) (short subject)
• Dogma (1999)
• Nurse Betty (2000)
• Down to Earth (2001) (also writer)
• AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001) (voice)
• Pootie Tang (2001) (also producer)
• Osmosis Jones (2001) (voice)
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
• Bad Company (2002)
• Comedian (2002) (documentary)
• Pauly Shore Is Dead (2003)
• Head of State (2003) (also director and writer)
• Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party (2004) (documentary)
• The N-Word (2004) (documentary)
• Paparazzi (2004) (cameo appearance)
• The Aristocrats (2005) (documentary)
• Madagascar (2005) (voice)
• The Longest Yard (2005)
• Everybody Hates Chris (2005) (voice) (also creator)
• I Think I Love My Wife (2007) (also director and writer)
• Bee Movie (2007) (voice)
• The Gilmores of Beverly Hills (2007) (announced)
• Madagascar 2 (2008) (voice)

• Born Suspect (1991) Atlantic
• Roll With the New (1997) DreamWorks
• Bigger & Blacker (1999) DreamWorks
• Never Scared (2005) Geffen

• Niggas vs. Black People, one of Rock's most famous and controversial bits

Wikiquote has quotations related to Chris Rock.

• Official website
• Chris Rock at IMDb
• The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas
• Rock, Compton are Ending their 10 Year Marriage by Urban Celebrity News