79R11751 KO-D

By:  Brown of Kaufman                                             H.R. No. 1013



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, Native Texan Eric Bishop, who is better known as 
Jamie Foxx, is enjoying a phenomenally successful career in the 
motion picture industry, and his recent starring role as the 
legendary entertainer Ray Charles in the film Ray earned him the 
ultimate recognition of his peers, an Academy Award for best 
performance by an actor in a leading role in 2004; and
	WHEREAS, Born in Terrell in 1967, Mr. Foxx was raised by his 
beloved grandmother, the late Esther Marie Talley, and he has 
attributed much of his success to her; a star quarterback at Terrell 
High School, he attended U.S. International University in San Diego 
on a music scholarship; while a student there, his friends urged him 
to take the stage at a local comedy club one night and the 
enthusiastic reception that he enjoyed for an impromptu performance 
launched his career in the entertainment industry; and
	WHEREAS, He moved to Los Angeles to pursue stand-up comedy 
and was soon thereafter hired for the popular Keenan Ivory Wayans' 
comedy-variety show, In Living Color; in 1996, he was given his own 
series on the WB network, The Jamie Foxx Show, and that same year 
appeared in a minor role in the movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs; 
critics and audiences alike responded to his powerful performance 
as a football star in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday, which also 
featured Al Pacino, as well as to his multilayered portrayal of Drew 
"Bundini" Brown in the biopic Ali two years later; and
	WHEREAS, Mr. Foxx surely came into his own in 2004 with a 
star-making performance as a hapless taxi driver alongside Tom 
Cruise in Collateral, a role that garnered him both Academy Award 
and Golden Globe nominations for best performance by an actor in a 
supporting role; one of only 10 actors and the only African American 
in the history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to 
be nominated in both supporting and lead acting categories in the 
same year, he won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for fully 
inhabiting the persona of Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford's biopic; 
he also earned the distinction of being the first person to have 
been nominated for three Golden Globes for acting in the same 
year--for his performances in Ray, Collateral, and the FX network 
movie, Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, in which he 
played the founder of the Crips L. A. street gang; and
	WHEREAS, In addition to the honor and prestige that the 
Academy Award bestows on its recipient, it frequently brings a 
choice of plum roles, and movie audiences may look forward to seeing 
this gifted actor in the upcoming films Stealth, a futuristic 
action drama, and Jarhead, based on former Marine Anthony 
Swofford's bestselling book about his pre-Desert Storm experiences 
in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; and
	WHEREAS, The extraordinary success of Jamie Foxx in the 
competitive film industry attests to his remarkable talent and 
determination, and it is a pleasure to commend him on the 
much-deserved recognition that he has recently received; now, 
therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas 
Legislature hereby congratulate Jamie Foxx on his flourishing 
acting career and extend to him sincere best wishes for continued 
achievement and fulfillment with his creative work; and, be it 
further
	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 
prepared for Mr. Foxx as an expression of high regard by the Texas 
House of Representatives.