Chris Rock

A vibrant, toothpick-thin, big-toothed comedian, actor and writer whose stand-up material has often dared to take on the African-American establishment yet found the universality in the American experience, Chris Rock became the favored comic de jour after distinguishing himself on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" from 1990-93. He later headlined two HBO specials and launched his own talk show "The Chris Rock Show" on HBO in 1997. Born in South Carolina and raised in Brooklyn, Rock began performing in Manhattan comedy clubs as a teenager and was taken under the wings of such comics as Sam Kinison and Eddie Murphy. By 1987, he had made an early TV appearance on the HBO special "Uptown Comedy Express". That same year, Rock made his feature film debut as a parking valet in "Beverly Hills Cop II". But Rock's "big break" came with "Saturday Night Live", on which he lampooned black leaders, impersonated figures like Michael Jackson and created comic characters like the militant talk show host Nat X and the rapper I'm Chillin'. Feeling stuck and pigeonholed in only black roles, Rock left the series in 1993, jumping to Fox's "In Living Color", but that show was in its waning days and Rock chose to concentrate on other avenues, appearing in only nine episodes. In 1994, he had his first HBO special, "HBO Comedy Half-Hour: Chris Rock -- Big Ass Jokes". Rock co-executive produced, wrote and starred in his second HBO special, "Chris Rock: Bring the Pain" in 1996, which earned Emmy Awards for writing and as Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. He was in competition with himself in the writing category, though, as he had also been cited for his work covering the 1996 political conventions on "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" (Comedy Central), which demonstrated a take on current events that was far more Mort Sahl or Lenny Bruce than Sam Kinison. His TV profile increased with memorable commercials for 1-800-CALL-ATT and Nike. In the latter, he gave voice to the puppet Li'l Penney. Rock has also guest starred on TV series such as "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", "Martin" and "Homicide: Life on the Street".

Quietly building a feature career as well, Rock could be seen as a rib joint customer in a smart little bit in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988). One of his best parts was his portrayal of Pookie, a con artist street dealer whose undercover work leads to drug addiction and death, in "New Jack City" (1991). After a supporting role in the Eddie Murphy vehicle "Boomerang" (1992), he co-wrote, produced and starred in "CB4" (1993), playing half of a middle class duo who decide to rewrite themselves as bad gangsta rappers. Rock had what was really no more than a cameo in "Panther" (1995) and played one of the two auditors charged with getting the goods on "Sgt. Bilko" (1996). He also co-starred in "Beverly Hills Ninja" (1997) and voiced the guinea pig in the Eddie Murphy remake of "Dr. Dolittle" (1998).He then turned in a hilarious performance as Rufus, the hitherto unknown 13th apostle, in Kevin Smith's Catholic comedy "Dogma" (1999). 2000 saw Rock take on a variety of roles, most notably in the romantic comedy "Down to Earth", a remake of the 1941 classic "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" which itself was the basis for Warren Beatty's "Heaven Can Wait" (1978). Essaying a struggling comedian who dies a second too soon and is returned to Earth in the body of a rich, white man whose wife and lover are trying to kill him, Rock was elevated to leading man status and proved capable of carrying a movie, not just stealing scenes and cracking jokes as he did in the Cannes-screened black comedy "Nurse Betty" in which he was teamed with Morgan Freeman playing a pair of hit men. Rock returned to more familiar territory later when he lent his unique voice to the title character of the inventive animated feature film "Osmosis Jones" (2001). Here he played a renegade white-blood cell cop paired with a stuffy cold tablet (David Hyde Pierce of TV's "Frasier") to combat a cold that has taken over actor Bill Murray's body.