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# Foxx has keys for superstardom
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/foxx-has-keys-for-superstardom/
- Published: 2004-10-29T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:21:34.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Like fellow “In Living Color” alum Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx’s first film was a screwball comedy. Though their hilarious turns in “Ace Ventura” and “Booty Call” won’t soon be forgotten, both actors have since ventured into more meaningful territory with the sort of weighty roles in dramatic films that transformed their forebear Robin Williams from small-screen jokester into an Academy Award-winner. Oscar has thus far eluded Carrey, but if the buzz is to be believed, Foxx could take home the gold for his stirring performance as legendary soul man Ray Charles in the biopic, “Ray.” So convincing is Foxx, an accomplished pianist in his own right, that just before his death last June, Charles told an interviewer he “Can’t believe how good Jamie is” — proof positive that seeing isn’t always believing.

QUESTION: What has it meant to you to portray Ray Charles?

JAMIE FOXX: It means a lot more now than it did when we first started. Obviously, with Ray (recently) passing, we wanted to make sure that the movie was eloquent. I really know now that it was necessary to do this film.

Q: What was it like working so closely with Ray? JF: It was incredible. You meet a person whose career spans over 50 years, and he’s still young. He was youthful and ready to play. When he met me, he grabbed my fingers and said, “Oh yeah, those are strong fingers.” And we started playing (piano), and it was amazing to see how much he still had it. Right up until he left us, he was on the road all the time performing. To see that energy and enthusiasm still there gave me more energy.

Q: What has Ray Charles left us? JF: He left us everything. When they say “genius” about Ray Charles, he really is, because he took chances. When I was 13 years old, I got caught dancing. I did the “moonwalk,” and this lady was driving by in her car and (she stopped) and said, “Boy, I know you ain’t dancing!” Then she told the preacher, and I had to explain why I was dancing. So to go from that and all the way back to where Ray Charles took gospel music and switched it to R&B, people thought he was going to hell.

Q: Luckily for us, he kept the faith. JF: He said, “I believe that God gave me this talent to sing about my love, to sing about my courage, to sing about my demons.” If he didn’t take those chances, you never know where music would be right now.

Q: How was Ray able to overcome the forces of racism and become such a universally beloved figure?

JF: He connects with the music. Everybody loves Ray Charles’s voice, and that’s how he brought us together. And when they asked how he felt about black and white he said, “I can’t see any of that.”

Q: What events in his life do you think had the great-est impact on Ray?

JF: He would always say it was his mother and brother passing away. One of the last things he was able to see (before he went blind at age 6) was his brother passing away, so those images were burned into his mind. He lived with demons, thinking he had something to do with his brother passing away. Then his mother passed away at a young age. That’s what made him write. That’s what made him get up and go. He knew he had to be successful at this, because he wanted to get rid of those demons and those burdens.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 29, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)