Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker.

Rock first gained prominence for his stand-up routines in the 1980s, where he tackled subjects
including race relations, human sexuality, and observational comedy. His success branched off into
productions in film, television, and on-stage, having received multiple accolades including
three Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe
Award nomination. He was ranked No. 5 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of
All Time. He also ranked No. 5 on Rolling Stone's list of the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time.[1]
After years working as a stand-up comedian and appearing in minor film roles including Beverly Hills
Cop II (1987), Rock gained prominence as a cast member on the NBC sketch
comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1993. While at SNL, he appeared in the films New
Jack City (1991), Boomerang (1992) and CB4 (1993), which he also wrote and produced. He
reached mainstream stardom with Bring the Pain in 1996. Rock continued making specials which
include Bigger & Blacker (1999), Never Scared (2004), Kill the
Messenger (2008), Tamborine (2018), and Selective Outrage (2023). He developed, wrote,
produced and narrated the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris (2005–2009), which was based on his
early life. From 1997 to 2000 HBO aired his talk show The Chris Rock Show.
Rock was cast in starring film roles in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Dogma (1999), The Longest
Yard (2005), the Madagascar franchise (2005–2012), I Think I Love My Wife (2007), Grown
Ups (2010), Death at a Funeral (2010), Top Five (2014), The Week
Of (2018), Spiral (2021), Amsterdam (2022), and Rustin (2023). He has taken roles on television
including Empire, Kevin Can Wait, and Fargo. He made his Broadway theater debut in the
2011 Stephen Adly Guirgis play The Motherfucker with the Hat. He has hosted the Academy
Awards twice; in 2005 and 2016, and was slapped on stage by Will Smith at the 2022 Awards.

Early life
Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina on February 7, 1965,.[2] Shortly after his birth, his parents
moved to the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. A few years later, they relocated
and settled in the working class area of Bedford–Stuyvesant.[3] His mother, Rosalie (née Tingman),
was a teacher and social worker for people with developmental disabilities; his father, Julius Rock,
was a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman.[4] Julius died in 1988 after ulcer surgery.[2]
Rock is the eldest of his parents' seven children (six boys and one girl),[5] and he had an older
paternal half-brother, Charles Ledell Rock, who died in 2006 after suffering from alcoholism.[6]
[7]
Rock's younger brothers Tony,[8] Kenny,[9] and Jordan[10] are also in the entertainment business.
Rock's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2 in 2008. A DNA
test showed that he is of Cameroonian descent, specifically from the Udeme (Ouldémé) people
of northern Cameroon.[11] Rock's great-great-grandfather, Julius Caesar Tingman, was enslaved for
21 years before serving in the American Civil War as part of the United States Colored Troops.
During the 1940s, Rock's paternal grandfather moved from South Carolina to New York City to
become a taxicab driver and preacher.[12]
Rock was bused to schools in predominantly white neighborhoods of Brooklyn, where he endured
bullying and beatings from white students.[13][14][15] As he grew older, the bullying worsened and Rock's
parents pulled him out of James Madison High School.[15] He dropped out of high school altogether,
but he later earned a General Educational Development (GED). Rock then worked various jobs at
fast-food restaurants.[13][14]

Career
1984–1999: Saturday Night Live and standup
 Rock was a cast member on Saturday Night
Live (1990–1993)
Rock began working as a stand-up comic during 1984 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star.
[13]
Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy befriended and mentored the aspiring comic.
Murphy gave Rock his first film role and big break in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987).[16] Rock rose up the
ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
and the TV series Miami Vice.
Rock was a cast member of the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1993. He
and other new cast members Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade became
known as the Bad Boys of SNL.[9][17][18] In 1991, he released his first comedy album, Born Suspect and
won acclaim for his role as a crack addict in the film New Jack City. His tenure on SNL gave Rock
national exposure. (Rock has hosted SNL three times; in 1996, 2014 and 2020.)

Rock in 1995
With plans to leave Saturday Night Live after the 1992–93 season, Rock was effectively "fired" from
the show.[19][20] Beginning that fall, he appeared in six episodes of the predominantly African American
sketch show In Living Color as a special guest star.[21] The show was canceled a month after he
arrived.[19] Rock then wrote and starred in the low-budget comedy CB4, which made $18 million
against its budget of $6 million.[22] He signed on as client of 3 Arts Entertainment.[23]
Rock headlined his first HBO comedy special in 1994, titled Big Ass Jokes, as part of HBO Comedy
Half-Hour. His second special, 1996's Bring the Pain, made Rock one of the most acclaimed and
commercially successful comedians in the industry.[24][25] Rock won two Emmy Awards for the special
and gained large critical acclaim.[26] A controversial part of the special was "Niggas vs. Black People".
[26]
For his much-publicized role as a commentator for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect during
the 1996 Presidential elections,[24] he earned another Emmy nomination.[27] 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 to 1998,[24] and hosted the '97 MTV Video Music Awards.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.[28]
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[29] and Entertainment Weekly.[30] 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.[31] 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. Rock's fifth HBO special, Kill the Messenger, premiered
on September 27, 2008, and won him another Emmy for outstanding writing for a variety or music
program.[32]
It was not until the success of his stand-up act in the late 1990s that Rock began receiving leading
man status in films. He began the decade with supporting roles in such films as New Jack
City (1991) as crack addict Pookie, in the Eddie Murphy comedy Boomerang (1992), the Steve
Martin comedy Sgt. Bilko (1996) as well as Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).
He also appeared in the Kevin Smith fantasy comedy film Dogma (1999). The film received positive
reviews and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film starred an ensemble cast with actors
such as Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, and George Carlin.

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Rock