Chris Rock

For the English comedian, see Crissy Rock.

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This article might be using a American English for its pagename. (December 2022)

Chris Rock
Birth name	Christopher Julius Rock III
Born	(1965-02-07) February 7, 1965
Birth place	Andrews, South Carolina, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up film television
Years active	1984–present
Genres	Observational comedy black comedy sketch comedy insult comedy sarcasm satire
Subject(s)	American politics African-American culture current events human sexuality marriage pop culture race relations racism
Spouses	Malaak Compton ​ ​ (m. 1996; div. 2016)​
Relatives	Tony Rock (brother)
Website	chrisrock.com

Christopher Julius Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, singer and songwriter. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best comedy album and four Primetime Emmy Awards as well as 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.

After years working as a stand-up comedian and appearing in minor film roles including Beverly Hills Cop II, Rock gained prominence as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1993. While at SNL he appeared in films New Jack City, Boomerang and CB4, which he also wrote and produced. He reached mainstream stardom with the critically acclaimed Bring the Pain in 1996, the second of his five HBO comedy specials. His other HBO comedy specials include Bigger & Blacker (1999), Never Scared (2004), Kill the Messenger (2008), and Chris Rock: Tamborine (2018). 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, which gained critical acclaim for Rock's interviews with celebrities and politicians.

Rock was cast in starring film roles in Nurse Betty (1999), Down to Earth, Pootie Tang (both 2001), Head of State (2003), The Longest Yard (2005), the Madagascar film series (2005–2012), I Think I Love My Wife (2007), Death at a Funeral, Grown Ups (both 2010), its sequel Grown Ups 2 (2013), Top Five (2014) and Spiral (2021). He is known for his appearances in television including Louie, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Fargo. He made his Broadway theater debut in the 2011 Stephen Adly Guirgis play The Motherfucker with the Hat for which he received Drama League Award for Most Distinguished Performance. He hosted the Academy Awards twice; in 2005 and 2016, and was involved in an incident on stage at the 2022 Awards.

Early life

Christopher Julius Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina on February 7, 1965. 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. His mother, Rosalie (née Tingman), was a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped; his father, Julius Rock, was a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman. Julius died in 1988 after ulcer surgery.

Rock is the eldest of his parents' seven children (six boys and one girl), and he had an older paternal half-brother, Charles Ledell Rock, who died in 2006 after suffering from alcoholism. Rock's younger brothers Tony, Kenny, and Jordan 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. 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.

Rock was bused to schools in predominantly white neighborhoods of Brooklyn, where he endured bullying and beatings from white students. As he grew older, the bullying worsened and Rock's parents pulled him out of James Madison High School. 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.

Career

Early work

Rock began working as a stand-up comic during 1984 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star. 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. Rock rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the TV series Miami Vice.

Comedic style and views

Rock's subject matter typically involves family, politics, romance, music, celebrities, and race relations in the United States. Though not strictly autobiographical, much of his comic standpoint seems rooted in his teenage experience; his strict parents, concerned about the inadequacies of the local school system, arranged to have the adolescent Rock bused to a nearly all-white high school in Bensonhurst. In his memoir Rock This, he recalls, "My parents assumed I'd get a better education in a better neighborhood. What I actually got was a worse education in a worse neighborhood. And a whole bunch of ass-whippings."

Rock has not wavered from a position explored in his 1996 Roll With The New show, and reiterated in his 1997 memoir: "Why does the public expect entertainers to behave better than everybody else? It's ridiculousTemplate:Tsp[[[:Template:Hsp]].Template:Hsp.Template:Hsp. of] course, this is just for black entertainers. You don't see anyone telling Jerry Seinfeld he's a good role model. Because everyone expects whites to behave themselvesTemplate:Tsp[[[:Template:Hsp]].Template:Hsp.Template:Hsp. nowadays,] you've got to be an entertainer and a leader. It's too much." Often the subject of tabloids, when asked about paparazzi and the other negative aspects of fame, Rock says he accepts the bad with the good: "You can't be happy that fire cooks your food and be mad it burns your fingertips."

At the London Live Earth concert on July 7, 2007, which was broadcast live on the BBC, before introducing the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rock called the crowd "motherfuckers" and said "shit", and after a brief pause said he was joking. Due to the broadcast being at 5:45Template:Nbspp.m., Rock was immediately cut off, and the BBC made several apologies for his use of the word "motherfucker".

Chris Rock has been an avid fan of the New York Mets baseball team since childhood. He complained that his team "had no money" during a 2011 interview with David Letterman.

During a 2008 rant on his Kill the Messenger tour, Rock labeled George W. Bush as "the worst president ever".

In May 2021, Rock voiced opposition to cancel culture. He said that it has led to "boring" and "unfunny" material from comedians. He also commented that there is an existing built-in mechanism for audiences informing comedians that their content does not work, like the audience not laughing at their jokes. Rock went on to say "Everybody's scared to make a move. That's not a place to be. You know, we should have the right to fail because failureTemplate:Tsp.Template:Hsp.Template:Hsp. failure is a part of art."

Rock has said that he was influenced by the performing style of his paternal grandfather, Allen Rock, a preacher. Rock's comedy influences are Bill Cosby, Redd Foxx, Dick Gregory, Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Pigmeat Markham, Woody Allen, Bill Maher, Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison, George Carlin, Mort Sahl, and Rodney Dangerfield.

Comedians who have cited Rock as an influence include Dave Chappelle, Christian Finnegan, George Lopez, Kevin Hart, and Trevor Noah.

Personal life

File:Chris Rock Alpine.jpg

Chris Rock's home in Alpine, New Jersey

Rock married Malaak Compton-Rock on November 23, 1996. Compton-Rock is the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, a non-profit, full-service hair salon that provides free services for women leaving welfare and entering the workforce. The couple lived in Alpine, New Jersey with their two daughters. In December 2014, Rock filed for divorce from Compton-Rock. Rock admitted to infidelity in the marriage, as well as struggling with a pornography addiction. The divorce was finalized on August 22, 2016.

Rock has campaigned against the racial profiling of African-Americans, and often speaks of the everyday racism he experiences “despite being famous”. In a 2013 episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Jerry Seinfeld, Rock and Seinfeld are pulled over by the police for speeding while Seinfeld was driving. In the episode Rock admits to Seinfeld that "If you weren't here, I'd be scared. Yeah, I'm famous – still black." In 2015, Rock was pulled over three times in the first three months of the year. Each time Rock posted a selfie of the incident, without further comment as to the reason for the stops or whether he was issued a citation.

On August 20, 2019, Rock, along with several other celebrities, invested in a funding round for Lowell Herb Co, a California cannabis brand. He is known to be "a dedicated cannabis consumer".

On September 18, 2020, Rock said that he was diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disorder, a neurological condition that makes it difficult for him to understand non-verbal social cues.

On September 19, 2021, Rock announced on Twitter that he had been tested positive for COVID-19. He strongly advocated getting vaccinated to his followers.

On July 7, 2022 it was reported that Rock had started dating actress, screenwriter and director Lake Bell.

Filmography

Main article(s): Chris Rock filmography

Discography

Comedy albums

• Born Suspect (Atlantic Records, 1991)
• Roll with the New (DreamWorks Records, 1997)
• Bigger & Blacker (DreamWorks Records, 1999)
• Never Scared (DreamWorks Records/Geffen Records, 2004)
• Tamborine (Netflix Studios, LLC., 2018)

Standup specials

• Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes (released on HBO, 1994)
• Chris Rock: Bring the Pain (released on HBO, 1996)
• Chris Rock: Bigger & Blacker (released on HBO, 1999)
• Chris Rock: Never Scared (released on HBO, 2004)
• Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger (released on HBO, 2008)
• Chris Rock: Tamborine (released on Netflix 2018)

Awards and nominations

Main article(s): List of awards and nominations received by Chris Rock

Book

• Rock This! (Hyperion Books, 1997) –

External links

Template:Sisterlinks

• Official website
• Chris Rock on IMDb
• Template:Charlie Rose view

Preceded by Dennis Miller Ben Stiller Jimmy Fallon

MTV Video Music Awards host 1997 1999 2003

Succeeded by Ben Stiller Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans no host

Template:Chris Rock

v - e - dAwards for Chris Rock

Template:Black Reel Award for Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted or Original v - e - dPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series (1990–1999) Billy Crystal / Jerry Belson, James L. Brooks, Marc Flanagan, Dinah Kirgo, Jay Kogen, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Heide Perlman, Ian Praiser, Sam Simon, Tracey Ullman and Wallace Wolodarsky (1990, tie) Billy Crystal, Hal Kanter, Buz Kohan, David Steinberg, Bruce Vilanch and Robert Wuhl (1991) No award (1992) Judd Apatow, Robert Cohen, David Cross, Brent Forrester, Jeff Kahn, Bruce Kirschbaum, Bob Odenkirk, Sultan Pepper, Dino Stamatopoulos and Ben Stiller (1993) No award (1994) No award (1995) David Feldman, Eddie Feldmann, Mike Gandolfi, Tom Hertz, Leah Krinsky, Dennis Miller and Rick Overton (1996) Chris Rock (1997) Jose Arroyo, David Feldman, Eddie Feldmann, Jim Hanna, Leah Krinsky, Dennis Miller and David Weiss (1998) Tom Agna, Vernon Chatman, Louis C.K., Lance Crouther, Gregory Greenberg, Ali LeRoi, Steve O'Donnell, Chris Rock, Frank Sebastiano, Chuck Sklar, Jeff Stilson, Wanda Sykes and Mike Upchurch (1999) Complete list (1957–1969) (1970–1979) (1980–1989) (1990–1999) (2000–2009) (2010–2019) (2020–present) v - e - dPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special 1971–1978 Bob Ellison and Marty Farrell (1971) Anne Howard Bailey (1972) Joseph Bologna and Renée Taylor (1973) Rosalyn Drexler, Ann Elder, Karyl Geld Miller, Robert Illes, Lorne Michaels, Richard Pryor, Jim Rusk, Herb Sargent, James R. Stein, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Rod Warren and George Yanok (1974) John Bradford, Cy Coleman and Robert Wells (1975) Ann Elder, Christopher Guest, Lorne Michaels, Earl Pomerantz, Jim Rusk, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Rod Warren and George Yanok (1976) Buz Kohan and Ted Strauss (1977) Chevy Chase, Tom Davis, Al Franken, Charles Grodin, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, Lily Tomlin and Alan Zweibel (1978) 2009–present Chris Rock (2009) Dave Boone and Paul Greenberg (2010) Dave Boone, Matt Roberts and Mo Rocca (2011) Louis C.K. (2012) Louis C.K. (2013) Sarah Silverman (2014) Louis C.K. (2015) Patton Oswalt (2016) Samantha Bee, Ashley Nicole Black, Pat Cassels, Eric Drysdale, Mathan Erhardt, Travon Free, Joe Grossman, Miles Kahn, Jo Miller and Melinda Taub (2017) John Mulaney (2018) Hannah Gadsby (2019) Dave Chappelle (2020) Bo Burnham (2021) Jerrod Carmichael (2022) v - e - dGrammy Award for Best Comedy Album 1959−1980 "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" – Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (1959) The Battle of Kookamonga – Homer and Jethro / Inside Shelley Berman – Shelley Berman (1960) Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris – Jo Stafford & Paul Weston / The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back! – Bob Newhart (1961) An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May – Elaine May & Mike Nichols (1962) The First Family – Vaughn Meader (1963) "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" – Allan Sherman (1964) I Started Out as a Child – Bill Cosby (1965) Why Is There Air? – Bill Cosby (1966) Wonderfulness – Bill Cosby (1967) Revenge – Bill Cosby (1968) To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With – Bill Cosby (1969) Sports – Bill Cosby (1970) The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress – Flip Wilson (1971) This Is A Recording – Lily Tomlin (1972) FM & AM – George Carlin (1973) Los Cochinos – Cheech & Chong (1974) That's Crazy – Richard Pryor (1975) ...Is It Something I Said? – Richard Pryor (1976) Bicentennial – Richard Pryor (1977) Let's Get Small – Steve Martin (1978) A Wild and Crazy Guy – Steve Martin (1979) Reality...What a Concept – Robin Williams (1980) 1981−2000 No Respect – Rodney Dangerfield (1981) Rev. Du Rite – Richard Pryor (1982) Live on the Sunset Strip – Richard Pryor (1983) Eddie Murphy: Comedian – Eddie Murphy (1984) "Eat It" – "Weird Al" Yankovic (1985) Whoopi Goldberg (Original Broadway Show Recording) – Whoopi Goldberg (1986) Those of You with or Without Children, You'll Understand – Bill Cosby (1987) A Night at the Met – Robin Williams (1988) Good Morning, Vietnam – Robin Williams (1989) P.D.Q. Bach: 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults – Peter Schickele (1990) P.D.Q. Bach: Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities – Peter Schickele (1991) P.D.Q. Bach: WTWP Classical Talkity-Talk Radio – Peter Schickele (1992) P.D.Q. Bach: Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion – Peter Schickele (1993) Jammin' in New York – George Carlin (1994) Live from Hell – Sam Kinison (1995) Crank(y) Calls – Jonathan Winters (1996) Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations – Al Franken (1997) Roll with the New – Chris Rock (1998) The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 – Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner (1999) Bigger & Blacker – Chris Rock (2000) 2001−2020 Brain Droppings – George Carlin (2001) Napalm & Silly Putty – George Carlin (2002) Robin Williams: Live on Broadway – Robin Williams (2003) Poodle Hat – "Weird Al" Yankovic (2004) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents ... America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction – Jon Stewart and the cast of The Daily Show (2005) Never Scared – Chris Rock (2006) The Carnegie Hall Performance – Lewis Black (2007) The Distant Future – Flight of the Conchords (2008) It's Bad for Ya – George Carlin (2009) A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! – Stephen Colbert (2010) Stark Raving Black – Lewis Black (2011) Hilarious – Louis C.K. (2012) Blow Your Pants Off – Jimmy Fallon (2013) Calm Down Gurrl – Kathy Griffin (2014) Mandatory Fun – "Weird Al" Yankovic (2015) Live at Madison Square Garden – Louis C.K. (2016) Talking for Clapping – Patton Oswalt (2017) The Age of Spin & Deep in the Heart of Texas – Dave Chappelle (2018) Equanimity & The Bird Revelation – Dave Chappelle (2019) Sticks and Stones – Dave Chappelle (2020) 2021−present Black Mitzvah – Tiffany Haddish (2021) Sincerely Louis CK – Louis C.K. (2022) The Closer – Dave Chappelle (2023)