Jamie Foxx Talks 'In Living Color' and Jennifer Lopez

 

In Disney-Pixar’s latest gem Soul, Jamie Foxx voices Joe, an unfulfilled middle-school band teacher who finally gets his big break as a jazz musician — the same day he steps into a pothole and comes to in the spiritual form, desperate to escape the afterlife and return to his body.

The premise gave us an excuse to talk to the film’s star-studded cast about their own big breaks in show business, which thankfully did not include any potholes, though some still had some pretty low wages.

For Foxx, it was auditioning for In Living Color at the famed Laugh Factory comedy club in West Hollywood, Calif.

“In the audience is Keenan Ivory Wayans, Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, all the Fly Girls,” he recalls. “And I go up on stage and I get a standing ovation. And then the next day I get a call that says ‘You gonna be on a show called In Living Color.’ That was what I needed, and once I got on the show, it was interesting because I was the eighth funniest person.” (Fans of Wanda might disagree.)

But if all the Fly Girls were at Foxx’s audition, that had to include one of the dance troupe’s own future stars, Jennifer Lopez?

“Jennifer Lopez was there,” Foxx says. “It was interesting because we were both rookies on the show. And I remember seeing her, and I say to her, ‘Hey, I have a girlfriend, I’m not hitting on you, but you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. But we became friends because we were the rookies on the show.”

Jamie Foxx has so much love for his former co-star "In Living Color." At the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards, the "Just Mercy" star talked about the time he and the "Hustlers" actress both got their big break on the sketch show as a performer and a Fly Girl, respectively. "She used to say, 'One day, J. One day.' Because we were both freshmen on that show. Sometimes they would give her a hard time because she was so beautiful. And I said … 'Your beauty ain't gonna get in the way. You are absolutely amazing," he recalled to Access Hollywood's Zuri Hall. Jamie also went into family man mode as his father Darrell and his kids Corinne and Anelise joined his interview, and he gushed over his younger daughter's impressive basketball skills!