Chris Rock Biography

Chris Rock was making fun his profession by his late teens. He grew up in New York and started performing on the stand-up comedy circuit there. One night while on stage at the New York Comedy Strip, Rock was introduced to veteran comedian Eddie Murphy. Murphy was impressed and cast Rock in 'Beverly Hills Cop II' (1987).

The part was not a moment of immediate fame for Rock, but his connection with Eddie Murphy landed him some supporting roles. Eventually he worked his way on to the cast of NBC’s 'Saturday Night Live', where he stayed for three years from 1990 to 1993.

In a break from comedy, Rock played a rather innocent crack addict and police informant in 'New Jack City' (1991), directed by Mario Van Peebles. Rock's performance was well received and showed a more thoughtful, politically concerned character behind the funny man. Although he was comfortable in front of the camera, Rock had ambitions to do some behind the scene work and achieved this when he wrote the story, screenplay and co-produced 1993's 'CB4'.

Rock's scripts confronted the tensions and politics of modern American society, especially among the African-American communities. In 1996, he cemented his reputation as one of the best comedians in the industry with his second stand-up special for HBO entitled 'Bring the Pain', which was well received. He was rewarded with two Emmy Awards for that special, which saw him tackle race tensions in America, while stirring some controversy along the way.

In 1998, Rock got his own show on HBO, 'The Chris Rock Show', which was followed by 'Bigger & Blacker' (1999), 'Never Scared' (2004) and a fifth HBO special, 'Kill the Messenger' (2008), all of which brightened his star power further.

Ever the energetic artist, Rock was not just concentrating on stand-up comedy. He continued to act, as well as write and produce films including 2000's 'Down to Earth' and 2001's 'Pootie Tang'. 2002 saw him appear alongside Anthony Hopkins in the Joel Schumacher/Jerry Bruckheimer action-comedy film 'Bad Company', which did not perform well at the box office.

This did not deter Rock who continued to star and produce more film and television programmes, including documentaries in which he appeared as himself. His latest lead roles include Aaron in 'Death at a Funeral' (2010), a remake of a 2007 British film of the same title, and Kurt McKenzie in 'Grown Ups', which also starred Adam Sandler.

His success as an actor, scriptwriter and comedian has placed him in exalted company, including on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, where he was voted the ninth greatest in 2007 and moved a step up in the updated 2010 list.