10 Things You Didn't Know About Jamie Foxx

8. He's A Trained Pianist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHKFXlKRzw Foxx played Ray Charles in the biopic Ray in 2004, but the actor himself is actually a trained pianist. He started playing at the age of five, and when he was a teenager, he played piano for his Baptist church. It was actually his grandmother who pushed him to get into music at an early age. "My grandmother said, 'This is how you're going to make your money,'" Foxx explained. He'd later go on to study classical music and composition at United States International University where he received a scholarship. There are some great YouTube videos showing off Foxx's piano skills, and we can see those in a few of his movies like Annie. In terms of his taste in music, Foxx has said that his five favorite songs are "Do Me, Baby" by Prince, "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye, "Always and Forever" by Heatwave, "It's All About the Benjamins" by Sean Combs and "Lady" by Lionel Richie. Though a lot of people know him for acting, Foxx has said that his first love is music, and that was always his dream as a kid. "I just wanted to be a singer," he said. "I wanted to be like Lionel Richie. Like the Winans and the Clark Sisters and Commissioned€”they were the first gospel group who could make the girls come down to the altar; they were the fly guys."