10 Things You Didn't Know About Jamie Foxx

7. He Was A Quarterback in High School

Foxx was big into football as a teenager, playing as a quarterback at Terrell High School. In fact, he was the first player ever in Terell's history to pass for more than 1,000 yards. His dream was to play in the Dallas Cowboys, but fans can be thankful that didn't happen and he decided to go into acting instead. "I've been a sports fan all my life, and like most other actors, I'm convinced I could have been a pro athlete if Hollywood hadn't come calling," Foxx said. His debut as a dramatic actor was in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. He was cast in his role as a football player partially because of his real life football background, so it did end up coming in handy even when he made the transition to Hollywood. In fact, while his audition for the movie wasn't great, he put together a reel showing off his football skills, and that's what helped him land the part. To this day, he says that Any Given Sunday is his favorite sports movie he's done, saying that the experience of filming the movie was like being on an actual football team. In Any Given Sunday, he completely committed to the role of a football player, and Oliver Stone said of his performance that "the physicality was absolutely genuine."