Closing out the celebration of Black History Month, Moorpark College held a live interview with actor Jamie Foxx. The interview took place in the Main Stage Theater on the Moorpark campus.

Foxx is an American actor, singer and comedian. Foxx is known for his acting career, including his Oscar-winning performances in the films “Ray” and “Collateral.”

On Feb. 24, Moorpark College Film Professor Lauren Snowden had the opportunity to interview Foxx with her Cinema class students in the audience.

“I’m so honored for the opportunity. We’re doing this interview with the thanks of the women’s basketball team,” said Snowden.

Foxx’s career is introduced with his role in the 1990 comedy sitcom “In Living Color.”

“In Living Color” featured reoccurring comedic sketches with comedians such as Foxx, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans and Tommy Davidson.

“Being on that show was amazing, but also very challenging so you had to be very serious about being funny. At the time it was only 22 minutes of programming which you had to share with all those comedians,” said Foxx. “It made you purify your acts.”

Continuing on with the startup of his career, Foxx mentioned that his debut in standup comedy began from his third-grade classroom, all from the encouragement of his grandmother.

“My grandmother brokered a deal with my third-grade teachers. My third-grade teacher Ms. Reeves said “At the end of every class of Friday we’re going to give you 10 minutes to do standup comedy,” said Foxx. “By the time I got to the fifth, sixth and seventh-grade everybody from my city would come to hear me do my act in school.”

Foxx’s grandmother making sure that he had the opportunity to succeed in something definitely fueled inspiration in him.

Snowden brought up an important point during the interview about the legacy of Black History Month.

Coming from a Black educator, Foxx wanted to acknowledge the significance of Black History Month.

“Carter G. Woodson started Black History Month in 1926. He’s an incredible journalist and writer,” said Foxx. “The reason he wanted Black History Month is because we were being left out of the history books. You should be proud. Don’t ever tuck your blackness in because it’s beautiful.”

Towards the end of the interview, Snowden introduced a fun idea of a traditional game that Foxx did at another interview in 2004 at James Lipton’s “Inside the Actors Studio.” Lipton would do a questionnaire of 10 questions with his guests. Snowden was curious to see if his responses have changed from his previous questions that he’s answered before.

Foxx was thrilled and willing to see if he had any different responses from before, ending the interview with a comedic matter. Foxx shares one final message for everyone that was viewing the interview.

“This has been an introduction, thank you for being here. To all of you guys out there that have your hopes and your dreams, go get it,” said Foxx. “You have your whole life in front of you.”

To view the recording of the interview with Foxx, click here.