Chris Tucker Biography
Summary
"Christopher Tucker" (born August 31, 1972) is an American actor and comedian.
Biography
Early life
Tucker was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Mary, who was involved in church work, and Norris Tucker, who owned a janitorial service. Tucker was raised in Decatur, Georgia. After graduating from Columbia High School, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy.
Through DNA tests (as aired on the 2006 PBS documentary "African American Lives"), his paternal ancestry was traced back to the Mbundu ethnic group of Angola and his mother's to Cameroon; Tucker has also managed to trace his family tree back to the 1830s. The test also showed that Tucker's ancestry is 83 percent Sub-Saharan African, 10 percent Native American, and 7 percent European. Tucker traveled to Angola and Cameroon, the birthplace of his ancestors, with the program's host, Henry Louis Gates.
Career
Tucker's first major movie role was alongside rapper Ice Cube in the 1995 cult favorite "Friday". He also starred with Charlie Sheen in 1997's "Money Talks" and alongside Bruce Willis in "The Fifth Element" in the same year. He later starred in the 1998 martial arts action comedy "Rush Hour" and its sequels, "Rush Hour 2" and "Rush Hour 3", in which he played James Carter, an abrasive, wise-cracking detective. Realising the success of the first "Rush Hour" film, Tucker held out from studio bosses until they paid his price tag of $20 million for "Rush Hour 2", which also became an enormous success. The other star, Jackie Chan, received $15 million and gross points.
Tucker's last two films were "Rush Hour" and its sequel. His latest appearance was the third film in the hit franchise, which was released on August 10, 2007. Despite a flurry at the start of his career, he has only made three film appearances since 1998, all as Detective James Carter. Tucker's career trajectory was unusual in that, while he has made such a relatively small number of films, he has already become a member of the unofficial '20 million per film' club, joining such actors as Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Tucker signed a two movie contract with New Line Cinema for 40 million dollars to star in "Rush Hour 3" and another unnamed film. He is also to receive 20% of the gross against his salary from the 3rd "Rush Hour" film.
Tucker continues to perform stand-up comedy. He also appears occasionally at charity concerts and functions and is dedicated to helping bring attention to African poverty and hunger issues in the U.S.
Personal life
Tucker is real life friends with "Rush Hour" co-star Jackie Chan and singer Michael Jackson, and appeared in Jackson's video 'You Rock My World' (2001) and on the intro of the track on the Album (Invincible). He also appeared at the beginning of the music video for 'California Love' by Tupac Shakur. He is also a friend of Bill Clinton and traveled with the former President overseas. He has also been romantically linked to Neo-Soul/R&B Singer India Arie as of 2007.
Tucker is a fan of his hometown Atlanta Braves.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Chris Tucker.
