Chris Rock - Wesley in Nurse Betty - Yenra

Biography, Filmography

Picture of Chris RockChris Rock (Wesley) is one of his generation's strongest comedic voices. He has won three Emmy Awards as well as two Grammys.

He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and began honing his skills on the comedy club circuit, then joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1989. During his three-year stint on the program, he created such memorable characters as Nat X ("The Nat X Show") and Onski ("I'm Chillin'"). Rock also made several guest appearances on the Fox Network's In Living Color during the 1993-94 season.

More recently, for four seasons, Rock has had his own weekly HBO series, which is one of the network's highest-rated and most-talked-about programs. In 1999 the program earned him the third of his Emmy Awards. Also for the network, he has headlined three acclaimed, top-rated standup-comedy specials: Chris Rock: Big Ass Jokes (which won a CableACE Award), Bring the Pain (which earned him his first two Emmys), and Bigger & Blacker. Also for television, he has twice hosted the MTV Video Music Awards (in 1997 and 1999); he's contributed to ABC's Politically Incorrect, as a presidential campaign correspondent; and he serves as executive producer of the hit UPN sitcom The Hughleys.

Rock has expanded into other mediums: print and recordings. His debut book (Rock This!) made both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal bestseller lists in 1997. He is the publisher of The Illtop Journal, a new quarterly humor magazine based at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University.

Recordings of his last two standup-comedy specials, with additional material, have been issued on CD. He has earned Grammy Awards for his recordings Roll with the New and Bigger & Blacker.

In film Rock wrote, produced, and starred in CB4, directed by Tamra Davis. His other film credits include Tony Scott's Beverly Hills Cop II and Mario Van Peebles's New Jack City and Panther.

Additional credits include a starring role opposite Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon 4, as well as a part in Kevin Smith's ensemble film Dogma.

Rock will next be seen starring in Paul and Chris Weitz's I Was Made to Love Her, which he cowrote, and he will be heard, in voiceover, starring in Tom Sito and Piet Kroon's Osmosis Jones.

Filmography