Jamie Foxx starred as Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray. Released in 2004, the movie traces roughly three decades of the musician’s life, from his childhood and blindness to his emergence as a major force in American rhythm and blues, soul, and popular music.
Directed by Taylor Hackford, Ray features Foxx performing as Charles alongside Kerry Washington, Regina King, and Terrence Howard. Foxx prepared extensively for the role, including studying archival footage and wearing prosthetic eyes that kept him unable to see during much of the filming. His piano skills were especially useful because he had studied classical piano on a scholarship.
Foxx won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the performance, while the film also won for Best Sound Mixing. Ray Charles died in June 2004, several months before the movie’s theatrical premiere. The film focuses mainly on Charles’s years from 1935 to 1965, with a final scene set in 1979. It is sometimes confused with Walk the Line, another music biopic, which portrays Johnny Cash.