Mike Epps

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, into a large family, Epps’ natural comedic ability was encouraged at an early age, and he began performing standup as a teenager. He moved to Atlanta where he worked at the Comedy Act Theater, before moving to New York City to star in Def Comedy Jam in 1995. His first major film role came just two years later when he starred in Vin Diesel’s Strays, a dramatic portrayal of relationships and drugs. In 1999, he made an appearance on the HBO mafia series The Sopranos.

In addition to his aforementioned film work with Ice Cube, Epps had several other feature-film appearances. In 2000, he was featured in Bait, starring Jamie Foxx and David Morse, and in the jail-comedy 3 Strikes. He performed the voice of Sonny in Dr. Dolittle 2, starring Eddie Murphy, in 2001. As he gained more recognition, his comedic talent began to blossom, as demonstrated in his two 2002 features: Kevin Bray’s All About the Benjamins, an action-packed comedy, and the sequel-to-the-sequel, Friday After Next, in which he starred as Day-Day.

Mike Epps hosts the 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards.
[edit] Personal life

He married Michelle McCain in 2006. Oldest child, Breana R. Caldwell, born 5/9/1991 to Yolanda V. Sharp. He is also the cousin of actor Omar Epps
[edit] Career

By 1995, Mike Epps ended up on the Def Comedy Jam tour and starred in two of HBO’s Def Comedy Jam broadcasts. With a stop along the way to appear in actor Vin Diesel’s directorial debut Strays (1997), Mike Epps was well on his way to becoming one of the bigger names in stand-up.

He appeared in an episode of The Sopranos in 1999, the same year the comedian was cast as Ice Cube’s co-star (effectively, Chris Tucker’s replacement) in the Friday sequel Next Friday. Epps headed for Los Angeles, where he invited Ice Cube to catch his stand-up set. Impressed, the rapper-actor-producer asked Epps to try out for the part of Day-Day, which he landed after weeks of auditions.

Opening at Number One on the box-office charts, Next Friday was a breakthrough for the new actor, who was already familiar to much of the audience from his stand-up work. Epps played the ineffectual Day-Day, a timid, stressed-out character stalked by his obsessive ex-girlfriend (Tamala Jones) and her brutish younger sister Baby D (Lady of Rage). Day-Day also smoked a lot with his co-worker (Justin Pierce). Later that year, he had a cameo in DJ Pooh’s 3 Strikes and supported Jamie Foxx in the action comedy Bait.

Epps began 2001 with a voice role in the family comedy Dr. Dolittle 2 and finished the year with a featured role as comical pimp Baby Powder in How High, starring hip-hop artists Redman and Method Man. Epps played the bumbling thief to Ice Cube’s bounty hunter in the action comedy All About The Benjamins in 2002 and again re-teamed with the rapper/actor/filmmaker in the continuing Friday saga’s latest entry Friday After Next (2002).

Other notable movie roles include The Fighting Temptations with Cuba Gooding, Jr., Guess Who (the 2005 remake of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner with Bernie Mac), Resident Evil: Apocalypse, its sequel Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), the 2005 remake of The Honeymooners with Cedric the Entertainer, and Roll Bounce (playing one of two garbage men along with Charlie Murphy). Mike Epps recently had a small part in the song A Bay Bay by Hurricane Chris doing the Rick James move. He also hosted a Jim Jones and Skull Gang album entitled Jim Jones & Skull Gang Present A Tribute To Bad Santa Starring Mike Epps. He has also made a song called «Trying To Be a Gangsta» with Pooh Bear.

He also has a song entitled «Big Girls» which came out in 2008. It was originally recorded by rapper Bow Wow and featuring Yung Joc. The song is currently on iTunes.