"A man is only as faithful as his options. "

From Crackhead to Comedy Star

Chris Rock is a stand-up comedian and actor.

Rock grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. In high school, he was president of the chess club and led the Black Students League.

Many of us took notice of Rock on the big screen as a pathetically comical, crack-addicted character in New Jack City (1991). If you didn't notice him then he cleaned up well as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. However, he was fired in 1993 as part of regular cast turnover. During that time Rock was having drug problems of his own. Being fired gave Rock the impetus to stop his drug addictions. This was when he began focusing on stand-up comedy.

Rock's stand-up show Bring the Pain began in 1996, and focused on commentaries on race in America and raised much controversy. He has had three HBO comedy shows including, Bring the Pain, Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker, and most recently, Never Scared. Aside from race relations, much of Rock's comedy includes women, marriage, and reflections of his teen years.

Rock has also appeared in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Dogma (1999), Madagascar (2005), and a 2005 remake of The Longest Yard.

Rock married Malaak Compton-Rock, the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, in 1996. The couple have two children, Lola Simone (2002) and Zahra Savannah (2004).