Early life

Cox was born in Manhattan, New York, to Joe and Henrietta Jones Cox. He spent his childhood in Uniontown, Alabama, with his grandmother and grandfather, Lottie and Henry Jones. His mother, Mrs. Henretta Cox-Penn, and stepfather, Rudolph (Rudy) Penn, live in College Park, Georgia. By the age of 10 he became an avid drummer. He met his future wife, Otelia, during high school. They were eventually married in 1981 when Cox was 23 years old.

After graduation from high school, Cox attended the University of Alabama and originally planned to study music. Cox said in a 2003 interview with Jet magazine, "I played by ear. It was exactly like in Drumline. I played against some of the drummers from the school, and they didn't have anything on me. I just couldn't read music."

Career

Shortly thereafter, Cox decided to pursue acting after watching Billy Barty, a dwarf who was an actor and also founder of the organization Little People of America. Encouraged by relatives and friends, he moved to Los Angeles at age 18. He began taking classes at the Merrick Studio School of Acting with Actress De De Tillman and soon began working in commercials, film, and television roles. He is perhaps better known for his roles in Bad Santa where he played Marcus, the brains of a safe cracking team, and in Date Movie where he played a parody of Dr. Hitch from Hitch. As second lead to Billy Bob Thornton, Cox's role in Bad Santa in which his character gradually changed from the main character's friend to his adversary was his first and only role as a main character (as of 2015).

Cox also appeared on the TV show Martin in the first season, playing the character Bennie, in which he helps his friend Trey, played by Bushwick Bill, beat up Tommy played by Thomas Mikal Ford, over Tommy allegedly "stealing" his ex-girlfriend.

Filmography

• Nice Dreams(1981)
• Penitentary 2 (1982)
• Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984)
• Faerie Tale Theatre (1984)
• Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985)
• Captain EO (1986)
• Midget Fight (1986)
• Valet Girls (1986)
• Hollywood Zap! (1986)
• Spaceballs (1987)
• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
• Beetlejuice (1988)
• Willow (1988)
• Spaced Invaders (1990)
• Leprechaun 2 (1994)
• Blankman (1994)
• The Silence of the Hams (1994)
• Friday (1995)
• Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
• Back by Midnight (2002)
• The Hebrew Hammer (2003)
• Bad Santa (2003)
• Rescue Me (2004)
• Date Movie (2006)
• Epic Movie (2007)
• Who's Your Caddy? (2007)
• Disaster Movie (2008)
• The Warrior's Way (2010)
• The Legend of Awesomest Maximus (2010)
• Psych (2010)
• Meet Monica Velour (2010)
• A Fairly Odd Christmas (2012)
• Partysaurus Rex (2012)
• Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
• White T (2013)
• Strange Magic (2015)
• Bad Santa 2 (2016)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]