BORN Eric Bishop, Jamie Foxx changed his name when he started his career as an entertainer.

After honing his stand-up routine and branching out into acting, he eventually combined it with his first love, music, when he recorded an album, Peep This, in 1994.

He was a regular on the hit TV show In Living Color, which also featured Jim Carrey, and in 1996 he had his own series, The Jamie Foxx Show.

On the big screen Foxx has earned the respect of some of the greatest directors working today - Oliver Stone cast him as a football player in Any Given Sunday, Michael Mann chose him as Muhammad Ali's corner man Drew Bundini Brown in Ali and, more recently, as the taxi driver hijacked by a killer in the highly acclaimed thriller Collateral opposite Tom Cruise.

For his latest role as Ray Charles, he underwent a remarkable physical transformation, shedding 30lbs and spending at least 12 hours of every day with his own eyes sealed with prosthetics during filming.

He has been nominated for an Oscar - and this year seems to be the safe bet for Best Actor.

Q Ray Charles Robinson - he dropped the last name because he didn't want to be confused with the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson - died in June, 2004, at the age of 73. You look so much like Ray and you even move like him. Where did you get the movement from?

The movement I got from watching him walk and recording him when he was not Ray Charles - he was just Ray Robinson - in his studio. I said "this is what I need". Now when we see him on The Sonny and Cher Show or on other TV shows, he's Ray.

But, when he's just sitting there, not on camera, he spreads his legs and he listens to you like this (cocks his head) and he is listening very attentively and, as he is listening, there is a hand on the piano, not hitting the notes, but you know there is a song going on in his head and you know there are two things going on at the same time.

And then when you get through talking to him, he would give his answer and then go back to what he was thinking.

So, it was those things, the nuances that you need in order to play him.

Q When you met him, did you talk to him about his infamous womanising?

I tried. It's just a sea of women, drugs, what was going on at the time. He was young, that was the thing.

You have to understand that Ray Charles was a young whippersnapper who looked good. He may not have had his eyes, but he looked great, he was sharp, he was smart and women were attracted to him.

Q He was addicted to heroin for more than 20 years. What's your view on the drugs?

Everybody did them. You have to understand that heroin at that time was the drug of choice for musicians. Look at Charlie Parker, look at all those guys and girls at that time, heroin was chic.

It also opened you up as a musician. Any musician knows, it was like "a little bit of something I need in order to expand the music".

That's why it always goes hand-in-hand. You see rock 'n' roll artists, you see drugs. You see jazz artists, maybe a different drug, but it was that state of mind.

Q Let's talk about the preparation. Is it true you worked with a trainer to get your weight down?

Yeah, man, he changed my metabolism. I'm 190lbs and I had to lose 30lbs. And the first 15 was like "yeah, ok" and he was like "yeah, but you have 15 more to do, but I've got something for you", and he introduced me to these regiments of eating and also fasting a little bit, changing my metabolism. And I got down to 157lbs and I could eat a cow and not gain any weight.

He is an incredible man. I'm going to do this cookbook with him, and he said that the thing is a lot of the diet programmes out there right now don't want you to lose weight. He believes they want you to bounce back and forth so you keep buying the stuff.

Q What happened with your eyes. You covered them up during filming so you couldn't see. How did that come about?

The director was suggesting how we deal with the eyes and he said "shall we go blind?" I said "let's put prosthetics on, so I can't see". And I couldn't see anything for a month-and-a-half.

It was claustrophobic. I hyperventilated a few times because you're thinking "I can't open my eyes!" and I couldn't. Even during lunch people forget that you can't see. "That's lunch!" and they would forget me and I would be like "hey, isn't somebody going to get me?"

I couldn't take it off because it would take another four hours to put back on. I had to sleep, I had to eat, everything was like darkness all day long. I never saw the sunlight, it was amazing, but I never saw the sunlight for a month-and-a-half.

Q How does this role compare to the rest of your work?

I look at Any Given Sunday and I was learning. I was learning at a fast pace and it was Oliver Stone, who is a great director, giving me that opportunity to work with big folks. On Ali it was Michael Mann and working with big folks. And then Taylor Hackford, and now I know how to do it.

I know how to do the timing and really, really make it work. I'm going to work aggressively to not be aggressive, meaning that I'm going to work at Ray Charles so I don't have to work at Ray Charles, so the minute they see me walk on that set they see Ray.

Q Is it getting better for black actors in Hollywood?

It's getting better, I think it is. Back in the days there used to just be one, in the '70s it was just Richard Pryor, in the '80s it was Eddie Murphy, but in the '90s it started to open up - Will Smith, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, all these different people that have come along and made it better for each other.

The success also helps. The success of Will Smith is in the stratosphere and he opens movies. He legitimately made it better for all of us, he is the pioneer when it comes to that.

Q What was it like working with Taylor on the film?

I call him the nicest, meanest guy in the world. He would say "You messed that up man, I like you but that wasn't good and we gotta keep going", and you have to give him credit because he paints a beautiful picture so eloquently of Ray Charles.

The film has a beautiful cast and he had the vision and the wherewithal to make it, and he made the picture look like it cost $100million.

Q What has been the reaction of Ray's family to the film?

They are very pleased. It was important to get the nod from them - that was beautiful.