Mike Epps

Background

Michael Elliot Epps was born to Mary Reed and Tommy Epps on November 18, 1980, at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. His natural comedic talent was recognized early on, and he began performing stand-up comedy as a teenager. Unfortunately, the talented comedian became involved with gangs, dropped out of high school, and served 18 months on drug charges, forcing him to focus on a career as an entertainer.

Epps relocated to Atlanta and started working at the Comedy Act Theater. In 1995, he relocated to Brooklyn to star in two episodes of H.B.O’s “Def Comedy Jam.” He made his acting debut in Vin Diesel’s 1997 directorial debut “Strays,” about a drug dealer and hustler who seeks meaning in his life after becoming bored with it. In 2000, he had a cameo appearance in the screwball comedy “3 Strikes,” as well as a supporting role in Jamie Fox’s debut film, “Bait.” Epps played Sonny in the 2001 film “Dr. Dolittle 2,” and later that year he appeared as the comical pimp Baby Powder in the film “How High,” starring Method Man and Redman. In the 2002 film “All About the Benjamins,” he played a repeat offender who teams up with Ice Cube’s bounty hunter to track down a group of diamond thieves who have a winning lottery ticket. In 2005, he played Ed Norton in the comedy film “The Honeymooners,” which is about a working-class New York bus driver named Ralph Kramden who is always devising get-rich-quick schemes.

Epps appeared in the 2007 film “Talk to Me,” a biopic about Ralph ‘Petey’ Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist. He played Black Doug, a friendly, laid-back drug dealer, in the 2009 comedy film “The Hangover.” The cast includes Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham, Justin Bartha, and Jeffrey Tambor. He played the bear character (Boog) in the motion picture “Open Season 2” after Martin Lawrence dropped the role, and two years later he hosted the B.E.T. Hip Hop Awards. In the 2012 remake of the musical movie “Sparkle,” he co-stars with Jordin Sparks and Whitney Houston as Satin, a stand-up comic by day and evil and abusive drug kingpin by night. Epps appeared in the 2016 comedy horror film “Meet the Blacks,” as well as its 2021 sequel “The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2.” He also played the title character in the one-season 2016 sitcom “Uncle Buck,” and he has been a main cast member of the Netflix sitcom “The Upshaws” since 2021.

Epps collaborated with Poo Bear on the song ‘Trying to Be a Gangsta,’ and he hosted G Unit’s 2008 mixtape “Elephant In The Sand,” appearing on the track ‘Hollow Thru Him.’ He also has a song titled ‘Big Girls,’ which was released in 2008. Bow Wow and Yung Joc were the first to record it. The song is currently available on iTunes and is included on his album “Funny Bidness: Da Album,” which was released on October 27, 2009. Epps also appeared on rapper French Montana’s mixtape “Mac Wit Da Cheese,” which was released on April 19, 2009. Epps also appeared on Dom Kennedy’s FutureStreet/DrugSounds mixtape with the song ‘Intro/Hard Work.’ Part of his stand-up comedy in “Under Rated & Never Faded” was sampled by Bad Meets Evil on their first E.P., “Hell: The Sequel,” and on J. Cole’s second album, “Born Sinner,” for the song ‘I’m On Everything.’ Epps has appeared in many music videos, mostly by hip-hop artists, including ‘Gangsta Nation’ by Westside Connection in 2003, ‘A Bay Bay’ by Hurricane Chris in 2007, ‘No Effort’ by Tee Grizzley, and ‘Bank Account’ by 21 Savage in 2017.