Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director.

After working as a standup comic and appearing in small film roles, Rock came to wider prominence as a cast member of Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. He went on to more prominent film roles, and a series of acclaimed comedy specials for HBO.

He was voted the fifth-greatest stand-up comedian in a poll conducted by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the United Kingdom as the ninth greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the eighth greatest stand-up comic.

Biography

Rock married Malaak Compton-Rock on November 23, 1996. Compton-Rock is the founder and executive director of StyleWorks, a non-profit, full-service salon that provides free services for women leaving welfare and entering the workforce. The couple lived in Alpine, New Jersey with their two daughters, Lola Simone (born 2002) and Zahra Savannah (born 2004). In December 2014, Rock announced that he had filed for divorce from Compton-Rock.

In 2007, freelance journalist and former actress Kali Bowyer filed a paternity suit against Rock, claiming he was the father of her son. DNA testing proved that Rock was not the child's father.

In 2008, Rock's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2. A DNA test showed that he is descended from the Udeme people (Ouldémé) of northern Cameroon. Rock's great-great-grandfather, Julius Caesar Tingman, was a slave for 21 years before serving as part of the United States Colored Troops until 1866; Tingman fought in the American Civil War. During the 1940s, Rock's paternal grandfather moved from South Carolina to New York City to become a taxicab driver and preacher.

Rock is a vocal critic of racial profiling and often speaks of the "everyday racism" he feels he experiences, despite being famous. In a 2013 episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Jerry Seinfeld, Rock and Seinfeld are pulled over by the police for speeding. In the episode Rock admits to Seinfeld that "If you weren't here, I'd be scared. Yeah, I'm famous - still black." In 2015, Rock was pulled over three times in the first three months. Each time Rock posted a selfie of the incident, so far without further comment as to the reason for the stops.

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