My favorite role of Ice Cube (so far) is Captain Dickson in 21 Jump Street (2012 and it’s sequel, 22 Jump Street in 2014). He steals every scene he is in, giving the two leads (Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill) grief for their misadventures and being the not so friendly boss. Since his first role in movies, Boyz n the Hood (1991 with Cuba Gooding Jr.), Cube has often played the serious, tough guy who speaks his mind in anyones face. It is scary when the film is dramatic, and it is hilarious when the film is a comedy, (ok he is still quite intimidating). Before acting, Ice Cube was rapping, most notably with the influencial group N.W.A and he also had a solo career (still does). The film Straight Outta Compton (2015 starring his son, O’Shea Jackson as Ice Cube) was a movie based on the group, their formation, rise, and influence (Cube produced the film). After watching the film, I listened to more of his music from that time period and it made me appreciate his work even more.

Ice Cube was born in South Central Los Angeles, began writing rap in his high school typewriting class, and got his first acting role at age 22. After making a second film with director John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood in 1991 and Higher Learning in 1995), Cube cowrote Friday and starred in it (1995 with Chris Tucker). Cube would continue on to write and star in three sequels to Friday (Next Friday in 2000, Friday After Next in 2002, and recently announced, Last Friday in 2018). He takes on horror roles (Anaconda in 1997, Ghosts of Mars in 2001), action (Three Kings in 1999, 2 xXx films 2005-2017), franchises (3 Barbershop films 2002-2016, 2 Ride Along films 2014-2016 and a third was recently announced), family films (Are We There Yet? in 2005, Are We Done Yet? in 2007 and 20 episodes of its spin off tv show 2010-2012), and he wrote, directed, and appeared in The Players Club (1998). Cube was most recently seen in the film Fist Fight (2017 opposite Charlie Day), much like the pairing of him with Kevin Hart in the Ride Along films which were directed by Tim Story who is next directing Cube in Humbug.

Thank you and Happy Birthday Ice!

Links
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Wikipedia