Joseph Anthony Cox (born March 31, 1958) is an American actor known for his roles in ''

Bad Santa ''Bad Santa'' is a 2003 American Christmas black comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, with a supporting cast of Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, Joh ...

'', ''

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

'', ''

Me, Myself & Irene ''Me, Myself & Irene'' is a 2000 American slapstick black comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers, and starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger. Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Daniel Greene, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon an ...

,'' ''

Date Movie ''Date Movie'' is a 2006 American romantic comedy parody film written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, directed by Seltzer, and produced by Paul Schiff and Friedberg. It was released on February 17, 2006 by 20th Century Fox and stars Alys ...

,'' ''

Epic Movie ''Epic Movie'' is a 2007 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Paul Schiff. It stars Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jayma Mays, Jennifer Coolidge, Faune A. Chambers, Crispin Glover, Tony Cox ...

'', ''

Disaster Movie A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/ terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such a ...

'', and ''

Leprechaun 2 ''Leprechaun 2'' (also known as ''One Wedding and Lots of Funerals'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1994 American fantasy comedy horror film directed by Rodman Flender and written by Turi Meyer and Al Septien. The sequel to Mark Jones' ''Leprech ...

''. He is also known for his role in

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

's ''

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

'', as an

Ewok The Ewoks (singular: Ewok) are a fictional species There are a number of lists of fictional species: Extraterrestrial *List of fictional extraterrestrials (by media type) *Lists of fictional alien species: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, ...

in ''

Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who ...

'' and as The Preacher in

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

's ''

Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, ...

''. Cox also appeared in various music videos.

Early life

Cox was born in

Uniontown, Alabama Uniontown is a city in Perry County, Alabama, in west-central Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 2,107, up 18.7% over 2010. Of the 573 cities in Alabama, Uniontown is the 207th most populous. Uniontown has four sites l ...

, the son of Henrietta Cox-Penn and Joe Cox. He spent his childhood in Uniontown, with his grandmother and grandfather, Lottie and Henry Jones. His mother and stepfather, Rudolph (Rudy) Penn, live in

College Park, Georgia College Park is a city in Fulton and Clayton counties, Georgia, United States, adjacent to the southern boundary of the city of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,930. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is part ...

. 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

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the ...

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 Marching percussion instruments are instruments specially designed to be played while moving. This is achieved by attaching the drum(s) to a special harness (also called a carrier or rack) worn by the drummer, although not all marching bands us ...

''. 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 little person who was an actor and also founder of the organization

Little People of America Little People of America (LPA) is a non-profit organization which provides support, resources, and information to individuals with dwarfism and their families. Founding LPA was founded in 1957 by actor Billy Barty when he informally called upon p ...

. 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 Scriptwriter De De Tillman and soon began working in commercials, film, and television roles. He is better known for his roles in ''

'' where he played Marcus, the brains of a safe cracking duo, and in ''

'' where he played a parody of Dr. Hitch from '' Hitch''. As second lead to

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

, Cox's role in ''Bad Santa'' was a rare occurrence of a little person actor in a leading role. Cox reprised his role as Marcus in ''

Bad Santa 2 ''Bad Santa 2'' is a 2016 Christmas black comedy drama film directed by Mark Waters and written by Shauna Cross and Johnny Rosenthal. A standalone sequel to the 2003 film ''Bad Santa'', the film stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, ...

'', released in 2016. Cox also appeared on the TV show ''

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

'' in the first season, playing the character Bennie, in which he helps his friend Trey, played by

Bushwick Bill Richard William Stephen Shaw (December 8, 1966 – June 9, 2019), better known by his stage name Bushwick Bill, was a Jamaican-American rapper. He was a member of the Texas hip hop group Geto Boys, a group he originally joined as a breakdancer ...

, beat up Tommy played by

Thomas Mikal Ford Thomas Mikal Ford (September 5, 1964 – October 12, 2016) was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for his role as Thomas "Tommy" Strawn on the FOX sitcom ''Martin'', which originally aired from 1992 until 1997. He also had a recur ...

, over Tommy allegedly "stealing" his ex-girlfriend. Cox also appeared in a pivotal role in the Farrelly Brothers' movie ''

'', playing a

Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa formally compr ...

-member

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

driver who steals

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

's character's wife.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Tony 1958 births Male actors from Alabama People from Uniontown, Alabama Actors with dwarfism African-American male actors American male film actors American male television actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people