A Humble Jamie Foxx

As reported Tuesday morning, the Oscar nominees for Best Actor include the stunning performance of Jamie Foxx in "Ray".

During the filming, he met the legendary Ray Charles, who inspired him, along with two other people: his late grandmother, and actor Denzel Washington.

Last week in Hollywood, The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen spoke with Foxx right after he won the Golden Globe.

"The award means, for one, an education to all black kids who are watching, like when I was watching Denzel," Foxx said. "And one day, I got a chance to talk to him about the awards. Because, 'Hurricane,' he didn't receive an award for it. And I said, 'Yo, dude, I still dig you.' And he said, 'Let me explain to you what it means.' And he explained. I am not going to share all the private things he explained. It means respect and he said, 'Respect it.' He said whether it happens or not, you keep walking in the right direction of art, and if it does happen, you are respected."

People who have been Foxx's fans for years and years think about him in "In Living Color", doing comedy, noted Chen and borrowing a line from one of his characters back then, the co-anchor said, "You definitely rock our world."

Reacting, Foxx said, "Oh, that's beautiful."

Asked what was the most pleasant discovery during what he calls, the ride of his life, Foxx said, "The pleasant discovery was when I met Ray Charles, and to see him sit down and play young, and he says, 'I know Puffy; I know 50 Cent.' And as a musician, you say, 'Wow',' that's when I call and say, 'Yo Puff, you got to see this movie because it's going to inspire you. And that was a pleasant discovery to see his life, because I took for granted, 'Oh it's just America the Beautiful.'"

"... And you read the script, and then you talk to Quincy Jones who says, 'Ray Charles, man, truly a pioneer in the music world.' And you find out all these beautiful things about him, it's just incredible."

During the Globes acceptance speech Foxx got chocked up thinking about his grandmother, who died just days before "Ray" was released. Asked what she would be saying to him if she was alive, Foxx said, "She would probably say, 'You know, you did a great job, but don't relax. What's next? Don't come in my house late. I don't care what kind of high score or what kind of Golden Globe you got. You be in at a decent time.' And that was the great thing about her: No matter what I was doing, I was still that little young kid. And she developed me to be a Southern gentleman. So this is all about respect."

Well, Chen said, he definitely has her respect and maybe Oscar.

"Well we hope so," Foxx said, "If it happens, we keep walking. If it happens, you know you've got to keep that humble."

Jamie Foxx may be modest, but he's the definite favorite of fans and movie critics. The Oscars will be handed out on Feb. 27.