ICE CUBE, born O’Shea Jackson on June 15, 1969 is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor, screenwriter, film producer, and director. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A. in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer, director, actor and producer in cinema. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop and the TBS series Are We There Yet?, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the lead character.
Cube is noted as a proficient lyricist and storyteller and is regarded as a brutally honest rapper; his lyrics are often political and he is considered one of the founding artists in gangsta rap. He was ranked #8 on MTV’s list of the 10 Greatest MCs of All Time.
Following his role as ‘Doughboy’ in Boyz n the Hood, in 1992 he starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill’s action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield.
John Singleton had encouraged Ice Cube to try his hand at screenwriting, telling him, “If you can write a record, you can write a movie.” With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then up-and-coming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday earned $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget, and spawned two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next. On March 9, 2011 he announced that he was making the final sequel called Last Friday.
In 1997, Ice Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground as a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later. He also had a supporting role in the film Anaconda that same year. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998, and in 1999 starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins. In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque; in 2005 he starred in the action movie XXX: State of the Union, as well as the family comedies Are We There Yet? and Are We Done Yet?, co-starring Nia Long.
Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James have paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James’ life. Ice Cube’s Are We There Yet television series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. On August 16, 2010, Are We There Yet? was renewed for 90 additional episodes
