Chris Rock has been making headlines after Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars on Sunday.
But, before the incident, Chris was well-known for his stand-up shows and acting in movies such as Grown Ups and The Longest Yard.
Keep reading for 5 interesting things to know about Chris Rock.
Chris Rock was bullied as a child
In the podcast, Fly on the Wall, Chris opened up about his childhood, telling Dana Carvey and David Spade that he was bullied as a child.
“I was bullied ridiculously,” Chris said. “Half of the bullying was because I was a little guy, and then I got bused to school, so I was a little guy, and I was Black. It’s like I’m getting double bullied.”
Chris also described how he decided to take on his attackers one day, packing a heavy brick inside his backpack so he could swing it at them.
Chris Rock appeared on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
When you hear about Will Smith and Chris Rock, you probably think of their recent incident at the Academy Awards.
But, before Will slapped Chris, the two appeared on screen together on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
In the episode, titled Get a Job, Will and Carlton compete for a job on Hilary’s talk show.
Will lands the job and a comedian, played by Chris, says he will appear on the show if his sister has a good time when Will takes her out. Things don’t go so well when Will discovers what the sister, also played by Chris, looks like.
Chris Rock has a non-verbal learning disorder
A friend suggested that Chris may have Asperger’s, so Chris did a series of cognitive tests earlier in 2020.
Doctors diagnosed Chris with a condition called nonverbal learning disorder, or NVLD.
This means that he has difficulty with non-verbal signals, which make up a large part of communication.
Chris often takes things too literally as a result and suffers from a kind of all-or-nothing thinking.
There is a positive side of things, though. Chris uses his experience as material for comedy.
“By the way, all of those things are really great for writing jokes — they’re just not great for one-on-one relationships,” he says.
As of 2020, he was seeking therapy seven hours a week to help him overcome the disorder.
Chris Rock is an accomplished Broadway actor
Chris has proven that he’s a diverse talent, acting in movies and doing stand-up comedy.
But, did you know he’s also an accomplished Broadway theater actor?
In 2011, Rock appeared alongside Bobby Cannavale and Annabella Sciorra in the play The Motherf***** with the Hat, by Stephen Adly Guirgis.
For his performance in the play, Chris earned a Drama League Award nomination.
Chris Rock learned to swim at age 55
Chris accomplished something he’s been wanting to do for a while. He learned to swim, as part of his new fitness regimen.
“Do you know how f****** hard it is for a grown-up to learn how to swim? You’ve got to not be scared to die,” he told Hollywood Reporter.
Now that he can swim, he can finally use the pool at his home in Alpine, New Jersey.