Movies
The actor's portrayal of Ray Charles in the acclaimed biopic Ray had been widely expected to earn him the gong.
"Give it up for Ray Charles and his beautiful legacy," said Foxx as he collected the award. "Thankyou Ray Charles for living."
After an elongated list of credits, he commented: "Let's live this African-American dream... I want to thank Oprah because she introduced me to Sidney Poitier who said 'I saw you once and I looked in your eyes and there was a connection.' And he said 'I give to you responsibility.' So I'm taking that responsibility tonight - thankyou Sidney."
He then fought back tears as he paid tribute to his grandmother, his first acting teacher. "She still talks to me, but now it's on my dreams. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight, because we've got a lot to talk about."
Foxx fended off competition from Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator) and Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) in the category.
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