Christopher Julius Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina and raised inBedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Rosalie(Tingman), a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped,and Julius Rock, a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman, whose ownfather was a preacher.

Rock has been in stand-up comedy for several decades. He made his bigscreen debut inBeverly Hills Cop 2 (1987)and spent three years on the cast ofSaturday Night Live (1975).He does commercials for 1-800 Collect and Nike and covered thepresidential campaign for the showPolitically Incorrect (1993).He lives in Alpine, New Jersey.