Storyline
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered couping gospel and country together.
Directors
Cast
Jamie Foxx, Wendell Pierce, Kurt Fuller, David Krumholtz, Richard Schiff, Denise Dowse, Rick Gomez, Clifton Powell, Curtis Armstrong, Gary Grubbs, Harry Lennix, Aunjanue Ellis, Bokeem Woodbine, Warwick Davis, Terrence Howard, Larenz Tate, Regina King, Jedda Jones, Chris Thomas King, Kerry Washington, Robert Wisdom, Patrick Bauchau, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders, Thomas Jefferson Byrd
Trailer
Reviews
91
Entertainment Weekly
As a musical biography, Ray is driven by the primal excitement of rock-and-soul at the moment of its discovery.
90
If there were an Oscar for ensemble acting, Ray would win in a stroll.
88
Rolling Stone
Jamie Foxx gets so far inside the man and his music that he and Ray Charles seem to breathe as one.
80
Variety
Bursting at the seams with music, Taylor Hackford's ambitious film provides a good sense of the pioneering entertainer's extraordinary journey and brings it to life with plenty of colorful detail.
60
Unlike his songs, the film holds something back. It goes deep into a life filled with as much trouble and pain as triumph and accomplishment but never quite gets at the root of who Ray is.
