Mike Epps

Michael Elliot “Mike” Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, film producer, writer, singer, musician, and rapper, best known for playing Day-Day Jones in Next Friday and the sequel-to-the-sequel, Friday After Next, and also starring alongside Ice Cube in All About The Benjamins.

As of 2010, Epps was the executive producer on a documentary about the life story of a former member of Tupac Shakur’s Outlawz, Napoleon: Life Of An Outlaw.

Epps was born Michael Elliot Epps in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 18, 1970 into a large family.

Epps’ natural comedic ability was encouraged at an early age, and he began performing stand-up as a teenager. Epps moved to Atlanta where he worked at the Comedy Act Theater, before moving to New York City to star in Def Comedy Jam in 1995. Epps ended up on the Def Comedy Jam tour and starred in two of HBO’s Def Comedy Jam broadcasts.

Epps began his professional career by joining the Def Comedy Jam tour in 1995 and starred in two of HBO’s Def Comedy Jam broadcasts. He later appeared in Vin Diesel’s directorial debut, Strays in 1997.

In 1999, Epps was then cast as Ice Cube’s co-star (effectively, Chris Tucker’s replacement) in the sequel, Next Friday. This came after weeks of auditions after Ice Cube attended a stand-up set Epps did, and then asked Epps to try out for the part of Day-Day Jones. His role as Day-Day Jones was a breakthrough for the new actor, who was already familiar to much of the audience from his stand-up work. Later that year, Epps had a cameo in 3 Strikes, and supported Jamie Foxx in Bait.