Stand-up comedy 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.
Acting Epps' first on-screen appearance came in
Vin Diesel's second directorial film,
Strays in 1997. In 1999, Epps was then cast as
Ice Cube's co-star in the sequel,
Next Friday. This followed weeks of auditions, after Ice Cube attended a stand-up set Epps did, and then asked Epps to try out for the role of Day-Day Jones. Later that year, Epps had a cameo in
3 Strikes, and supported
Jamie Foxx in
Bait. Epps had a voice role in the 2001 film
Dr. Dolittle 2 as Sonny the Bear and finished the year with a featured role as comical pimp Baby Powder in
How High, starring
Method Man and
Redman. Epps reunited with Ice Cube in 2002 as the bumbling thief to Ice Cube's bounty hunter in
All About the Benjamins, and again re-teamed with Cube in Friday's second sequel
Friday After Next. He played Lloyd Jefferson "L.J." Wayne in the films
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). Epps also voiced another bear character (Boog) in the 2008 film
Open Season 2 after
Martin Lawrence declined the role; he previously worked with Lawrence in the comedy
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008), playing "Reggie", cousin of Roscoe (played by Lawrence). He played "Black Doug" in
The Hangover (2009) and
The Hangover Part III (2013). In 2010, Epps also released a stand-up comedy special,
Under Rated & Never Faded, and hosted the
2010 BET Hip Hop Awards. Epps starred alongside
Jordin Sparks and
Whitney Houston in the 2012 remake of
Sparkle, in his first non-comedic role as the main antagonist, Satin, a stand-up comic by day, an evil and abusive drug kingpin by night, who is engaged in an affair with the titular character's sister. Epps' performance was well received by critics and audiences. In 2014, Epps landed the coveted role of
Richard Pryor in a planned Pryor biopic to be directed by
Lee Daniels; however, the project has remained in
development hell. Epps did portray Pryor in the 2016
Nina Simone biopic
Nina and in an episode of the
HBO drama series
Winning Time about the
L.A. Lakers. Epps had a starring role in the 2016 comedy horror film
Meet the Blacks and its 2021 sequel
The House Next Door: Meet the Blacks 2. He also starred as the title character in the single-season 2016 sitcom
Uncle Buck. Since 2021, he has been a main cast member on the
Netflix sitcom
The Upshaws.
Music Epps "hosted" the
Jim Jones and
Skull Gang album
Jim Jones & Skull Gang Present A Tribute To Bad Santa Starring Mike Epps. Epps has also made a song called "Trying to Be a Gangsta" with Pooh Bear. Epps also hosted
G-Unit's 2008 mixtape
Elephant in the Sand, appearing on the track "Hollow Thru Him". Epps also has a song called "Big Girls", which came out in 2008. It was originally recorded by
Bow Wow featuring
Yung Joc. The song is currently on
iTunes and can be found on his album,
Funny Bidness: Da Album, which was released October 27, 2009. Epps also has featured in rapper French Montana's
Mac Wit Da Cheese mixtape, which was released on April 19, 2009. Epps has also featured on the
Dom Kennedy song "Intro/Hard Work" on his
FutureStreet/DrugSounds mixtape. Part of his stand-up comedy in
Under Rated & Never Faded was sampled for the song "I'm On Everything" by
Bad Meets Evil on their first EP,
Hell: The Sequel and on the track "Runaway", from
J. Cole's second album
Born Sinner. Mike Epps was also known in his hometown of Indianapolis as the CEO of Naptown Records. In 2006 he signed local artist Philthyphil. This artist had just been released from prison after serving three years for a drug indictment in which he was the suspected distributor of large amounts of narcotics. The record deal which was reportedly worth $175,000 was later terminated after Phillip "Philthyphil" White was charged with first-degree murder in Oakland, CA in 2007. Epps has made cameo appearances in many
music videos, mostly by
hip hop artists, including "
Gangsta Nation" (2003) by
Westside Connection, "
A Bay Bay" (2007) by
Hurricane Chris, "No Effort" (2017) by
Tee Grizzley, and "
Bank Account" (2017) by
21 Savage.
Super Bowl XLVI Epps served as the "Super Bowl ambassador" in his native
Indianapolis for the
2012 Super Bowl. He was featured in commercials promoting the Super Bowl Village and he made special appearances in the Village during the week of the Super Bowl. ==Controversies==