LOS ANGELES: Oscar winner Jamie Foxx revealed he encountered racism before his Hollywood career took off.
Foxx recounted an incident in college saying he was not allowed to appear on stage in a musical because of his ethnicity.
The 50-year-old star, who was in conversation with comic Sarah Silverman on "Off Script", said he used to sing his parts from behind the curtains as African Americans were not a part of the production team, People magazine reported.
"They came to me because they needed a tenor. They wouldn't let me go on the stage but they would let me behind the curtain because there weren't any African Americans in the production. So I was would sing in the back, and I would just sing the parts they needed me (for)," Foxx said of his college music department.
The Grammy-winning actor-singer, however, did not reveal the name of the play.
He attended United States International University, where he studied classical music and composition.
Foxx added, "And that's how I learned about musicals."
His revelation left Silverman stunned, who responded by saying, "That's insane! You don't know musicals and your experience with them was racist."