Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year long stint on the sketch comedy series ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

.'' His true breakthrough, however, came as writer and performer on FOX's sketch comedy show ''

In Living Color ''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in ...

'' from 1990 to 1992, his animated series '' Waynehead'' that ran on the

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The W ...

block from 1996 to 1997, and his TV series '' Damon'' (1998). Since then, he has starred in a number of films and television shows, some of which he has co-produced or co-written, including ''

Beverly Hills Cop ''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr., and starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop ...

'', ''

The Last Boy Scout ''The Last Boy Scout'' is a 1991 American buddy action comedy film directed by Tony Scott, written by Shane Black, and produced by Joel Silver. The film stars Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field, Noble Willingham, Taylor Negron and Danielle ...

'', and '' Major Payne'' and the sitcom ''

My Wife and Kids ''My Wife and Kids'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001, to May 17, 2005. The series was produced by Touchstone Television. It starred Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle, the patriarch of an African-American family. Wayans and ve ...

''. From 2016 to 2019, he starred as

Roger Murtaugh Roger Murtaugh () is a fictional character in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series created by Shane Black. Murtaugh was originally played by actor Danny Glover in all four films from 1987 to 1998, and later by Damon Wayans in the Fox television se ...

in the television series ''

Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, D ...

''. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers.

Early life

Wayans was born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

in New York City, the son of Elvira Alethia (Green), a homemaker, singer and social worker, and Howell Stouten Wayans, a supermarket manager. He has five sisters—Elvira, Vonnie,

Nadia Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: ...

Kim Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

and Diedra—and four brothers— Keenen, Marlon,

Shawn Shawn may refer to: *Shawn (given name) *Shawn (surname) See also * Sean * Shaun Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne. Notable persons with the given name include: Peo ...

and Dwayne. He was

club foot Clubfoot is a birth defect where one or both feet are rotated inward and downward. Congenital clubfoot is the most common congenital malformation of the foot with an incidence of 1 per 1000 births. In approximately 50% of cases, clubfoot aff ...

ed as a child. This attribute would also be given to his character in ''

'', and his character on the short lived cartoon series '' Waynehead''. Wayans attended

Murry Bergtraum High School The Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers is a public secondary school in New York City. It is located in Lower Manhattan, adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall. Bergtraum offers business-oriented courses to prepare students for ...

Career

Damon started doing stand-up comedy in 1982. His earliest film appearance was a brief cameo as an effeminate hotel employee in the

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...

film of 1984, ''

''. From 1985 to 1986, he appeared on ''

'' as a featured performer, before getting fired after just eleven episodes for improvising during a live sketch, playing his character as a flamboyant gay cop instead of a straight cop. (Damon continued this sketch character in his family created show ''In Living Color'' on Fox Television, in 1990, as the flamboyant gay character, Blaine Edwards, an obvious hat tip to Blake Edwards of movies starring ''The Pink Panther''.) Wayans later claimed that he wanted to be fired due to lack of creative freedom and screen time. Wayans further explained that

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

did not want Wayans to do too much too soon and begin drawing comparisons to Eddie Murphy who had just left the show. He also appeared in the syndicated television series '' Solid Gold'' during the 1980s as a comedian. With his brother Keenen, Wayans created the Fox sketch comedy series ''

'', which had a mostly African-American cast. The show went on the air in April 1990. It continued running until May 1994, although Wayans left the show in 1992 to pursue a film career. After ''In Living Color'', he starred in films such as '' Mo' Money'', ''

'', '' Major Payne'', ''

Celtic Pride ''Celtic Pride'' is a 1996 American sports comedy film written by Judd Apatow and Colin Quinn, and directed by Tom DeCerchio. It stars Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd as Mike O'Hara and Jimmy Flaherty, two passionate Boston Celtics fans, and Damon W ...

'', ''

Bulletproof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protecti ...

'', and ''

The Great White Hype ''The Great White Hype'' is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Berg, Damon Wayans, Jeff Goldblum, Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, John Rhys-Davies, Salli Richardson and Jamie Foxx. Th ...

'', and wrote and starred in the film ''

Blankman ''Blankman'' is a 1994 American superhero comedy parody film directed by Mike Binder and starring Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier. It was written by Wayans and J. F. Lawton. Plot As kids, Darryl and Kevin Walker grew up as fans of the te ...

''. He also appeared in

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

's video "

The Best Things in Life Are Free "The Best Things in Life Are Free" is a duet between American singers Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson, recorded for the Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced soundtrack to the 1992 American film '' Mo' Money'', starring Damon Wayans. The song was ...

" and was considered for the role of

The Riddler The Riddler (Edward Nigma, later Edward Nygma or Edward Nashton) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, and debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #140 in O ...

in ''

Batman Forever ''Batman Forever'' (on-screen title is simply ''Forever'') is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton, based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The third installment o ...

'' (the role went to

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy t ...

, his co star from ''In Living Color'' and ''

Earth Girls Are Easy ''Earth Girls Are Easy'' is a 1988 American science fiction musical romantic comedy film that was produced by Tony Garnett, Duncan Henderson, and Terrence E. McNally and was directed by Julien Temple. The film stars Geena Davis, Julie Brown, C ...

''). In October 1996, he produced '' Waynehead'', a short lived cartoon for

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

, loosely based on his own childhood growing up in a large family, starring a poor boy with a club foot. The show only lasted a season due to poor ratings. From 1997 to 1998, he was the executive producer of '' 413 Hope St.'', a short lived drama on the

FOX network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...

starring

Richard Roundtree Richard Roundtree (born July 9, 1942) is an American actor. Roundtree is noted as being "the first black action hero" for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film '' Shaft'', and its four sequels, released between 1972 and 2 ...

and

Jesse L. Martin Jesse Lamont Martin (''né'' Watkins; January 18, 1969) is an American actor and singer. He originated the role of Tom Collins on Broadway in the musical '' Rent'' and performed on television as NYPD Detective Ed Green on ''Law & Order'' and Ca ...

. In March 1998, he starred in the short lived comedy television series '' Damon'', in which he played a detective from Chicago. It aired on Fox. In 1999, his ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestselling book ''Bootleg'', with co author David Asbery was published; it is a humorous compilation of his observations about family. In October 2000, he was the lead in Spike Lee's ''

Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's success ...

''. Wayans starred in the ABC comedy series ''

'' from March 2001 to May 2005. In the end of 2006, he produced and starred in the Showtime

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

series '' The Underground'', which also featured his son, Damon Jr. He also hosted the June 2006

BET Awards The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annua ...

. In 2011, he also added author of a serious fictional novel to his credits with "Red Hats" which is the story of a suicidal sixty five-year-old woman who finds friendship and happiness, when she joins the

Red Hat Society The Red Hat Society (RHS) is an international social organization that was founded in 1998 in the United States for women age 50 and beyond, but now open to women of all ages. History In the fall of 1997, Sue Ellen Cooper, an artist from ...

. , Wayans continues to perform stand-up comedy and has developed apps with his company of freelancers "MIMS" (Money in My Sleep). The company created applications such as Flick Dat, Diddeo and VHedz. On November 12, 2015, at the Irvine Improv, Damon Wayans announced his retirement from stand up commencing December 2015. In September 2016, he was cast as

in the television version of ''

'', a role originated by

Danny Glover Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the '' Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films inclu ...

in the

film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. This article explains what film series are ...

. On October 3, 2018, it was reported that Wayans would leave ''Lethal Weapon'' after filming of the first thirteen episodes of Season 3 wrapped. ''Lethal Weapon'' officially ended in February 2019, after three seasons. Damon Wayans is returning with a new project at ABC and is reteaming with My Wife and Kids co-creator Don Reo on the new family comedy, Let's Stay Together (working title). The project, now in development, will be produced by ABC Studios, a division of Disney TV Studios.

Awards and honors

Wayans received four

Emmy awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations for his acting and writing in ''

''. For his role in ''

'', he won the 2002

People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...

s for Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series, and received four International Press Academy "Golden Satellite Award" nominations.

Personal life

Wayans was married to Lisa Thorner; they divorced in 2000. He has four children with Thorner: sons

Damon Wayans Jr. Damon Kyle Wayans Jr. (born November 18, 1982) is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for starring as Brad Williams in the ABC sitcom '' Happy Endings'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award f ...

and Michael Wayans and daughters Cara Mia Wayans and Kyla Wayans. He is also a grandfather. He is the uncle of Damien Dante Wayans, Chaunté Wayans and Craig Wayans. Wayans is a close personal friend of both NBA legend

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

and fellow ''

'' star

. Wayans was diagnosed with

Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urinatio ...

in January 2013. In September 2015, Wayans defended American comedian

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

from his sexual assault accusations, stating, "It's a money hustle". He continued, saying, "Forty years – listen, how big is his penis that it gives you amnesia for 40 years? If you listen to them talk, they go, 'Well, the first time...' The first time? Bitch, how many times did it happen? Just listen to what they're saying and some of them really is unrape-able. I look at them and go, 'You don't want that. Get outta here.

''In Living Color''

Characters

*Whiz (Homeboy Shopping Network) *Homey D. Clown *Blaine Edwards (Men on...) *Handi-Man *Reverend Ed Cash *Anton Jackson *Head Detective *Tom Brothers (w/

Keenen Ivory Wayans Keenen Ivory Desuma Wayans (born June 8, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers. Wayans first came to prominence as the host and the creator of the 1990–1994 Fox sketch comedy ...

) *Oswald Bates

Impressions

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

(on ''

'') *

Don King Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cases against him, as well a ...

(on ''

'') *

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

(on ''

'' and ''

'') *

Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader, Black supremacy, black supremacist, Racism, anti-white and Antisemitism, antisemitic Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist, and former singer who hea ...

(on both ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''In Living Color'') *

Redd Foxx John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movement. ...

(on ''

'') *

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

(on ''

'') *

Fab Morvan Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan (born 14 May 1966) is a French singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, along with Rob Pilatus, selling multi-platinum albums around the world. However, he was later i ...

(on ''

'') *

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film ''Ray'', for which he won the A ...

(on ''

'') *

Roland Gift Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

(on ''

'')

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Twit.tv's Triangulation Episode 175 Damon Wayans
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wayans, Damon 1960 births Male actors from New York City American male film actors African-American stand-up comedians American stand-up comedians American male screenwriters African-American television producers Television producers from New York City American television writers American people of Malagasy descent Living people Damon African-American male actors American male television actors American male voice actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American sketch comedians American male television writers African-American film directors Comedians from New York City 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Screenwriters from New York (state) Film producers from New York (state) People from Chelsea, Manhattan Murry Bergtraum High School alumni 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people American Jehovah's Witnesses