Dwayne Wayne is a fictional character who appears in the American sitcom '' A Different World'', portrayed by actor Kadeem Hardison. He is known for his trademark flip up eyeglasses/shades and making unsuccessful advances on numerous women throughout his freshman year. Maggie Lauten, portrayed by actress Marisa Tomei who left the show after one season, was to have an interracial relationship with Dwayne. Dwayne Wayne has an on off relationship with

Whitley Gilbert-Wayne Whitley Marion Gilbert-Wayne is a fictional character who appears in the American sitcom '' A Different World'', portrayed by actress Jasmine Guy. Warming up to whiz student Dwayne Wayne, the two have an on/off relationship with their later marri ...

. They eventually get married and visit Los Angeles, which coincided with the 1992 riots following the verdict in the Rodney King trial.

Character history

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Wayne was known for his characteristic

flip-up glasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names below) are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can so ...

and for his sense of flirting with girls on the college campus. He was a

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

, tutor, and teacher all through the series of ''A Different World''. He majored in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and engineering. In the first season, he was in love with sophomore Denise Huxtable, who was portrayed by

Lisa Bonet Lilakoi Moon (born Lisa Michelle Bonet; November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet (), is an American actress. She is known for playing Denise Huxtable on the sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread a ...

. By the second season, he wanted to enter a serious relationship with Suzanne, the daughter of "Dr. War", better known as Col. Taylor (

Glynn Turman Glynn Russell Turman (born January 31, 1947) is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. Turman is known for his roles as Lew Miles on the prime-time soap opera ''Peyton Place (TV series), Peyton Place'' (1968–1969), high school stude ...

). Suzanne ended the relationship because she was not ready for a serious commitment. Then Dwayne started to fall for Whitley, but stopped pursuing her after the third season when she seemed uninterested. By the fourth season, Dwayne had found an interest in Kinu Owens, portrayed by

Alisa Gyse Dickens Alisa is a female given name, a version of Alice in used in Russia, Finland, Estonia and other countries. Notable people with the names Alisa and Alissa include: Alisa People *Alisa Agafonova (born 1991), Ukrainian former competitive ice dance ...

. The relationship ended when Kinu realized that Dwayne was still in love with

Whitley Gilbert Whitley Marion Gilbert-Wayne is a fictional character who appears in the American sitcom ''A Different World'', portrayed by actress Jasmine Guy. Warming up to whiz student Dwayne Wayne, the two have an on/off relationship with their later marriag ...

. He eventually proposed to Whitley. In the beginning of the fifth season, Dwayne became a

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizati ...

teacher, but the students put a mutiny out on him because of his strict rules. Whitley was beginning to put too much pressure on Dwayne. Dwayne decided to have a

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

date with Lisa Westin (

Debbi Morgan Deborah Ann Morgan (born September 20, 1956) is an American film and television actress. She played the role of Angie Baxter–Hubbard on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' for which she was the first African-American to win the Daytime Em ...

). His honesty made him confess the truth to Whitley. Whitley was heartbroken and broke the engagement. By the end of this season, Whitley had fallen in love with Byron Douglass, portrayed by

Joe Morton Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. (born October 18, 1947) is an American stage, television and film actor. He has worked with film director John Sayles in '' The Brother from Another Planet'' (1984), '' City of Hope'' (1991) and '' Lone Star'' (1996). Ot ...

. Dwayne became jealous of their whirlwind romance, and spent the night with Whitley. When Byron proposed to Whitley, who still was in love with Dwayne secretly; Dwayne was heartbroken. At the wedding, Dwayne and Whitley could not hold the pressure anymore and pushed Byron out of the picture and got married. In the sixth season, Dwayne and Whitley told of their horrifying honeymoon, experiencing the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in S ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

. At the end of the series, Dwayne got a new job in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, and decided to move with a now-pregnant Whitley.

Reception

The character was praised as a positive portrayal of an African-American male college student and as an engineer and mathematician.

References

Television characters introduced in 1987 Fictional African-American people Fictional mathematicians Fictional characters from New York City Fictional college students A Different World characters American male characters in television {{Tv-char-stub