Aside from being a stand-up comedian, Keenen Ivory Wayans also works as an actor, writer, producer, and director. Keenen Ivory Wayans (born June 8, 1958, in New York City) is the trailblazing linchpin of a family of comic entertainers. He was the first to achieve national prominence when he created, launched, wrote, hosted, and starred in In Living Color (1990), a groundbreaking black-oriented comedy sketch satire on Fox TV that defied the odds and went beyond the then-narrow periphery in the 1990s, when he was born. For up-and-coming comics, it was a fantastic showcase. It not only ignited/advanced the careers of his younger talented siblings (including Damon and Kim) as well as Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx’s star-making film careers.
He went to Seward Park High School and Tuskegee University in Alabama, where he studied engineering as the second of ten children of grocery store manager Howell Wayans and social worker Elvira Wayans. When the comedy bug bit him hard in his senior year, he dropped out. He was heavily influenced by Richard Pryor while performing stand-up in New York, but he had only sporadic success there before deciding to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting and television roles. He had small roles on shows like “CHiPs,” “The Renegades” and “Cheers,” and he played the stand-up comedian in the Bob Fosse-directed biopic Star 80 (1983). However, it was his role as Army Pvt. Duke Johnson in the soapy ensemble series For Love and Honor (1983) that got him his big break as an actor. From there, he went on to more prominent roles in nighttime TV series like “Hill Street Blues,” “Benson,” and “A Different World.”
Keenen Ivory Wayans family
Desuma Wayans Sr. Keenen Ivory Desuma Sr. was born on June 8, 1958, in Harlem, New York. His parents, Elvira Alethia, a stay-at-home mom, and Howell Stouten Wayans, a supermarket manager, raised him. There are nine of him. He graduated from Seward Park High School and Tuskegee University with an engineering scholarship. He did, however, drop out of college one semester before the end of his degree program in order to pursue a career in comedy.
Wayans met actor/director Robert Townsend while performing for the first time at New York’s Improv comedy club. Wayans learned about the comedy business from Townsend, who accompanied him to Los Angeles when he first arrived in the state in 1980. Both went on to work together in other projects, including the 1987 film “Hollywood Shuffle,” which they wrote and starred in. Early in his career, Wayans appeared as an actor in shows like “Hill Street Blues” (1983) and “For Love and Honor.” Wayans’ funding for his 1988 film “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” which he directed and starred in, was helped by the success of “Hollywood Shuffle.”
What is Keenen Ivory Wayans doing now
Wayans was approached by Fox Broadcasting Company and offered his own show as his fame and popularity grew. In the spirit of “Saturday Night Live,” he envisioned a show with a diverse cast and more daring, irreverent material. The sketch comedy show “In Living Color,” created by Wayans and broadcast on the Fox Network from 1990 to 1994, is a good example of this. In addition to Damon and Kim Wayans and Marlon and Shawn and Marlon’s siblings who appeared on the show and whose careers were launched by it, other actors such as Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, Jamie Foxx and Alexandra Wentworth also appeared on the show and whose careers were launched by it. Jennifer Lopez was also a “Fly Girl” dancer when she first appeared on the show.
Aside from the hugely successful “Scary Movie” franchise, Wayans also starred in and directed “White Chicks,” “Hollywood Shuffle,” “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka,” “A Low Down Dirty Shame,” “Mo Money,” “Blankman,” “The Wayans Brothers,” “My Wife and Kids,” “Dance Flick,” “Little Man,” “Happy Endings,” “Major Payne” and “New Girl.”
From 1997 to 1998, he was the host and executive producer of his own talk show, “The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show.” He served as a judge on “Last Comic Standing” from 2014 to 2015. With his role as Eddie in “In Living Color,” Wayans won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1991 and went on to be nominated for five more Primetime Emmys. With “White Chicks,” he won Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing BET Comedy Awards in 2004. The Razzie Awards and The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards have both recognized him for his work on “Littleman” and “White Chicks.”
Keenen Ivory Wayans Children
Wayans and his wife Daphne were married in June 2001 and have five children as a result. However, since 2004 the couple has been apart. Actress Brittany Daniel, with whom he was romantically associated, was another woman to whom he was linked.
Keenen Ivory Wayans house
Keenan spent $2.6 million on a Tarzana, California, mansion in 2007. He plans to put his house on the market in November of 2020 for a price of $3.2 million.
Keenen Ivory Wayans net worth
Keenen Ivory Wayans has a net worth of $65 million. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers, and many of his films include either film or some of his family members.