Born: June 2, 1972
Age: 52
Birthplace: Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American actor, singer, comedian, and television personality, known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival. Brady has been performing in the Tony Award winning musical Kinky Boots on Broadway as Simon and as drag queen Lola since November 2015.
Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia to West Indian parents, and moved to Orlando, Florida as a young child to live with his grandmother and aunt. Brady refers to his grandmother, Valerie Petersen, as his "mom," since she raised him. Brady is second cousin to professional footballer Jozy Altidore who currently plays for Toronto FC. At 16, Brady started performing in community theater and at the Orlando improv troupe SAK Comedy Lab, where he first started developing his improv skills. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida, where he graduated in 1989. In 1990, he enrolled at the University of Miami. In 1996, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he continued developing his acting skills.
Brady's career began as one of the improvisational theater performers in the original (British) version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, along with Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and host Clive Anderson in 1998 when the last season was filmed in Hollywood, after which he became a regular on the American version, hosted by Drew Carey, which was his first Stateside television exposure. In 2003, Brady won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety, Musical or Comedy Series for his work on the show, the only person to win the award for a television series, as opposed to a special, since Dana Carvey in 1993.
He went on to star in his own ABC variety show in 2001 called The Wayne Brady Show, and a daytime talk show of the same name in 2002, which lasted two seasons and won four Daytime Emmy Awards, two of which went to Brady for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Brady guest-starred on The Drew Carey Show in 1999 and 2000 to take part in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II". On the show, Brady played several games taken from Whose Line Is It Anyway? for the two episodes with other characters.
In 2004, Brady joined the Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn. He appeared briefly in the final episode of the 2004 season of the comedy Reno 911!. He guest starred on the Sci Fi Channel's hit series show Stargate SG-1 as Trelak, the first-prime of the Goa'uld System Lord, Ares. He made an appearance on Chappelle's Show, poking fun at his squeaky clean persona.
Brady wrote and sang the theme song for Disney's animated series The Weekenders. In 2005, he sang and recorded Jim Brickman's original Disney song "Beautiful" (a cover of All-4-One's 2002 hit "Beautiful As You") and its Christmas version.
In 2006, Brady became the host of TV Land's That's What I'm Talking About, a talk show discussing the role of African-Americans in the entertainment industry. From August 29 - September 29, 2006, Brady hosted the Fox show Celebrity Duets.
Brady made several guest appearances on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing James Stinson, the gay brother of Neil Patrick Harris's character, Barney Stinson. Brady has also appeared as a guest star for the MTV show Wild 'N Out, and lent his voice to the Adult Swim show Robot Chicken.
Brady has also guest starred in the CBC comedy, Getting Along Famously, alongside his Whose Line is It Anyway? costar Colin Mochrie. He has also appeared on the episode "You Don't Know Jack" on the television show Dirt and also guest starred on the show 30 Rock, where he played the role of Steven Black, Liz Lemon's date for The Source Awards.
Brady was the co-host of the short-lived VH1 show Vinyl Justice in 1998. In 2007, he starred in the ABC Family film The List. He starred in Flirt, a comedy pilot developed for The CW Television Network, which, if it had been picked up, would have aired in the 2006-07 television season.
Brady guest starred as Julius Rock's gifted younger brother, Louis, in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, and hosted a singing game show called Don't Forget the Lyrics! on Fox until its cancellation in June 2009. He also performs "Wayne Brady: Making $%!^ up" at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada four nights a week. He was also on two episodes of Kevin Hill. Brady's debut album was released on September 16, 2008. Brady's version of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" earned Brady a Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance category.
Brady started hosting an updated version of the game show Let's Make a Deal for CBS in October 2009, which taped at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and currently tapes in Los Angeles. The show replaced the soap opera Guiding Light, which ended its long-time run. The original host of Let's Make a Deal was Monty Hall, who serves as consultant for the new show. Drew Carey currently hosts The Price Is Right, and thus, both game shows in the CBS daytime lineup (as of May 2013) hold the distinction of being hosted by an alumnus of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Brady was the guest host on the May 3, 2010 episode of WWE Raw, where he was involved in an in-ring segment with Edge and Randy Orton, and eventually getting RKO'd by Orton. Later that year, in August, Brady played the role of Tom Collins in a staged production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl. The production was directed by Neil Patrick Harris.
Brady appeared alongside Let's Make a Deal announcer Jonathan Mangum in two episodes of Fast and Loose, a new improvisational series on BBC2 hosted by Hugh Dennis, in January 2011. Then, along with Holly Robinson Peete, he co-hosted the 42nd annual NAACP Image Awards on March 4, 2011.
On May 3, 2011 he appeared on Dancing With The Stars as the lead performer in a tribute to James Brown, celebrating what would have been Brown's 78th birthday in the Macy's Stars of Dance segment. He has also been a special guest of Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza on GSN.
Brady made a cameo in the 2011 song "Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)" by Lloyd featuring Lil Wayne and Andre 3000, narrating Lil Wayne's section of the song. He also appeared as a special guest star in the March 14, 2012 episode of the TV series Psych.
Brady starred in the 2012 ABC improvisational comedy series Trust Us with Your Life, and returned for the revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway? in the Summer of 2013.
Brady guest starred as Don in the Phineas and Ferb episode, "Where's Pinky?" on June 7, 2013 and for one week February 9 to 13, 2015, guest host on The Late Late Show on CBS.
In November 2015, Brady replaced Billy Porter as Lola in Kinky Boots on Broadway.
In 2007, Brady became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, the Friends of RMHC.
Brady has been married twice. He married Diana Lasso on December 31, 1993. They divorced on September 21, 1995. On April 3, 1999, he married dancer Mandie Taketa. He and Taketa have one child, a daughter named Maile Masako Brady, born on February 3, 2003. Brady and Taketa separated on April 5, 2006 and Taketa filed for divorce on July 2, 2007.
In 2013, Bill Maher compared Brady to President Barack Obama, in that they were both supposedly "not black enough". Brady took issue with this statement, suggesting that Maher should "be careful when you make statements like that, because it will allow his viewers to make the same stereotypical assumptions about black people."
Wayne stated in a November 2014 Entertainment Tonight interview that he suffers from clinical depression, and that he suffered a mental breakdown on his 42nd birthday. He credits Taketa for helping him recover.
As a child, Wayne struggled with stuttering due to a great deal of anxiety he felt from being bullied by other children.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | Superboy | John | Episode: "The Sons of Icarus" |
1993 | I'll Fly Away | Damon | 2 episodes |
1993 | In the Heat of the Night | Henry Ulmer | Episode: "Hatton's Turn" (Parts 1 & 2) |
1997-1999 | Kwik Witz | Himself | Syndicated improv |
1998 | Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK) | Himself | 3 episodes in series 10 |
1998-2006, 2013-present |
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US) | Himself | Starring: seasons 2-7, 9-; recurring: seasons 1 & 8 Also executive producer (season 9-) |
1999, 2000 | The Drew Carey Show | Himself | "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II" (improv episodes) |
2000 | Batman Beyond | Micron | Episode: "The Call" (Parts 1 & 2) |
2000 | Geppetto | The Magician | Movie |
2001-2004 | The Wayne Brady Show | Host | Variety show |
2002 | Miss America | Host | |
2004 | Chappelle's Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
2005 | Stargate SG-1 | Trelak | Episode: "It's Good to be King" |
2006/2008 | Everybody Hates Chris | Louis | 2 episodes |
2006 | Robot Chicken | Pegasus 'Sunny Muffin' / Salam Fayyad (voice) | Episode: "Adoption's an Option" |
2006 | Crossover | Vaughn | |
2006 | Shorty McShorts' Shorts | Cameron | Voice; 3 episodes |
2006-2014 | How I Met Your Mother | James Stinson | 13 episodes |
2007 | 30 Rock | Steven Black | Episode: "The Source Awards" |
2007 | Dirt | Henchman | Episode: "You Don't Know Jack" |
2008 | The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon | Sparx | Video game |
2007-2009 | Don't Forget the Lyrics! | Host | |
2009-present | Let's Make a Deal | Host | |
2011 | Fast and Loose | Himself | UK improv; 2 episodes |
2011 | Are We There Yet? | Devin | Episode: "The Man and the Bragging Snafu Episode" |
2011 | Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza | Himself | 5 episodes |
2012-2013 | American Dad! | Cuba Gooding Jr. / Tungee | 3 episodes (voice) |
2012 | Trust Us with Your Life | Himself | 7 episodes |
2012 | Psych | Hilton Fox | Episode: "Shawn and the Real Girl" |
2013-present | Sofia the First | Clover the Rabbit | Voice role |
2013 | So You Think You Can Dance | Guest judge (himself) | 2 episodes |
2014 | Hollywood Game Night | Himself | Episode: "50 Charades of Grey" |
2014 | So You Think You Can Dance | Guest judge (himself) | |
2015 | The Late Late Show | Guest host | 5 episodes |
2016 | The Price Is Right | Himself | Mash Up Week |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Clifford's Really Big Movie | Shackelford | |
2004 | Going to the Mat | Mason Wyatt | |
2005 | Roll Bounce | D.J. Johnny Feelgood | |
2006 | Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild | Reeko (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2007 | The List | Lewis | |
2012 | Foodfight! | Daredevil Dan | Voice role |
2013 | Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright | Brik Pimlento (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2014 | The Hero of Color City | Blue | Voice role |
2015 | VeggieTales: Noah's Ark | Shem | Direct-to-video |
Albums
Year | Album details | Chart positions | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
US | US R&B |
US Heat |
||
2008 | A Long Time Coming
|
157 | 20 | 2 |
2011 | Radio Wayne
|
— | — | — |
Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program | Whose Line Is It Anyway? | Nominated |
2002 | Nominated | |||
2003 | Won | |||
2003 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Talk Show Host | The Wayne Brady Show | Won |
2004 | Nominated | |||
2009 | Grammy Awards | Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance | "A Change Is Gonna Come" | Nominated |
2010 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Game Show Host | Let's Make a Deal | Nominated |
2011 | Outstanding Game Show Host | Nominated | ||
2012 | Outstanding Game Show Host | Nominated | ||
2013 | Outstanding Game Show Host | Nominated | ||
2014 | Outstanding Game Show Host | Nominated | ||
2014 | Outstanding Original Song | "30,000 Reasons to Love Me" for Let's Make a Deal (lyrics writer) | Won | |
2016 | Outstanding Game Show Host | Let's Make a Deal | Nominated |
Charities
Wayne Brady supports the following charitable causes: Alzheimer's, Animals.