| Damon Wayans Sr. | |
|---|---|
 Wayans in 2008 | |
| Birth name | Damon Kyle Wayans |
| Born | September 4, 1960 New York City, U.S. |
| Medium |
|
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Genres | |
| Subject(s) |
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| Spouse |
Lisa Thorner
(m. 1984; div. 2000) |
| Children | 4, including Damon Wayans Jr. |
| Relative(s) | See Wayans family |
Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (/ˈdeɪmən ˈweɪ.ənz/;[1] born September 4, 1960)[2] is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year-long stint on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live.
Wayans' true breakthrough, however, came as writer and performer on Fox's sketch comedy show In Living Color (1990-1992), on his animated series Waynehead (1996-1997) and on 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, Mo Money, The Last Boy Scout, Major Payne, Bulletproof, and the sitcom My Wife and Kids. From 2016 to 2019, he starred as Roger Murtaugh in the Fox television series Lethal Weapon. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers.
Wayans was born in Harlem[3] in New York City, the son of Elvira Alethia (Green), a homemaker, singer[4] and social worker, and Howell Stouten Wayans, a supermarket manager.[5][6][7][8][9] He has five sisters—Elvira, Vonnie, Nadia, Kim and Diedra—and four brothers—Keenen, Marlon, Shawn and Dwayne. He was club footed as a child.
This attribute would also be given to his character in My Wife and Kids, and his character on the short lived cartoon series Waynehead. Wayans attended Murry Bergtraum High School.[10]
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 film of 1984, Beverly Hills Cop. From 1985 to 1986, he appeared on Saturday Night Live as a featured player, 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 films 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 did not want Wayans to do too much too soon and began drawing comparisons to Eddie Murphy who had just left the show.[11] 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 In Living Color, 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, The Last Boy Scout, Major Payne, Celtic Pride, Bulletproof, and The Great White Hype, and wrote and starred in the film Blankman. He also appeared in Janet Jackson's video "The Best Things in Life Are Free" and was considered for the role of The Riddler in Batman Forever (the role went to Jim Carrey, his co star from In Living Color and Earth Girls Are Easy).
In October 1996, he produced Waynehead, a short lived cartoon for The WB, 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 starring Richard Roundtree and Jesse L. Martin.
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 bestselling book Bootleg, with co author David Asbery was published; it is a humorous compilation of his observations about family.[12]
In October 2000, he was the lead in Spike Lee's Bamboozled. Wayans starred in the ABC comedy series My Wife and Kids from March 2001 to May 2005. He also was a co-creator of the short lived ABC sitcom Rodney starring Rodney Carrington and Jennifer Aspen that ran from 2004-2006 . In the end of 2006, he produced and starred in the Showtime sketch comedy series The Underground, which also featured his son, Damon Jr. He also hosted the June 2006 BET Awards.
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. As of 2014[update], Wayans continues to perform stand-up comedy and has developed apps with his company of freelancers "MIMS" (Money in My Sleep).[4] The company created applications such as Flick Dat, Diddeo[13] and VHedz.[4]
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 Roger Murtaugh in the television version of Lethal Weapon, a role originated by Danny Glover in the film series. On October 3, 2018, it was reported that Wayans would leave Lethal Weapon after filming of the first thirteen episodes of Season 3 wrapped.[14] 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.
Wayans received four Emmy awards nominations for his acting and writing in In Living Color.
For his role in My Wife and Kids, he won the 2002 People's Choice Awards for Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Series,[15] and received four International Press Academy "Golden Satellite Award" nominations.
Wayans was married to Lisa Thorner; they divorced in 2000. He has four children with Thorner: sons Damon Wayans Jr. and Michael Wayans and daughters Cara Mia Wayans and Kyla Wayans. He is also a grandfather.[4] 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 and fellow In Living Color star Jim Carrey.
Wayans was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in January 2013.[16]
In September 2015, Wayans defended American comedian Bill Cosby 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.'"[17][18]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Beverly Hills Cop | Banana Man | |
| 1986 | Triplecross | Ornery Character No. 1 | Television film |
| 1987 | Hollywood Shuffle | Body Guard No. 2 / Willie | |
| Roxanne | Jerry | ||
| 1988 | Colors | T-Bone | |
| Earth Girls Are Easy | Zeebo | ||
| Punchline | Percy | ||
| I'm Gonna Git You Sucka | Leonard | ||
| 1990 | Look Who's Talking Too | Eddie | Voice |
| 1991 | The Last Boy Scout | Jimmy Alexander Dix | |
| 1992 | Mo' Money | Johnny Stewart | |
| 1993 | Last Action Hero | Himself | |
| 1994 | Blankman | Darryl Walker / Blankman | |
| 1995 | Major Payne | Major Benson Winefred Payne | |
| 1996 | Celtic Pride | Lewis Scott | |
| The Great White Hype | James 'The Grim Reaper' Roper | ||
| Bulletproof | Detective Jack Carter / Rock Keats | ||
| 1999 | Harlem Aria | Wes | |
| Goosed | Dr. Steven Hemel | ||
| 2000 | Bamboozled | Pierre Delacroix | |
| 2003 | Marci X | Dr. S. | |
| 2004 | Behind the Smile | Charlie Richman | |
| 2006 | Farce of the Penguins | Hey, That's My Ass! Penguin | Voice |
| Legends Bells | Himself | Television film | |
| 2008 | Never Better | Keith | Television film |
| 2011 | Herd Mentality | Jimmy Crowder | Short |
| 2023 | Cinnamon | Wally |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–86 | Saturday Night Live | Himself/Various Characters | Main cast: Season 11 |
| 1987 | Sweet Surrender | Ray | Episode: "The Holdens Go to Dinner" |
| A Different World | Marvin Haven | Episode: "War of the Words" | |
| 1989 | One Night Stand | Himself | Episode: "Damon Wayans" |
| 1990–93 | In Living Color | Himself/Various Characters | Main cast (seasons 1–3); recurring guest star (season 4) |
| 1996–97 | Waynehead | Creator/Executive Producer | |
| 1998 | Damon | Damon Thomas | Main cast |
| 2001–05 | My Wife and Kids | Michael Kyle | Main cast |
| 2004-2006 | Rodney | Co-creator/Executive Producer | |
| 2006 | The Underground | Himself/Various Characters | Main cast |
| 2011 | Happy Endings | Francis Williams | Episode: "Like Father, Like Gun" |
| 2016–19 | Lethal Weapon | Roger Murtaugh | Main cast |
| 2018 | Happy Together | Mike Davis | Episode: "Like Father, Like Son" |
| 2021 | Live in Front of a Studio Audience | Willis Drummond | Episode: "Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life"[19] |
| 2024 | Poppa's House | Upcoming Series; Lead Role |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy |
