Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular cast member 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 he has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival.
Brady also performs musical theatre; he portrayed Lola/Simon in the Tony Award–winning musical Kinky Boots on Broadway from November 2015 to March 2016. He’s also appeared on Broadway in Chicago, The Wiz, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Brady played Aaron Burr in the Chicago production of Hamilton from January to April 2017.
Brady has won five Emmy Awards. He won his first Emmy Award for his work on Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 2003, two more in the next year for The Wayne Brady Show, and two for Let's Make a Deal. He has also been nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for his cover of the Sam Cooke song "A Change Is Gonna Come," and Best Musical Theater Album for the soundtrack of The Wiz.
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Early life
Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia, to West Indian parents. He 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. As a child, Brady developed a stutter. This led to him being bullied by other children, which caused him a great deal of anxiety.
At 16, Brady started performing in community theater and in the Orlando improvisation troupe SAK Comedy Lab, where he first started developing his improv skills. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, from which he graduated in 1989.
Shortly thereafter, Brady gained employment at Universal Studios Florida, where he appeared in several projects, most notably two involving the character of Beetlejuice. The first was a street show called "Beetlejuice: Dead in Concert," pitting the titular ghost against the Ghostbusters (this is when the park still had the rights to the franchise), where Brady played Winston Zeddemore. Later on, the "ghost with the most" was given his own stage show, "Beetlejuice's Rock 'N Roll Graveyard Revue," where Brady portrayed Dracula.
In 1996, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued developing his acting skills.
Career
Brady first appeared on national television as a recurring contestant on the sketch comedy competition Kwik Witz from 1996 to 1999, appearing most often as partners with Frank Maciel. Brady was 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. In 2003, Brady won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program 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, 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 participate in "Drew Live" and "Drew Live II." On the show, Brady played several games taken from Whose Line Is It Anyway? with other characters.
In 2004, Brady joined the Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn. He made a brief appearance in the final episode of the 2004 season of the comedy Reno 911!. He guest-starred on the Syfy Channel's hit series Stargate SG-1 as Trelak, the first prime of Goa'uld System Lord Ares. He made an appearance on Dave Chappelle's sketch comedy series, Chappelle's Show, poking fun at his squeaky-clean persona. Brady co-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 to 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 guest-starred in the CBC comedy Getting Along Famously alongside his Whose Line is It Anyway? costar Colin Mochrie. He appeared on the episode "You Don't Know Jack" of the television show Dirt and guest-starred on 30 Rock as Steven Black, Liz Lemon's date for the Source Awards. He co-hosted 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 that was not picked up by the network. 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 performed "Wayne Brady: Making $%!^ Up" at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada four nights a week.
Personal life
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 born in 2003. Brady and Taketa separated on April 5, 2006; Taketa filed for divorce on July 2, 2007, and their divorce was finalized on April 14, 2008. They have remained close friends and co-parents. Brady learned that he has a son from his ex-girlfriend Tina, with whom Brady had an intimate relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2007, Brady became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, the Friends of RMHC.
In 2013, Bill Maher compared Brady to President Barack Obama, in that, in popular culture, they were both supposedly "not Black enough." Brady took issue with this statement, suggesting that Maher should "be careful when [he makes] statements like that" because it will allow his viewers to make the same stereotypical assumptions about Black people.
Brady has suffered from clinical depression. On his 42nd birthday, in 2014, he had a mental breakdown and later credited Taketa for helping him recover.
In August 2023, Brady came out as pansexual.
Brady is an honorary member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.
Filmography
Discography
Albums
Singles
2000
"The Weekenders" Theme Song
2004
"Unsung Heroes"
"Between" – Wayne Brady with The Sesame Street Muppets
2005
"Beautiful" – Wayne Brady, accompanied on piano by songwriter Jim Brickman
"Don't Stop" – Jamie Jones featuring Wayne Brady and William Carthright
2008
"Ordinary"
2009
"F.W.B."
2013
"Whistle While I Work it" – Chester See featuring Tobuscus with Wayne Brady
2019
"Flirtin' With Forever"
