Biography
Wayans was born in New York City, son of Howell Wayans, a supermarket manager, and his wife Elvira, a homemaker and social worker. His dad was a devout Jehovah's Witness. Wayans attended Tuskegee University, where he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity through the Gamma Phi chapter. However, he dropped out in his final year to become a comedian.
In 1990, Wayans and his brother Damon created, wrote and starred in In Living Color, an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on the Fox Network from 1990 to 1994. The show was notable for producing comedy with a strong emphasis on modern black culture. The show also starred Jim Carrey, Kelly Coffield, Kim Coles, Jamie Foxx, brothers Damon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans, sister Kim Wayans, David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson and featured Rosie Perez, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Ann Inaba and Laurie Ann Gibson.
Wayans is one of several family members who have become famous in Hollywood, including his siblings Damon, Kim, Nadia, Shawn and Marlon. He is an uncle of Craig Wayans, Damon Wayans, Jr., Michael Wayans, Cara Mia Wayans, Kyla Wayans, Damien Dante Wayans and Chaunté Wayans.
Read more about this topic: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West [Cicily Isabel Fairfield] (1892–1983)