Keenen Ivory Wayans

Keenen Ivory Wayans is an American actor, writer and producer who is best known for creating the groundbreaking 90s sketch comedy series "In Living Color" (Fox, 1990-94). Born in Harlem, and raised in the Fulton housing projects in Manhattan, Wayans and his siblings always had a penchant for making each other laugh. Although he was inspired by the legendary standup comedian Richard Pryor, Wayans put his comedy aspirations on hold to attend Tuskegee University on an engineering scholarship.

While attending Tuskegee Wayans cracked up his friends and classmates by telling stories of his childhood growing up in New York. Wayans quickly found that he was good at making people laugh, so he decided to turn his dreams into reality. He dropped out of Tuskegee with one semester left before graduation and moved back to New York to start his standup career. It was there that he launched his standup career in New York's various comedy clubs, and quickly befriended a fellow comic named Robert Townsend. Townsend and Wayans became fast friends, and would later help one another out as their careers progressed.

In 1980 Wayans moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. He nabbed a couple of bit parts in the early 1980s before landing his first breakout role as a soldier on the series "For Love and Honor" (NBC, 1983-84). Then in 1987 Wayans co-wrote and co-starred in "Hollywood Shuffle" (1987), which was directed by Townsend. The success of that film gave Wayans the financing he needed to write, direct and star in the 1988 comedy "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka." That film was a moderate success and popular with audiences. Before long the fledgling Fox network came calling and asked Wayans to create a TV series. His idea was to make a sketch comedy show with a diverse cast that pushed the boundaries. The network agreed and in 1990 "In Living Color" premiered.

The show as a huge success and was responsible for launching the careers of Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, as well as Wayans' siblings Damon, Shawn, Marlon and Kim. Jennifer Lopez also got her start on the series as one of the show's dancers, also known as The Fly Girls. After "In Living Color" ended its five-season run in 1994 Wayans continued writing, producing and acting. He directed a string of blockbuster comedies in the early 2000s, "Scary Movie" (2000), "Scary Movie 2" (2001), and "White Chicks" (2004), all of which were hugely popular. Wayans output slowed by the early 2010s. He attempted to reboot "In Living Color" in 2012 but despite a pilot being shot the reboot was cancelled after disagreements with Fox. Wayans largely retired following that disappointment.