Wayne Brady

Wayne Brady
Brady at the AIDS Project Los Angeles' Annual AIDS Walk
Born	Wayne Alonzo Brady (1972-06-02) June 2, 1972 Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, television personality, comedian, singer, game show host
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	Mandie Taketa (1999–2008; divorced) Diana Lasso (December 31, 1993–September 21, 1995; divorced)

Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an Emmy Award winning 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?, and as the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show. He was the original host of FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and currently hosts the 2009 revival of Let's Make a Deal.

Biography

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. When Brady talks about his "Mom", he is referring to his grandmother, who raised him. He attended ''Dr. Phillips High School'', in Orlando, Florida, where he graduated in 1989. In 1990, he began enrollment at the University of Miami, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. At 16, he started performing in community theater and at the Orlando improv troupe SAK Comedy Lab where he first started developing his improv skills. He moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1996, where he continued developing his acting skills.

Career

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 also 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 long-running Broadway revival of Chicago, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn. He also appeared briefly in the final episode of the 2004 season of the comedy Reno 911!. Additionally, Brady guest starred on the Sci Fi Channel's hit series show Stargate SG-1 as the first-prime of the Goa'uld System Lord, Ares. Wayne Brady also made an appearance on "Chappelle's Show" poking fun at his squeaky clean persona.

Brady wrote and sings the theme song for Disney's popular 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.

On November 27, 2006, Brady made a guest appearance on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing James, the homosexual brother of Neil Patrick Harris's character Barney. His character conflicts with Barney due to his choice to marry and adopt a baby. Brady returned to the show in 2007 in the episode The Yips, in which he is shown to be indirectly responsible for Barney's current superconfident personality. He had also appeared as a guest star for the MTV show Nick Cannon's Wild 'N Out. Brady also helps with the Adult Swim TV show Robot Chicken.

Brady has also gone "north-of-the-border" and guest starred in Colin Mochrie's CBC comedy, Getting Along Famously. 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. Steven and Liz's relationship quickly ended when they discovered they had nothing in common and Liz accidentally shot him in the buttocks.

Brady was the co-host of the short-lived VH1 show "Vinyl Justice" in 1998. In 2007, ABC Family premiered the movie called "The List". The List is about a man who proposes to his girlfriend. When she says no, he begins to make a list of qualities he believes his "Perfect Woman" should have.

Brady 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 television series, Everybody Hates Chris. He 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. The song "A Change is Gonna Come", a cover of the popular 1964 single by Sam Cooke, 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 tapes in Las Vegas. 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 2010) hold the distinction of being hosted by an alumnus of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. (Another game show, hosted by Colin Mochrie, was a Canadian version of Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?)

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.

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, and ran from August 6–8, 2010.

Brady performed in an episode of Fast and Loose (2011 TV series), a new improvisational series on BBC2 hosted by Hugh Dennis, in January 2011.

Brady, along with Holly Robinson Peete, hosted the 42nd annual NAACP Image Awards on March 4, 2011.

Personal life

In 2007 Brady became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.

Brady has been married twice. His first marriage was to Diana Lasso on December 31, 1993. They were officially divorced on 21 September 1995. His second marriage was to dancer Mandie Taketa on 3 April 1999. They had one child together, a daughter named Maile Masako Brady, on 3 February 2003. Brady and Taketa separated on 5 April 2006 and Taketa officially filed for divorce on 2 July 2007. They are now divorced. Wayne Brady is currently dating actress and comedienne Robin Thede.

Brady lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

Filmography

• Kwik Witz (1997–1999) - Himself
• Whose Line is it Anyway? (1998–2006) - Himself, Panelist
• Batman Beyond (2000) - Micron
• Geppetto (2000)
• Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004) - Shackelford
• Going to the Mat (2004) - Mason Wyatt
• Roll Bounce (2005)
• It's Good to Be King (Stargate SG-1) (2005)
• Everybody Hates Chris (2006) - Louis (Julius' brother)
• Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (2006)
• Crossover (2006)
• Shorty McShorts' Shorts (2006) - Cameron (voice; 3 episodes)
• How I Met Your Mother (2006, 2007, 2010) - James Stinson
• The List (2007)
• 30 Rock (2007) - Steven Black
• Dirt (2007) - Henchman
• Sci vs Fi: Mass Effect (2008) - Himself
• The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (2008)- Sparx
• Don't Forget the Lyrics! (2007–2009) - Himself, Host
• Let's Make a Deal (2009-) Himself, Host
• Foodfight! (unreleased) - Daredevil Dan es)
• Fast and Loose (2011) - Himself, Performer
• Are We There Yet? (2011)
• Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza (2011) - Special guest panelist, himself

Discography

Albums

Year	Album details	Chart Positions
		US	US R&B	US Heat
2008	A Long Time Coming Released: September 16, 2008 Label: Peak/Concord Music	157	20	2

Singles

• "Ordinary" (2008) - Wayne Brady
• "Beautiful" (2005) - Wayne Brady, accompanied on piano by songwriter Jim Brickman
• "Don't Stop" (2005) - Jamie Jones featuring Wayne Brady and William Carthright
• "Unsung Heroes" (2004) - Wayne Brady
• "F.W.B." (2009) - Wayne Brady

External links

• Wayne Brady at Twitter
• Wayne Brady at IMDb
• Wayne Brady at AllMovie
• Wayne Brady's official website
• Training Day Parody sketch from Chappelle's Show
• Las Vegas Review Journal: The Brady Hunch, May 18, 2007
• Questions and Answers with Wayne Brady Las Vegas Sun, April 11, 2007
• Wayne Brady's 'Lyric'-al TV Return Interview - AOL Television
• Wayne Brady on Tom Green Live, 23 May 2007