Wayne Brady

African American actor, comedian, and television personality

Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American actor, singer, comedian and television personality. He is best known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He has a daytime talk show called The Wayne Brady Show, the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and the host of Let's Make a Deal on CBS.

Wayne Brady on June 10, 2010

Brady is a five-time Emmy Award winner. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, for his cover of the Sam Cooke song "A Change Is Gonna Come".

On August 7, 2023, Brady came out as pansexual in a post on Instagram.[1]

Early life change

Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia. He moved to Orlando, Florida as a young child to live with his grandmother and aunt.[2] Brady refers to his grandmother, Valerie Petersen, as his "mom", because she raised him.[3][4]

At 16, Brady started developing his improw skills while performing in community theater and in the Orlando improvisation troupe SAK Comedy Lab. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, from which he graduated in 1989.[5] He moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and continued developing his acting skills.[6]

Career change

Brady was one of the improvisational theater performers in the original (British) version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He host Clive Anderson in 1998 when the last season was filmed in Hollywood, after which he became a regular on the American version.

In 2004, Brady joined the Broadway revival of Chicago. He played the role of lawyer Billy Flynn.

In 2006, he became the host of TV Land's That's What I'm Talking About.[7]

Brady appeared on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He was playing James Stinson, the gay brother of Neil Patrick Harris's character, Barney Stinson.[8] Wayne 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.

He was on two episodes of Kevin Hill.

Brady's debut album was released on September 16, 2008.

On the May 3, 2010, Brady was the guest host episode of WWE Raw. He was involved in an in-ring segment with Edge and Randy Orton where he took an RKO. Later that year, in August, Brady played Tom Collins in a staged production of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl.[9]

On March 4, 2011, he co-hosted the 42nd annual NAACP Image Awards with Holly Robinson Peete .[10]

In the summer of 2013 Brady took part in the 2012 ABC improvisational comedy series Trust Us with Your Life and returned for The CW's revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.[11][12]

On June 7, 2013, Brady guest-starred as Don in the Phineas and Ferb episode "Where's Pinky?".

From February 9 to 13, 2015, he guest-hosted The Late Late Show on CBS.[13]

Brady played the lead role of Aaron Burr in the PrivateBank Theatre production of Hamilton in Chicago from January 17 to April 9, 2017.[14][15]

On April 29, 2018, Brady won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for Let's Make A Deal for the first time, after seven previous nominations.[16]

Brady began making appearances as Dr. Reese Buckingham on The Bold and the Beautiful in November 2018.[17]

On October 10, 2019, he was featured in a 30-minute YouTube documentary created by SoulPancake in collaboration with Funny or Die wherein a variety of comedians discuss mental health called Laughing Matters.[18]

He was named the winner of The Masked Singer season two where he was revealed to have portrayed "Fox" on December 18, 2019.[19]

Brady later appeared as a guest panelist in season four of The Masked Singer where he also sang Maroon 5's "Memories" as "Mr. TV" at the start of the sixth episode.

On December 28, 2020, It was announced that Brady would star as Django in a benefit concert presentation of Ratatouille the Musical, an internet meme that originated on TikTok, inspired by the 2007 Disney/Pixar film.[20] The concert streamed exclusively on TodayTix on January 1, 2021, and raised over $1 million for The Actors Fund.[21]

References change

  1. "'Let's Make a Deal' host Wayne Brady says he is pansexual". CNN. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  2. "Wayne Brady biography". The Biography Channel. Archived from the original on February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  3. Brady, Wayne. "A Long Time Coming iTunes Booklet (PDF)" (PDF). concordmusicgroup.com. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 19, 2013. My mother, Valerie Petersen, the best mother a guy could have.
  4. Walker, Nicole (February 10, 2003). "Wayne Brady". Jet. 103 (7). Archived from the original on May 16, 2010 – via FindArticles.com. Brady also credits his 72-year-old grandmother, Valerie Peterson [sic], who reared him and whom he affectionately calls 'Mom'...
  5. "Wayne Brady". Goviva Speakers. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  6. Boedeker, Hal (July 2, 2007). "Joey Fatone, Wayne Brady form mutual-admiration society". OrlandoSentinel.com. Orlando Sentinel Communications. Archived from the original on April 25, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  7. Sullivan, Kate (September 29, 2006). "Celebrity Duets: We have a winner!". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 12, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  8. O'Connell, Michael (July 9, 2013). "'How I Met Your Mother': Wayne Brady to Recur in Final Season". Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 12, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  9. "Brady, Tveit, Astin And Thoms Join RENT At Hollywood Bowl". BroadwayWorld. April 30, 2010. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  10. Seidman, Robert (February 8, 2011). "Wayne Brady and Holly Robinson Peete to Host '42nd NAACP Image Awards' Friday, March 4 on Fox". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on February 10, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  11. "About this show: Trust Us with Your Life". The Futon Critic. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  12. Ng, Philiana (March 1, 2013). "'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' Being Revived by The CW". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 27, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  13. Boedeker, Hal (February 9, 2015). "Wayne Brady hosts 'Late Late Show'". The Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 12, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  14. Lee, Ashley (January 9, 2017). "Wayne Brady to Star in 'Hamilton' Chicago Run". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  15. "Wayne Brady Takes First Bows as 'Aaron Burr' in Chicago's HAMILTON Tonight". BroadwayWorld. January 17, 2017. Archived from the original on July 17, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  16. "Wayne Brady – Awards". IMDB. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  17. Rice, Lynnette. "Let's Make a Deal host Wayne Brady will do double duty on The Bold and the Beautiful". SoapCentral. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  18. "Comedians Tackling Depression & Anxiety Makes Us Feel Seen | Laughing Matters | Documentary", YouTube, October 10, 2019, archived from the original on October 29, 2019, retrieved October 30, 2019
  19. Rice, Lynette (December 18, 2019). "Fox says he came to The Masked Singer to win — and he did". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  20. Evans, Greg (December 28, 2020). "'Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical' All-Star Cast To Include Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess & Adam Lambert". Deadline. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  21. Truitt, Brian (January 1, 2021). "'Ratatouille' TikTok musical brings in $1 million for charity, star Wayne Brady earns praise". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on February 13, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.

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