Wayne Brady
Brady at the AIDS Project Los Angeles' Annual AIDS Walk
Born	Wayne Alphonso Brady June 2, 1972 (1972-06-02) (age 37) Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, Television personality, Comedian, Singer
Years active	1990 – present
Spouse(s)	Mandie Taketa (1999–2008; Divorced)

Wayne Alphonso Brady^[1] (born June 2, 1972) is an 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. At one time he was the host of FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics! which ended its run in June 2009 and he is host of the 2009 revival of Let's Make a Deal.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Brady was born in Orlando, Florida. He graduated from Dr. Phillips High School in 1989.^[2] At 16, he started performing in community theater and at the improv troupe SAK Comedy Lab where he first started developing his improv skills.^[3] He moved to Los Angeles, California in 1996, where he continued developing his acting skills.

[edit] Career

Brady's career began as one of the improvisational theater performers in the British version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, along with Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and host Clive Anderson, to 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, 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, Wayne 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 U") and its Christmas version.^[4]

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 gay 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 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" starring Wayne Brady. 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,^[5] 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 currently hosts a singing game show called Don't Forget the Lyrics! on Fox. He also performs "Wayne Brady: Making $%!^ up" at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada four nights a week.^[6][7] He was also on two episodes of Kevin Hill. Wayne'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.^[8]

Brady started hosting an updated version of the game show Let's Make a Deal for CBS in October 2009. 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 hold the distinction of being hosted by an alum of Whose Line'.'

[edit] Personal life

In 2007, Wayne became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.^[9]

[edit] Filmography

• Kwik Witz (1997-1999) - Himself
• Whose Line is it Anyway? (1998-2006) - Himself
• 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)
• How I Met Your Mother (2006, 2007) - 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
• Foodfight! (unreleased) - Daredevil Dan (voice)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] 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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wayne Brady at the Internet Movie Database
• 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

v • d • e Whose Line Is It Anyway? UK version Host Clive Anderson Regular contestants Stephen Frost · Stephen Fry · Josie Lawrence · Mike McShane · Paul Merton · Colin Mochrie · Greg Proops · John Sessions · Brad Sherwood · Tony Slattery · Steve Steen  · Ryan Stiles · Jim Sweeney  · Sandi Toksvig Musicians Colin Sell · Richard Vranch US version Host Drew Carey Regular contestants Wayne Brady · Chip Esten · Kathy Greenwood · Colin Mochrie · Greg Proops · Brad Sherwood · Denny Siegel · Ryan Stiles · Jeff Davis Musicians Laura Hall · Linda Taylor · Cece Worrall-Ruben Related topics List of UK episodes · List of games · Drew Carey's Green Screen Show