Damien Dante Wayans (born April 29, 1980) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer and director. He is a member of the

Wayans family The Wayans family () is an American show-business family. Family members include Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Kim Wayans, Damon Wayans Jr., Damien Dante Wayans, and Chaunté Wayans. Works created by Wayans fa ...

Early life

Wayans was born in New York City, he is the nephew of the Wayans Siblings, which consists of

Keenen Ivory Wayans Keenen Ivory Desuma Wayans (born June 8, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers. Wayans first came to prominence as the host and the creator of the 1990–1994 Fox sketch comedy s ...

, Damon Wayans Sr.,

Kim Wayans Kimberly Nichole Wayans (born October 16, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. Wayans is the sister of Keenen Ivory, Damon Sr., Marlon, Shawn and Nadia Wayans. She is best known for her numerous roles on the Fox sketch comedy show ''In ...

Shawn Wayans Shawn Mathis Wayans (born January 19, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Along with his brother Marlon Wayans, he wrote and starred in The WB's sitcom ''The Wayans Bros.''(1995–1999) and in the comedy films ''Don't Be a ...

, and

Marlon Wayans Marlon Lamont Wayans (born July 23, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Wayans began his career portraying a pedestrian in ''I'm Gonna Git You Sucka'' (1988). He went on to regularly collaborate with his brother Shawn Wa ...

. He is the son of their sibling Elvira Wayans and brother of

Chaunté Wayans Chaunté Wayans (born May 24, 1982) is an American comedian and actress. Life and career Chaunté Wayans is a member of the Wayans Family, whose members include Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans, Damon Wayans, Sr., Kim Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and ...

Damon Wayans Jr. Damon Kyle Wayans Jr. (born November 18, 1982) is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for starring as Brad Williams in the ABC sitcom '' Happy Endings'', for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award f ...

and

Michael Wayans The Wayans family () is an American show-business family. Family members include Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Kim Wayans, Damon Wayans Jr., Damien Dante Wayans, and Chaunté Wayans. Works created by Wayans fa ...

are his cousins.

Career

Damien Dante Wayans began his career in 1987 in Eddie Murphy's concert film ''Eddie Murphy Raw''. He acted with his uncle ''Damon Wayans'' in ''Major Payne''. He then went on to writing and directing. His big break in acting was in

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He has played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' franchise (1996–2000) and a multitude of characters in ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' (2002–2004) on The WB. His othe ...

's film ''

Malibu's Most Wanted ''Malibu's Most Wanted'' is a 2003 American comedy film written by and starring Jamie Kennedy and co-starring Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Regina Hall, Damien Dante Wayans, Ryan O'Neal, and Snoop Dogg. The film is written by the ...

'' when he played the role of Tec, Shondra's (

Regina Hall Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal' ...

) ex-boyfriend. Damien has written and directed several episodes of his uncle Damon's sitcom ''

My Wife And Kids ''My Wife and Kids'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001, to May 17, 2005. The series was produced by Touchstone Television. It starred Damon Wayans as Michael Kyle, the patriarch of an African-American family. Wayans and ve ...

''. In 2006, Damien along with his cousin

Craig Wayans Craig Mikel Wayans (born March 27, 1976) is an American writer, television producer and actor. He is the nephew of Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Kim Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. Career Craig was born in New York City, New Yo ...

wrote and produced on uncle Damon's '' The Underground'', a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

show on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. Damien also directed a few segments. He made his directorial debut with the film ''

Dance Flick ''Dance Flick'' is a 2009 American musical comedy film directed by Damien Dante Wayans in his directorial debut and written by and starring many members of the Wayans family. The film was set for release in the United States on February 6, 2009, an ...

'', which was written by Damien, Keenen, Shawn, Marlon and Craig Wayans.Shawn and Damien Wayans: The Dance Flick Interview with Kam Williams
/ref> In 2009, Damien formed a film and TV production company called ''Second Generation Productions'', given their being the second generation of Wayans in the entertainment industry. Damien plans to create, develop and produce multiplatform content.

Filmography

Actor

Writer

Producer

Director

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wayans, Damien African-American male actors African-American film directors American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors American film directors American film producers American male screenwriters Living people Damien Dante 1980 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people