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 currently is scheduled to host the 2009 revival of Let's Make a Deal
.
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WAYNE BRADY TICKETS
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Biography
Early life
Brady was born in
Orlando, Florida. He moved to
Los Angeles, California in 1996, where he developed his acting skills. He graduated from
Dr. Phillips High School in 1989.
[2] At 16, he started performing in community theater.
[3]
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]
It was announced that Brady will host a new, updated version of the game show "Let's Make a Deal" for CBS, which will debut on October 5, 2009. The show will replace the soap opera "Guiding Light", which is ending it's long time run. The original host of "Let's Make a Deal" was Monty Hall, who will serve as consultant for the new show.
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]
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!
(2009) - Daredevil Dan (voice)
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
References
- PeopleFinders.com | People Summary
- Joey Fatone, Wayne Brady form mutual-admiration society
- Wayne Brady's 'Lyric'-al TV Return
- "Beautiful" from ''The Disney Songbook'' album by Jim Brickman and Disney's ''Cinderella'' Edition soundtrack. "Beautiful" (Christmas version) from ''Disney's Princess Christmas Album''
- Dana Slagle, "Comedic Actor Wayne Brady Demonstrates Versatality In New Movie, 'Crossover'," ''Jet
'' 110.11 (Sep 18, 2006), 61.
- Wayne Brady Las Vegas Show Tickets - Comedy at The Venetian
- Wayne Brady: Making it Up! | VEGAS.com
- http://www.waynebrady.com/news/newsItem.cfm?cms_news_id=40
- Celebrity Friends of RMHC