Damon Wayans | Rotten Tomatoes (2024)

Born in Harlem in New York City in 1960, to a supermarket manager father and a homemaker mother, Damon Wayans was one of ten children and suffered from a club foot as a child. Wayans graduated from Murry Bergtraum High School before beginning a career in standup comedy in 1982. Wayans had a cameo in the Eddie Murphy movie "Beverly Hills Cop" in 1984 and appeared on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975-) on seven episodes between 1985 and 1986. His employment was terminated after improvised during a sketch. In 1990 he and his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans created the TV series "In Living Color" (Fox, 1990-94). The show was influential particularly to African-American comedians. Wayans himself departed the show in 1992 to focus on making movies. He starred in "Mo' Money" (1992), "Major Payne" (1995), "Celtic Pride" (1996), Bulletproof (1996), and "The Great White Hype" (1996). Wayans appeared in "Damon", (Fox, 1998) a comedy series he created wherein he portrayed a detective in Chicago. The show was cancelled after one season. In 2001 Wayans starred in "My Wife and Kids" (ABC, 2001-05), a sitcom about family life. While still pursuing standup on the side as his movie and television career developed, Wayans announced that he would retire from standup in 2015. In 2016 Wayans was cast in the TV adaptation of "Lethal Weapon" (Fox, 2016- ) as Roger Murtaugh, the role originated by Danny Glover in the film series.