Wanda Sykes Biography

Wanda Sykes was born in 1964 in Portsmouth, Virginia. Although very well-known for her roles on the New Adventures of Old Christine and Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sykes is also an accomplished comedy writer, having won an Emmy for writing on the Chris Rock Show in 1999.

Before Wanda began her work in comedy, she graduated with a degree in marketing from Hampton University and first entered the workforce as a government employee.  While working during the day for the NSA, Wanda Sykes began performing stand-up around town in Washington, DC and spend about five years perfecting her talents before opening for Chris Rock in the mid 1990’s. The gig would go on to become her big break, and by 1997 she’d joined the writing team for Rock’s show.

By the new millennium, Wanda Sykes had started appearing in films and on television shows regularly, including: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), Down to Earth (2001), Pootie Tang (2001), The Drew Carey Show (2001), Chappelle’s Show (2003), Monster-in-Law (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Will & Grace (2006), Back at the Barnyard (2007-2011), Evan Almighty (2007), License to Wed (2007), Drop Dead Diva (2011), and Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012.) She also hosted her own talk show in 2009, The Wanda Sykes Show.

Wanda Sykes’s comedy specials have also been enormously successful, including Wanda Sykes: I’m a Be Me, which appeared on HBO in 2009, and Tongue Untied, which appeared on Comedy Central in 2003. Comedy Central has ranked Sykes among the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time, and her awards and accolades are innumerous, including multiple Emmy nominations and one win, an American Comedy Award, a BET Comedy Award, and a GLADD Media Award.

Most recently, Wanda Sykes published her book Yeah, I Said It, a collection of her comedic musings on contemporary issues, and she began to actively speak in support of LGBT rights, having recently come out in her own personal life. Sykes continues to perform stand-up, appear in films, and make public speaking appearances.