# Jay Pharoah

Jared Antonio Farrow (born October 14, 1987), better known by his stage name Jay Pharoah, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2010 to 2016. In 2015, he was ranked the 55th greatest Saturday Night Live cast member by Rolling Stone magazine.

## Early life

Pharoah was born and raised in Chesapeake, Virginia. He began performing impersonations at age six and cites Gilbert Gottfried's character Iago in Aladdin as his first voice, explaining, "My father put me in a talent competition a couple of months later, and out of the whole thing I got fifth place."
In 2005, Pharoah graduated from Indian River High School in Chesapeake. One of his characters, Principal Daniel Frye, is heavily influenced by IRHS's former principal, James Frye. Pharoah graduated from Tidewater Community College with an Associate of Arts degree in 2008 and an Associate of Science in 2010. He briefly attended Virginia Commonwealth University.

## Career

Pharoah has been performing stand-up comedy in community theaters and at comedy clubs in Virginia since he was 15. He at one point toured with Corey Holcomb and Charlie Murphy.
He became known for his many celebrity impressions, including Barack Obama, Will Smith, DMX, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Clarence Thomas, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, Stephen A. Smith, Peter Dinklage, and Denzel Washington.
Pharoah became an internet phenomenon when his impersonation of Barack Obama became widely seen on YouTube.

### 2010–2016: Saturday Night Live

In 2010, Pharoah was hired by Saturday Night Live as a featured performer for the show's 36th season. Pharoah debuted on Saturday Night Live on September 25, 2010 and was regarded by Rob Moynihan of TV Guide as the "breakout player" for that season, for his impressions of Barack Obama, Ben Carson, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Stephen A. Smith, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Chris Tucker, Michael Strahan, Lil Wayne, Kevin Hart, Kendrick Lamar, Shaq and Denzel Washington. He debuted his SNL impersonation of Barack Obama in the 38th season premiere on September 15, 2012, succeeding Fred Armisen in that role. Rolling Stone magazine described him as the "Jimmy Fallon of 2 Chainz impressions."
Pharoah appeared in the independent film Lola Versus, released by Fox Searchlight Pictures in June 2012. In 2014, he had a small role in the buddy cop film Ride Along, starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, and appeared in the independent film Balls Out, a sport comedy starring fellow SNL cast members Beck Bennett and Kate McKinnon.
In 2016, he appeared in a commercial for Old Navy, alongside fellow SNL cast members Nasim Pedrad and Cecily Strong. On August 8, 2016, it was announced Pharoah alongside fellow cast member Taran Killam would be exiting the show ahead of its 42nd season. Pharoah hosted the American Music Awards of 2016 with model Gigi Hadid. Pharoah has been working on his first album with record producer Myles William.

## Personal life
### 2020 police encounter

In June 2020, Pharoah released footage showing how he had been detained at gunpoint by police several months earlier while in his neighborhood, after he matched the description of a wanted black man wearing grey sweatpants and shirt. He released the footage in response to the George Floyd protests. Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department detained Pharoah, with an officer kneeling on Pharoah's neck similar to what happened in the murder of George Floyd. After the officers confirmed Pharoah's identity with an online search, they apologized and let him go.

## Filmography
### Film

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012 | Lola Versus | Randy | |
| 2013 | Underdogs | Announcer 2 | |
| 2014 | Ride Along | Runflat | |
| 2014 | Balls Out | Dan | |
| 2014 | Top Five | Mike | |
| 2016 | Get a Job | Skeezy D | |
| 2016 | Sing | Meena's Grandfather (voice) | |
| 2018 | Unsane | Nate Hoffman | |
| 2019 | How to Fake a War | Harry Hope | |
| 2020 | Bad Hair | Julius | |
| 2020 | 2 Minutes of Fame | Deandre | |
| 2020 | All My Life | Dave Berger | |
| 2021 | The Mitchells vs. the Machines | Noah (voice) | |
| 2021 | Resort to Love | Jason King | |
| 2022 | The Blackening | Shawn | |
| 2023 | Spinning Gold | Cecil Holmes | |
| 2023 | The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart | Nuno Blood (voice) | |
| 2023 | Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie | Jay-Z (voice) | Direct-to-video |
| 2024 | Running on Empty | Sid | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2010–2016 | Saturday Night Live | Various | Main cast (season 36-41) |
| 2011 | The Cookout 2 | Eddie O | TV movie |
| 2014 | Portlandia | Jay-Z (voice) | Episode: "Ecoterrorists" |
| 2016–2017 | Legends of Chamberlain Heights | Montrel, Randy (voice) | Main cast |
| 2017 | BoJack Horseman | Man on the Street, Dashawn Manheim (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | White Famous | Floyd Mooney | Main cast |
| 2017–2024 | Family Guy | Skee-Lo, Kanye West, Kanye Canes, Brick Baker, Reverend Lucius, Moses Beauford (voices) | Recurring role; Also consulting producer (2022–present) |
| 2018 | SuperMansion | Various | 3 episodes |
| 2018 | Champaign ILL | Lou | Recurring cast |
| 2019–2023 | A Million Little Things | Omar Howard | 3 episodes |
| 2020 | The Masked Singer | Self | Guest judge |
| 2020 | Loafy | Zookeeper Dan (voice) | Recurring cast |
| 2020–2021 | Nickelodeon's Unfiltered | Host | TV series |
| 2021 | Robot Chicken | Barack Obama (voice) | Episode: "May Cause Your Dad to Come Back With That Gallon of Milk He Went Out for 10 Years Ago" |
| 2022 | That's My Jam | Self | Episode: "Jay Pharoah & Nikki Glaser vs. Terry Crews & Dan Finnerty" |
| 2022 | A Black Lady Sketch Show | Lavonte | Episode: "Bounce Them Coochies, Y'all!" |
| 2022 | Out of Office | Neal | TV movie |
| 2022 | Bubble Guppies | Buster (voice) | Episode: "The Solar Light Spectacular!" |
| 2022–2023 | American Dad! | Mr. Fritz / Angry Husband (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2022–2024 | The Simpsons | Drederick Tatum (voice) | 5 episodes |
| 2023–present | Invincible | Bulletproof, Komodo Dragon, Various (voice) | Recurring cast |
| 2024 | Good Times: Black Again | Junior (voice) | Main |
| 2024 | Sausage Party: Foodtopia | Food in Crowd (voice) | 4 episodes |
| 2024–present | The Quiz with Balls | Self | Host |

### Video games

* Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) – Andre