Wayne Brady

**Wayne Alphonso Brady** (born June 2, 1972) is an American actor, singer, dancer, comedian and television personality. He is best known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television show _Whose Line Is It Anyway?_. He has a daytime talk show called _The Wayne Brady Show_, the original host of Fox's _Don't Forget the Lyrics!_, and the host of _Let's Make a Deal_ on CBS.

Brady is a five-time Emmy Award winner. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, for his cover of the Sam Cooke song "A Change Is Gonna Come".

On August 7, 2023, Brady came out as pansexual in a post on Instagram.

## Early life

Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia. He moved to Orlando, Florida as a young child to live with his grandmother and aunt.  Brady refers to his grandmother, Valerie Petersen, as his "mom", because she raised him.

At 16, Brady started developing his improv skills while performing in community theater and in the Orlando improvisation troupe SAK Comedy Lab. He attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, from which he graduated in 1989. He moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and continued developing his acting skills.

## Career

Brady was one of the improv performers in the final season of the original (British) version of _Whose Line Is It Anyway?,_ which was filmed in Hollywood. Afterward, he became a regular on the American version, along with co-stars Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie.

In 2004, Brady joined the Broadway revival of _Chicago._ He played the role of lawyer Billy Flynn.

In 2006, he became the host of TV Land's _That's What I'm Talking About_.

Brady appeared on the CBS sitcom _How I Met Your Mother._ He played James Stinson, the gay brother of Neil Patrick Harris's character, Barney Stinson. Wayne has also appeared as a guest star for the MTV show _Wild 'N Out_ and lent his voice to the Adult Swim show _Robot Chicken_.

He was on two episodes of _Kevin Hill_.

Brady's debut album was released on September 16, 2008.

On the May 3, 2010, Brady was the guest host episode of _WWE Raw._ He was involved in an in-ring segment with Edge and Randy Orton where he took an RKO. Later that year, in August, Brady played Tom Collins in a staged production of _Rent_ at the Hollywood Bowl.

On March 4, 2011, he co-hosted the 42nd annual NAACP Image Awards with Holly Robinson Peete.

In the summer of 2013 Brady took part in the 2012 ABC improvisational comedy series _Trust Us with Your Life_ and returned for The CW's revival of _Whose Line Is It Anyway?_.

On June 7, 2013, Brady guest-starred as Don in the _Phineas and Ferb_ episode "Where's Pinky?".

From February 9 to 13, 2015, he guest-hosted _The Late Late Show_ on CBS.

Brady played the lead role of Aaron Burr in the PrivateBank Theatre production of _Hamilton_ in Chicago from January 17 to April 9, 2017.

On April 29, 2018, Brady won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for _Let's Make A Deal_ for the first time, after seven previous nominations.

Brady began making appearances as Dr. Reese Buckingham on _The Bold and the Beautiful_ in November 2018.

On October 10, 2019, he was featured in a 30-minute YouTube documentary created by SoulPancake in collaboration with Funny or Die wherein a variety of comedians discuss mental health called _Laughing Matters._

He was named the winner of _The Masked Singer_ season two where he was revealed to have portrayed "Fox" on December 18, 2019.

Brady later appeared as a guest panelist in season four of _The Masked Singer_ where he also sang Maroon 5's "Memories" as "Mr. TV" at the start of the sixth episode.

On December 28, 2020, It was announced that Brady would star as Django in a benefit concert presentation of _Ratatouille the Musical_, an internet meme that originated on TikTok, inspired by the 2007 Disney/Pixar film. The concert streamed exclusively on TodayTix on January 1, 2021, and raised over $1 million for The Actors Fund.