Wayne Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia and lived in Orlando, Florida. At 16, Brady had already decided on a career in the military. Little did he know that a chance performance in a high school play would garner him not only rave reviews but also permanently alter his long-range plans. Soon, he was heavily involved in the central Florida theater...
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Wayne Brady was born in Columbus, Georgia and lived in Orlando, Florida. At 16, Brady had already decided on a career in the military. Little did he know that a chance performance in a high school play would garner him not only rave reviews but also permanently alter his long-range plans. Soon, he was heavily involved in the central Florida theater community, performing in numerous stage productions including "A Chorus Line", "Fences", "A Raisin in the Sun", "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "I'm Not Rappaport". Brady moved to Las Vegas and then to Los Angeles in 1996, where he began working in theater and television. He performed at the prestigious Mark Taper Forum in its production of "Blade to the Heat". He also garnered guest starring roles in such television series as NBC's I'll Fly Away (1991) and The Home Court (1995) and In the Heat of the Night (1988) for CBS. Currently, Brady is busy hosting the VH-1 series, Vinyl Justice (1998), which premieres in August. Brady has also been honored with several nominations for his work in theater, including Best Actor in a Musical for "Cotton Patch Gospel" at the distinguished Edyth Bush Theatre. He was named Sak Theatre's 1992 Rookie of the Year for TheatreSports/Improv. Show less «
I was teased horribly as a child and beaten up a lot. I had a horrible stutter; I got my butt kicked...Show more »
I was teased horribly as a child and beaten up a lot. I had a horrible stutter; I got my butt kicked by bigger kids in school for breakfast, lunch and tea. I want my child to not be that person. I want her to be popular. I want her to have self-confidence. I want her to be comfortable being herself because those were the things that I never had. Show less «
I know that I might be a role model, especially being a young Black man on TV. And I'm fine with tha...Show more »
I know that I might be a role model, especially being a young Black man on TV. And I'm fine with that because I stand behind what I do. I do a great job. I do a clean job. So if that gets me made fun of by another Black actor, then so be it. And if some kid in the projects or even in the suburbs watches what I do and says, 'I want to be like that,' then I've won. Show less «
To be honest, I have no desire to turn into the king of game shows. I consider myself an actor forem...Show more »
To be honest, I have no desire to turn into the king of game shows. I consider myself an actor foremost, and a writer and singer, and I still tour and do Broadway shows. Show less «
[About his ex-wife Mandie and daughter Maile (2003)]: My wife is from Hawaii, but she's not Hawaiian...Show more »
[About his ex-wife Mandie and daughter Maile (2003)]: My wife is from Hawaii, but she's not Hawaiian. She's part Japanese, part Caucasian, so our little girl now has all of that plus me. She's named Maile, which is the name of the most beautiful-smelling plant ever. Show less «
[About his birth parents (2003)]: My father, who was in the Army, moved around. He didn't want me to...Show more »
[About his birth parents (2003)]: My father, who was in the Army, moved around. He didn't want me to have that life so he had his mother raise me, but he would still come. She actually kept me fixed in one place in Orlando, and I'm forever grateful for that. I don't talk about my mother because I really don't know her well, so it's nothing that I go into. She's alive and fine, but in the press I refer to my grandmother as my mother. Nothing bad, I just don't really know her. My grandmother IS my mother, she's everything to me. Show less «
The old adage is, you strike while the iron is hot. I've been blessed enough that my irons have been...Show more »
The old adage is, you strike while the iron is hot. I've been blessed enough that my irons have been hot-to-warm-to-hot for the past 10 years. So I'm still striking. Show less «
[on replacing Monty Hall as host of Let's Make a Deal (2009) in 2009]: They got me because they want...Show more »
[on replacing Monty Hall as host of Let's Make a Deal (2009) in 2009]: They got me because they wanted someone a little edgier, but I get that it is daytime, so I am not going to say, 'Hey bitch, what's behind Door No. 1?' But it lets me push it as far as you can in the daytime schedule, because it is a Vegas audience. Show less «
[on Reeko the Skunk]: Stuart showed Reeko that he could take down that wall, and just let people lik...Show more »
[on Reeko the Skunk]: Stuart showed Reeko that he could take down that wall, and just let people like him for him. At one point I say, 'You don't like me because I'm a skunk,' and they say, 'No, we don't like you because you're a jerk.' He couldn't understand that. There was a good lesson there." Show less «
[In 2008]: This is what I was built for, I can't save a life; that's why I didn't become a doctor. I...Show more »
[In 2008]: This is what I was built for, I can't save a life; that's why I didn't become a doctor. I can't drive a 16-wheeler. There are a lot of things in life I can't do, but I'll be damned if I can't get on a stage and entertain. Show less «