He is the older brother in Wayans parents’ family and a person, who helped him to start a career in the movie industry.
Keenen entered this world in 1958 and was raised in the New York neighborhood. He is a product of education of Seward Park High School. Then he briefly attended Tuskegee University, where he majored in engineering. He quit studying when he fell in love with comedy and chose it as his career. He performed stand-up comedy live in New York, but the level of his success didn’t satisfy his ambitions. Seeking for more career opportunities, he relocated to Los Angeles, CA.
He started from short appearances in various shows, such as “CHiPs” etc. Mr. Wayans met his big break in the early 1980s when he won the role of Duke in the miniseries “For Love and Honor”.
Having started as an actor, he didn’t stop and tried his hand as a writer. He co-wrote the live performance of the cult comedian Eddie Murphy in “Eddie Murphy: Raw”.
In the early 1990s, Keenen Ivory Wayans turned into the bright comedy star. He got that status after the release of the series “In Living Color”, where he acted in the company of his siblings. Keenen had an unusual sense of humor, and he created a great team of comedians and other performers, which consisted of many young comics, including his siblings, Shawn and Kim, young Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lopez.
He left the show in 1992, and then created another one – “The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show”. Unfortunately, it was not popular enough and it was closed till the end of the year.
After that Keenan produced and directed TV shows and movies of various genres. As of now, he stays out of the limelight and doesn’t plan some new projects anymore.
Keenan is a father of five kids – Nala Wayans (a model), Bella Wayans, Jolie Wayans, Daphne Wayans, and Keenen Ivory Wayans Jr. He welcomed them with his ex-wife Daphne. The couple was married in 2001-2004.
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