Wayne Brady

Wayne Alphonso Brady was born June 2, 1972 in Columbus, Georgia and is primarily known as a comedian and Emmy Award-winning TV personality in the United States, appearing regularly on the improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway? and as the host of Let's Make a Deal, Don't Forget the Lyrics! and The Wayne Brady Show.

Mr. Brady moved to Orlando, Florida, as a young child and attended Dr. Phillips High School. After graduating in 1989, he enrolled at the University of Miami. He began his career at the Orlando improv troupe SAK Comedy Lab and performed in community theaters, and he finally moved to Los Angeles in 1996. His big break came after appearing in the original UK version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 1998 which led to him becoming a regular on the US version from 1998 until 2007. Brady won an Emmy Award in 2003 for his efforts, following Emmy nominations in 2002 and 2001. The series was relaunched in 2013.

The next milestone in his career was The Wayne Brady Show, which ran from 2001 until 2004, resulting in him picking up two Daytime Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2003 and 2004.

In September 2004, Brady made his Broadway debut as Billy Flynn in the long-running hit musical Chicago for a limited engagement through December 2004.

From 2007 through to 2009, he hosted the singing game show Don't Forget the Lyrics! on Fox and went on to become the host of Let's Make a Deal on CBS from October 2009, a job he still holds. He has received a total of seven Daytime Emmy Award nominations to date in the category of Outstanding Game Show Host for his work.

In August 2010, he would return to the stage to play Tom Collins in Rent at the Hollywood Bowl, directed by Neil Patrick Harris. He returned to Broadway from November 21, 2015 through to March 27, 2016 to assume the role of Lola in Kinky Boots and would appear for one night only in the off-Broadway production of White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at the Westside Theatre in 2016. Later that year he took on the role of Charley Kringas in a Los Angeles production of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, and from January 17 through to April 9, 2017, he assumed the role of Aaron Burr in the Chicago production of Hamilton.

Over the course of his career, Brady has guest starred in or lent his voice to a plethora of television shows and films, most notably Sofia the First, Foodfight!, How I Met Your Mother, 30 Rock, Stargate SG-1, Robot Chicken, Getting Along Famously, and Everybody Hates Chris.

As a recording artist, Brady has released two studio albums: A Long Time Coming (2008) and Radio Wayne (2011), picking up a Grammy Award nomination in 2009 for the song A Change Is Gonna Come.

Brady reprised his role as Lola in Kinky Boots for a special return engagement from March 5 through to April 26, 2018.