Mike Epps

CTL-E-6076 · Person · other · 1970–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07298 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6076.

Mike Epps, born Michael Elliot Epps on 18 November 1970 in Indianapolis, Indiana, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Raised on Indianapolis's east side, he left for New York in 1994 and broke nationally on HBO's Def Comedy Jam in 1995, later hosting the show. His film breakthrough came as Day-Day Jones in Next Friday (2000) and Friday After Next (2002) opposite Ice Cube, and he reached a wider audience as 'Black Doug' in The Hangover (2009) and in the Resident Evil films. He has also taken dramatic turns — playing Richard Pryor in Nina (2016) and appearing in Sparkle and Dolemite Is My Name — and won NAACP Image Awards for Jumping the Broom (2011) and Survivor's Remorse (2016). Since 2021 he has co-created and starred in the Indianapolis-set Netflix sitcom The Upshaws, and his 2018 memoir Unsuccessful Thug recounts the Indianapolis childhood behind the act. He continues to headline arena tours in 2026.

The record

• Also known as: Michael Elliot Epps

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Census Intake Wave 5 — 747 Program, Wave 11; 40-record packet). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Mike Epps entity in the live graph at 3,763 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-6076 assigned at assembly. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 3 — Famous Birthdays ABSENT census, readiness rank 1488 (Comedians list). The census supplied the NAME ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — African American stand-up comedian and actor from Indianapolis; a leading figure in Black film and television comedy since the 1990s. Vital status: LIVING — profiled by the Indianapolis Star on 23 June 2026 as an active touring headliner, and co-headlining the We Them Ones arena tour through 2026 (venue artist biographies, Oct 2026; The Breakfast Club interview, 13 Nov 2025). STATISTICS (sourced, dated): NAACP Image Awards: Best Supporting Actor, Jumping the Broom (2011) and Survivor's Remorse (2016) (Funny Bone artist biography, accessed 2026-10-16); The Upshaws ran on Netflix from 2021 (Indianapolis Star). MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate: Wikimedia Commons photograph of Mike Epps performing in 2013; no file page was read at file-page level in this pass, so no image is cleared — CTL-PHOTO-001; a CTL-created graphic is the standing alternative); chart FILLED (charts/chart-temp-1488-mike-epps.svg); video HELD (Shorts Link Map checked by name and variants — no matching-entity CTL Short); audio HELD (no rights basis). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot under the media-layer rule; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created SVG (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced facts) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map catalog (checked by name and variants), and no official/em) | audio = HELD (No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio at staging.)

Relationships

• Dyon Brooks — collaborated with
  Mike Epps and Mojo Brookzz (CTL-E-6078, staged in this same batch) co-headline the We Them Ones arena tour in 2026, with Brookzz a hand-picked featured comic on Epps's tour (Orpheum Theatre Group; Improv artist biographies, Oct 2026).

Sources

• Indianapolis Star, 'Mike Epps has serious skill on the mic. He can ride a unicycle too' (23 June 2026) — born and raised in Indianapolis; among the most successful comedians in the country; known for the Friday and Hangover films and the Indiana-set sitcom The Upshaws; left Indianapolis for New York in 1994; memoir Unsuccessful Thug (2018) — https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/2026/06/23/mike-epps-rides-unicycles-wrote-a-book-and-reps-indianapolis/89658031007/ (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, 'Mike Epps' — Michael Elliot Epps, born 18 November 1970 in Indianapolis, Indiana; played Day-Day Jones in Next Friday and Friday After Next; Def Comedy Jam tour from 1995; starring roles in Uncle Buck and The Upshaws — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Epps (build store)
• Richmond Funny Bone, 'Mike Epps' artist biography — NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jumping the Broom (2011) and for Survivor's Remorse (2016); played Richard Pryor in Nina; starred opposite Eddie Murphy in Dolemite Is My Name — https://richmond.funnybone.com/events/category/series/mike-epps/richmond-funny-bone-comedy-club/ (build store)
• The Breakfast Club via iHeart, 'Mike Epps Talks We Them One's Tour 2026, The Upshaws, Last Friday' (13 Nov 2025) — Epps interviewed about the 2026 We Them Ones tour and the final season of The Upshaws — https://thebreakfastclub.iheart.com/featured/breakfast-club/content/2025-11-13-51-the-breakfast-club-interview-mike-epps-talks-we-them-ones-tour-2026-the-/ (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6076 · Combined Graph record U-07298 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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