Damon Wayans

CTL-E-6079 · Person · other · 1960–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07300 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6079.

Damon Wayans, born Damon Kyle Wayans on 4 September 1960 in New York City, is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, and a central member of the Wayans family of entertainers. One of ten children raised in Harlem, he began stand-up in 1982 and served a brief, famously turbulent stint as a featured player on Saturday Night Live in 1985–86. His breakthrough came as a writer and performer on Fox's In Living Color (1990–1992), created by his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, where his characters — including Homey the Clown and the 'Men on Film' critic Blaine Edwards — became signature figures of Black sketch comedy. He headlined films including Mo' Money, Major Payne and Spike Lee's Bamboozled, starred as Michael Kyle in the ABC sitcom My Wife and Kids (2001–2005) and as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon television series (2016–2019), and in 2024 co-created and starred in the CBS sitcom Poppa's House alongside his son, Damon Wayans Jr. In February 2025 the Wayans family was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame.

The record

• Also known as: Damon Kyle Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr.

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 Damon Wayans entity in the live graph at 3,763 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-6079 assigned at assembly. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 3 — Famous Birthdays ABSENT census, readiness rank 1503 (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 comedian, actor and writer; brother of Keenen Ivory Wayans (CTL-E-1768, live in graph) and a principal of the Wayans family. Vital status: LIVING — billed for stand-up performances ('Damon Wayans: Under Construction') at the Hollywood Improv on 17 and 24 Oct 2026 (Hollywood Improv listings, accessed Oct 2026), and inducted with his family into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame on 22 Feb 2025. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): In Living Color main cast 1990–1992 with three ensemble Emmy nominations (Dead-Frog / Wikipedia, accessed 2026-10-16); My Wife and Kids ran 2001–2005 (Wikipedia). MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate: Wikimedia Commons photograph of Damon Wayans in 2008; 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-1503-damon-wayans.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

• In Living Color — starred in
  Damon Wayans was a main-cast writer and performer on In Living Color (CTL-E-5450) from 1990 to 1992, creating characters including Homey the Clown (Wikipedia, 'Damon Wayans'; Fandango biography).
• Keenen Ivory Wayans — related to
  Damon Wayans is the brother of Keenen Ivory Wayans (CTL-E-1768), who created In Living Color, on which Damon starred (Wikipedia, 'Damon Wayans'; Fandango biography).

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Damon Wayans' — Damon Kyle Wayans Sr., born 4 September 1960 in New York City; member of the Wayans family; In Living Color (1990–1992); My Wife and Kids; Poppa's House (2024–2025) with Damon Wayans Jr.; 2026 television appearances listed — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Wayans (primary source · build store)
• Fandango, 'Damon Wayans Biography' — born in Harlem in 1960, one of ten children; stand-up from 1982; with brother Keenen Ivory Wayans created In Living Color (Fox, 1990–94), influential particularly to African American comedians; departed in 1992 for film work including Major Payne — https://www.fandango.com/people/damon-wayans-713863/biography (build store)
• Hollywood Improv, 'Damon Wayans' — artist biography and event listings: 'Damon Wayans: Under Construction' at the Hollywood Improv on 17 and 24 Oct 2026 — https://improv.com/hollywood/comic/damon+wayans/ (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6079 · Combined Graph record U-07300 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 2 mapped relationships.
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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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