Actor

Lena Waithe

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Acting credits

Established

Large and steady acting portfolio.

TMDB popularity

2.1

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 50Series: 36Crew credits: 45

TMDB ID: 1059572

IMDb ID: nm2913119

Known for: Acting

Born: May 17, 1984

Age: 42

Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1953 - 2026

Years active: 74

Average TMDB rating: 6.68

Wikidata: Q21872808

Also known as

Lena D. Waithe • 麗娜·維特

Other jobs

Executive Producer (28)Producer (7)Writer (4)Screenplay (2)Consulting Producer (1)Creator (1)Executive Music Producer (1)Production Coordinator (1)

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Biography

Lena Waithe (/weɪθ/; born May 17, 1984) is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series The Chi (2018–present) and the BET comedy series Boomerang (2019–20) and Twenties (2020–21). She also wrote and produced the crime film Queen & Slim (2019) and is the executive producer of the horror anthology series Them (2021–present). Waithe gained recognition for her role in the Netflix comedy-drama series Master of None (2015–2021) and became the first African-American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2017 for writing the show's "Thanksgiving" episode, which was loosely based on her personal experience of coming out to her mother. She has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's 2018 adventure film Ready Player One and the HBO series Westworld. In 2023, she was nominated for Best Play at the 76th Tony Awards, her production work on the sketch-comedy play Ain't No Mo'. Waithe was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was included on Fast Company's Queer 50 list in 2021 and 2022.