Artist Info

WANDA SYKES is an Emmy winning stand up comic, writer, actress and producer who
has been entertaining audiences for over twenty years. She has ranked among Entertainment
Weekly’s “25 Funniest People in America” and her peers have called her “one of the funniest
stand-up comics” in the field.

In 2023 Wanda was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Nominations; Two for her
Netflix special Wanda Sykes; I’m an Entertainer (her sixth stand-up special ) and another for her
role as ‘Gladys Murphy’ in Crank Yankers, a role she originated in 2004. In 2020, she received
Emmy nominations for both her role as real-life comic ‘Moms Mabley’ in The Marvelous Mrs.
Maisel and for her voice work as ‘Gladys Murphy’ in Crank Yankers. Wanda’s guest-starring role
on ABC’s Black-ish also brought her two back-to-back Emmy nominations for “Outstanding
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series” in 2017 and 2018. Her fifth standup special, Wanda Sykes:
Not Normal, is streaming on Netflix and was nominated for two 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards;
“Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special” and “Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music
or Comedy Special.” The special also received a Broadcast Critic Award nomination.
Wanda can currently be seen in season 4 of the Netflix’s comedy The Upshaws, which
she is writing, co-showruning and starring in. The Upshaws centers on a working-class African
American family in Indiana struggling to make it work and make it right without any blueprints.
The show was recently picked up for a fourth season with 12 episodes. Season one was
nominated for a People’s Choice Award and a 2022 NAACP Image Award. Sykes was also
nominated for and NAACP Image award for supporting actress.

In 2022, she was seen starring
in the Hulu / Mel Brooks series History of the World PT2 which she also writes and produces with
Nick Kroll and Ike Barinholtz. She recently produced and was a part of the Apple TV+ 5-part
documentary series Visible; Out on Television, about how the LGBTQ movement has shaped the
history of the medium. Each hour-long episode explores themes of homophobia, the evolution of
the LGBTQ character, and coming out in the television industry. Wanda spent five years on the
CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine co-starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as well as
HBO’s critically acclaimed The Chris Rock Show (the latter of which earned her two Emmy
nominations and one win). She has appeared in Broad City, House of Lies, Curb Your
Enthusiasm, and many more hit television shows. Other TV credits include Fox’s Wanda at
Large which she wrote, produced and starred in, Wanda Does It on Comedy Central, and Crank
Yankers. Wanda even starred on her own late-night talk show on Fox, The Wanda Sykes Show.
In 2017, Wanda was seen in the feature comedy Snatched, opposite Amy Schumer and
Goldie Hawn. She was also seen in Evan Almighty (sequel to Bruce Almighty), in which she
co-starred with Steve Carell, the cult-hit Monster-In-Law with Jane Fonda and Jennifer
Lopez, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Pootie Tang, Nutty Professor 2; The Klumps, Down to Earth and
many more.

Wanda has had four comedy specials prior to Not Normal; 2016’s What Happened…Ms.
Sykes? which premiered on Epix, 2009’s Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me on HBO, nominated for two
Emmys, HBO’s 2006 comedy special Wanda Sykes: Sick & Tired, nominated for a 2007 Emmy
for “Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special,” and her first, 2003’s Wanda Sykes: Tongue
Untied, which premiered on Comedy Central. Her stand up has tackled everything from politics
and marriage to racial profiling and parenting.

In 2012, Wanda joined forces with veteran producer Page Hurwitz to form Push It
Productions, a production company dedicated to creating quality, comedy-based programming for
network and cable television outlets. The company’s diverse slate of projects includes sketch
comedy, concerts, reality talk/variety, and competition formats. In just its first year, Push It made
a first look production deal with NBC, had a new series on OWN (Herlarious, which was the
recipient of a 2014 Gracie Award), and the company currently has shows in development with
NickMom (Comedy Camp) and Comcast. Push It Productions produced the 8th and 9th seasons of
NBC’s Last Comic Standing and the second season of Talk Show The Game Show, which
premiered on TruTV in February 2018. They also helmed the second season of Face Value,
hosted by Deon Cole, which returned to BET in spring 2018.
Push It received two Primetime Emmy nominations in 2020 for “Outstanding Variety
Special” for Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah and for “Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series”
for Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready.”

Wanda can be heard in many animated feature films and television shows, such as
Fox’s Ice Ace: Collision Course (reprising her role as ‘Granny’ from Ice Age: Continental Drift)
Dreamworks’ Over the Hedge and Paramount’s The Barnyard, as well as children’s shows
Vampirina and Doc McStuffins.

Wanda’s first book, Yeah, I Said It, published by Simon and Schuster, hit bookstores in
September 2004. Yeah, I Said It is a hilarious collection of essays touching on life, family and the
current events of the time.

Wanda was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and raised in Maryland. She graduated with a
Bachelor of Science degree from Hampton University. Her stand up career began at a Coors Light
Super talent Showcase in Washington, D.C. where she performed for the first time in front of a
live audience.