Damon Wayans (senior): biography and filmography of the actor

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Damon Wayans (Sr.) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer from the well-known Wayans family of actors. He is known to most viewers as the producer and screenwriter of the comedy film Major Payne and as the protagonist of the TV series Lethal Weapon.

Childhood

Damon was born on 1960-04-09 in New York, USA. The Wayans family is large and friendly, widely known in the United States and beyond for its sense of humor. Damon's parents, Howell and Elvira, had nine other children besides himself.

All these kids have achieved success in life. The Wayans brothers (Marlon, Keenan Ivory, Sean) work on television and in film - comedians, screenwriters, actors, producers, directors. Damon Wayans' son Damon and nephew Damien Wayans also work in television.

Damon was a bit of a clubfoot during his school years, so he is shy and not popular with other children. Parents brought up children in cramped economic conditions, so the children were forced to start earning their own money quite early.

After nine years at school, the guy goes to workto the stage as a comedian in the stand-up genre, where his older brother Ivory has already achieved some success. His earnings here are small, but very necessary, besides, Damon gained experience that was useful to him in later life.

Career

Even at the age of 15, Wayans already managed to appear on the TV show Saturday Night Live, but this did not add popularity or money to him.

In 1984, luck finally smiled at the guy. He was invited to play a small role in the comedy film "Beverly Hills Cop", in which the main role was played by the famous African American actor Eddie Murphy.

Damon Wayans, whose height, by the way, is 188 cm, appeared in this picture as a charming young man, smiling and interesting. He was remembered by both the public and the director of the project, Martin Brest. So Wayans began his career.

In 1986 and 1987, Damon continues to act in films that are not very popular with the audience. The only exception is the comedy film "Roxanne", which, although it did not collect huge box office receipts, was liked by the public.

In 1988, the actor was lucky enough to star in Julien Temple's comedy Earth Girls Are Easy. The main role in the film went to Jim Carrey, and Damon played, though not a big, but noticeable role.

Damon Wayans' next films are "The Last Boy Scout" in 1991, directed by Tony Scott, and "Major Payne" in 1995, directed by Nick Castle, in which Damon not only played the main role, butand tried his films as a producer and screenwriter.

For his role in The Last Boy Scout, Wayans received an MTV Award nomination for Best On-Screen Duo.

Now Damon is busy filming in the television series "Lethal Weapon". This series was released on television in September 2016. It was developed by Matt Miller and stars Damon Wayans, Jordana Brewster, Klein Crawford, Keisha Sharp and others. Based on Shane Black's 1987 film of the same name.

Wayans' hero, Roger Murd is a police officer. He has heart problems. His partner constantly commits desperate acts and drags Roger into dangerous troubles, trying to cope with the death of his wife.

In February 2017, Fox renewed Lethal Weapon for a second season.

Comedy picture "Major Payne"

In 1995, Nick Castle decided to make a remake of the military comedy "Major Benson's Private Wars". The screenplay for the new film was written by Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly. The plot is based on the story of a Marine suddenly dismissed from service. In ordinary civilian life, an infantryman has nothing to do. He is used to fighting and killing, and is instead offered a job as a mentor at a cadet school. While working at a school, a former infantryman falls in love with a girl. She helps him settle into civilian life.

The roles in the film were performed by: Damon Wayans, Karin Parsons, Stephen Martini, William Hickey, Michael Ironside and other actors. The film received mixed reviews.critics.