Lena Waithe

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Lena Waithe
Born (1984-05-17) May 17, 1984 (age 39)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupation Actress, producer, screenwriter

Lena D. Waithe (born May 17, 1984)[1] is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter, best known for her role as Denise on the 2015 Netflix series Master of None.[2][3][4][5]

Early life

Waithe was born in Chicago, Illinois.[6][7] Though acting was not originally among Waithe's ambitions,[4][8] she knew from the age of seven that she wanted to be a television writer, and received strong family support for her writing from her single mother and grandmother.[2] She graduated from Evanston Township High School and from Columbia College Chicago in 2006,[3][8][9] crediting faculty playwright Michael Fry for his teaching and encouragement.[9][10]

Career

Waithe is a former writer for the Fox television series Bones,[4] a writer for the 2012 Nickelodeon sitcom How to Rock, and a producer on the 2014 satirical comedy film Dear White People.[11] Waithe wrote and appeared in the YouTube series "Twenties" which was produced by Flavor Unit Entertainment and optioned in 2014 by BET.[12][13] In addition to writing and directing the short film "Save Me", which was shown at several independent film festivals,[14] Waithe wrote the 2013 web series "Hello Cupid" and the 2011 viral video Shit Black Girls Say.[11]

Waithe had earlier worked on The Real World as an editorial assistant, and on the set of Girlfriends.[9] She was the personal assistant to director Gina Prince-Bythewood during the production of The Secret Life of Bees; Prince-Bythewood became a friend and mentor. Waithe was also a writing assistant on the 2009 biopic Notorious, about the life and murder of Notorious B.I.G.[9]

In 2014, Variety named Waithe as one of its "10 Comedians to Watch".[12] In August 2015, Showtime network commissioned a pilot for an upcoming series, written by Waithe and produced by Common, which tells a young urban African-American man's coming-of-age story. Both Waithe and Common grew up on Chicago's South Side.[3][11]

Waithe was cast in Master of None after meeting creator and lead actor Aziz Ansari who, with Alan Yang, had originally written Denise as a straight, white woman with the potential, according to Waithe, to evolve into one of the main character's love interests: "For some reason, [casting director] Allison Jones thought about me for it, a black gay woman."[2] Ansari and Yang rewrote the script to make the character more like Waithe: "All of us actors play heightened versions of ourselves."[2] She said, "I don't know if we've seen a sly, harem pants-wearing, cool Topshop sweatshirt-wearing, snapback hat-rocking lesbian on TV."[4] She also said, "I know how many women I see out in the world who are very much like myself. We exist. To me, the visibility of it was what was going to be so important and so exciting."[4]

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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