Lena Waithe

Some Lesser Known Facts About Lena Waithe

• Her father, Lawrence David Waithe, died when she was 15.

• From the tender age of seven she knew she wanted to be a television writer, and she received a strong family support for her writing from her single mother and grandmother. Her parents had divorced when she was 3.

• Her paternal great-grandfather, Winston Waithe, emigrated from Barbados to Boston in 1921.

• She had worked at a movie theater, at Best Buy, and Blockbuster.

• In 2000, when she arrived in Los Angeles, she secured a job as an assistant to the executive producer of Girlfriends, a long-running sitcom.

• Waithe gained recognition for her role in the Netflix comedy-drama series Master of None (2015–2021).

• She has also appeared in the HBO television series Westworld (2016-2022).

• She is a producer and writer, known for Master of None (2015), Ready Player One (2018) and Queen & Slim (2019). She has been married to Alana Mayo since November 2019.

• Waithe was the writer and also gave an appearance in the YouTube series named Twenties, which was produced by Flavor Unit Entertainment.

• Waithe was the writer of 2013 web series Hello Cupid.

• In 2014, Variety named Waithe one of its 10 Comedians to Watch.

• In 2015, Waithe was cast in the Netflix series Master of None, where she portrayed the lead role of Denise, a 37-year-old lesbian novelist.

• Since 2018, Waithe had provided the voiceover of the tagline of AT&T commercials.

• In 2018, she became the first Black queer woman since November 2003 to be featured on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine.

• Waithe is the founder of the production house Hillman Grad Productions.

• Waithe also developed an autobiographical drama series, The Chi, Out Magazine named Waithe the Out100: Artist of the Year on November 8, 2017.

• Waithe is the writer and producer of the road trip-crime film Queen & Slim. The film released on November 27, 2019, by Universal Pictures.

• She mentioned in an interview “Here’s the thing. I was raised on deep dish pizza. So, what you guys call pizza, I don’t think that it’s pizza. I think it’s cheese bread”.