Wayans was born in
Harlem, New York City, the second child of ten for Elvira Alethia (née Green; July 23, 1938–July 10, 2020), a homemaker and social worker, and Howell Stouten Wayans (August 26, 1936–April 1, 2023) a supermarket manager. His father was a devout
Jehovah's Witness. The family later moved to Manhattan's
Fulton housing projects, where he primarily grew up. He attended
Seward Park High School during his teenage years, and attended
Tuskegee University on an engineering scholarship where he was initiated as a member of
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's Gamma Phi chapter. One semester before graduation, he dropped out of school to focus on comedy. During his first set performing at
The Improv in New York, Wayans met
Robert Townsend, who helped him learn about the comedy business. Wayans wanted to produce a variety show similar to
Saturday Night Live, with a cast of people of color that took chances with its content. Fox gave Wayans a lot of freedom with the show, although Fox executives were a bit concerned about the show's content before its debut. Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the show,
In Living Color, a
sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from 1990 to 1994. ==Personal life==