Photo by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ
Photo by ANNIE LEIBOVITZ; PORTRAIT STYLED BY JESSICA DIEHL.

Lena Waithe

Actress, Screenwriter

POSITION

Actress, Screenwriter

COUNTRY

USA

AGE

40 years

SCENE

Social

SOCIAL

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

What makes Lena Waithe a Global Shaker?

Lena Waithe is a Chicago-born queer screenwriter, producer, and actress best known for co-writing and acting in the wildly popular Netflix comedy-drama, Master of None alongside Aziz Ansari.
Waithe made history becoming the first Black-American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2017 for her work on the show. The “Thanksgiving” episode for which she won the Emmy was loosely based on her personal experience coming out to her mother. She is also the creator of the Showtime drama series The Chi.

At 2019’s camp-themed Met Gala, Waithe wore a lilac pinstripe suit with the words “Black Drag Queens Created Camp.”

At the 2018 event, in another bold statement, she showed up to the Catholicism-themed event draped in a rainbow Pride flag-inspired cape.

Waithe uses her position as a Hollywood personality to be vocal about LGBT+ representation in the media.

Tags: LGBTQ+, TV

Last updated: June 28, 2019