fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Kenya Barris (born August 9, 1973) is an American film and television writer, producer, director, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the ABC sitcom black-ish (2014–2022).

Kenya Barris
Barris in 2016
Born	(1973-08-09) August 9, 1973 (age 49) Inglewood, California, U.S.
Other names	Kenya 'Yee' Barris
Alma mater	Clark Atlanta University
Occupation	Film and television writer producer director actor
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Rainbow Edwards Barris ​ ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	6

Early life

Barris was born in Inglewood, California, the second of five children. He was named after Kenya due to his father visiting the country.[1] Barris' parents divorced when he was five years old.[2] He is an alumnus of Clark Atlanta University.[3][4]

Career

Barris has created numerous television shows, including the critically acclaimed Black-ish. The award-winning series also has two spin-offs, Grown-ish and Mixed-ish,[5] and a third potential spin-off Old-ish.[6] He was a writer for The Game, Girlfriends, and Soul Food.[5][4][7] Barris co-created and produced America's Next Top Model with Tyra Banks.[8] He penned the film Girls Trip. He co-produced the 2019 film Little[9] and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2019 theatrical release Shaft.

In 2020, Barris made his acting debut in #BlackAF, a series he developed for Netflix, co-starring Rashida Jones and Iman Benson.[10][11][12] In October 2020, Barris announced that he will write, produce and direct a biopic on comedian Richard Pryor for MGM.[13] His Khalabo Ink Society company is currently eyeing a deal with ViacomCBS.[14] In August 2022 it was announced that Barris would write and direct a modern remake of The Wizard of Oz.[15]

Barris has been working on a possible TV series Brown-ish with Eva Longoria.[10]

Personal life

Barris married anesthesiologist Dr. Rania "Rainbow" Edwards Barris in 1999. They have six children.[16] He filed for divorce from her in 2022—having filed for divorce twice before and then withdrawn those filings.[17][18][19][20]

Filmography

Films

Title	Year	Credited as				Studio	Notes
		Writer	Director	Producer	Other
Barbershop: The Next Cut	2016	Yes	No	Yes	No	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Bros. Pictures	Co-producer Co-written with Tracy Oliver
Girls Trip	2017	Yes	No	No	No	Universal Pictures	Co-written with Tracy Oliver and Erica Rivinoja
Little	2019	No	No	Yes	No
Shaft		Yes	No	Executive	No	Warner Bros. Pictures / Netflix	Co-written with Alex Barnow
The Witches	2020	Yes	No	No	No	Warner Bros. Pictures	Co-written with Robert Zemeckis and Guillermo del Toro
Soul		No	No	No	Yes	Pixar Animation Studios	Special thanks[21]
Coming 2 America	2021	Yes	No	Executive	No	Amazon Studios / Paramount Pictures	Co-written with Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield
Cheaper by the Dozen	2022	Yes	No	Yes	No	Disney+ / Walt Disney Pictures / 20th Century Studios	Co-written with Jenifer Rice-Genzuk Henry and Craig Titley
You People		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Netflix	Directing debut Co-written with Jonah Hill
The Wizard of Oz	TBA	No	Yes	No	No	Warner Bros. Pictures / New Line Cinema	Co-production with The Hideaway Entertainment and Temple Hill Entertainment

Television series

Title	Year	Credited as					Network	Notes
		Actor	Creator	Director	Writer	Executive producer
Girlfriends	2000–2008	No	No	No	Yes	No	UPN/The CW
America's Next Top Model	2003–2018	No	Yes	No	No	No	UPN/The CW/VH1
Soul Food	2002–2004	No	No	No	Yes	No	Showtime
Listen Up!	2004–2005	No	No	No	Yes	No	CBS
The Game	2006–2014	No	No	No	Yes	No	The CW/BET
Are We There Yet?	2011–2012	No	No	No	Yes	No	TBS
I Hate My Teenage Daughter	2012–2013	No	No	No	Yes	No	Fox
Black-ish	2014–2022	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	ABC
Grown-ish	2018–present	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Freeform
Mixed-ish	2019–2021	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	ABC
Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show	2019	No	No	No	No	Yes	Netflix
BlackAF	2020	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Character: Kenya Barris
We the People	2021	No	No	No	No	Yes
Entergalactic	2022	No	No	No	No	Yes
The Vince Staples Show[22]	2023	No	No	No	No	Yes		Pre-production

Awards

In 2019, Black-ish won several NAACP Image Awards. It was named best comedy series and Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson took acting honors. Black-ish was the winner of the Entertainment and Children's Peabody Award in 2016.[23] Barris and Black-ish also won the 2017 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.[24] Barris was nominated for the same award in 2018. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021, and a PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy for Black-ish in 2014.[25] In 2016, Barris won the Rod Serling Award for Advancing Social Justice Through Popular Media.[26]

In 2018, he donated $1 million to Clark Atlanta University, and was granted an honorary doctorate in humane letters.[27]

References

External links

• Kenya Barris at IMDb

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