Damon Wayans Jr.
Damon Wayans Jr. is an actor, born 1982.
The credit list puts Damon Wayans Jr. on screen as a child in a 1994 superhero spoof, then in a sitcom guest spot in 2001, and then nothing much until a run of studio comedies from 2009. Television is what actually made him. Brad Williams on Happy Endings, from 2011 to 2013, brought a Critics' Choice nomination in 2012, and Coach on New Girl gave him a second sitcom built on the same rhythm.
His register is high-commitment idiocy delivered by the man who looks like the sensible one. He plays people who are confident in exactly the wrong direction: Justin in Let's Be Cops, the more cautious half of a pair who keep a costume-party mistake running long past the point of sense; Fosse, one of the preening rival detectives in The Other Guys. He is fast on a line and better still on a reaction, which is why the sitcom form suits him. He can hold a beat of silence and let the other actor look worse.
The move toward drama has been partial. Cherry put him in uniform as a drill sergeant, The Harder They Fall found him a spot in a western ensemble, and neither is a large part. Voice work has been steadier, and Wasabi in Big Hero 6 lands because he can play anxiety without whining. Since 2023 he has hosted the CBS game show Raid the Cage, and Poppa's House put him back where he works best, in a network sitcom.
Movies (20)
- Scary Movie (2026)
- Big Hero 6 (2014)
- How to Be Single (2016)
- Let's Be Cops (2014)
- The Other Guys (2010)
- Cherry (2021)
- Dance Flick (2009)
- Marmaduke (2010)
- The Harder They Fall (2021)
- Kinda Pregnant (2025)
- Super Troopers 2 (2018)
- Players (2024)
- The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave (2016)
- Scary Movie 7
- Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
- Supercool (2021)
- Long Weekend (2021)
- Blankman (1994)
- Love, Guaranteed (2020)
- Someone Marry Barry (2014)
TV (8)
Where to start with Damon Wayans Jr.
Start with Happy Endings. It is a fast, overlapping ensemble comedy, and Wayans is the cast member who gets the most out of underplaying, which is a useful skill in a room where everyone else is shouting. New Girl is the more famous show and the smaller job: Coach is a great running bit rather than a character with much interior, but the bit is funny for two seasons.
On film, Let's Be Cops is the pure version of his comic persona and The Other Guys is the sharper film with less of him in it. Big Hero 6 is the one the children in the house will already know. If you want the dramatic swings, Cherry and The Harder They Fall both use him seriously and briefly, and neither is a reason to watch either film on its own. Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar is the strangest entry on his resume and worth it for that alone.