Biography
Wanda Sykes is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer best known for her appearances on The Chris Rock Show and being named one of the 25 funniest people in America in 2004. She has had recurring parts on CBS’ The New Adventures of Old Christine and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Sykes has previously won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She appears in Netflix’s The Upshaws, HBO Max’s The Other Two, and The Good Fight.
Age
She is 60 years old as of 7 March 2024. She was born in 1964 in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States. Her real name is Wanda Yvette Sykes.
Family – Education
Her family moved to Maryland when she was in third grade. Her mother, Marion Louise (née Peoples), was a banker, and her father, Harry Ellsworth Sykes, was a U.S. Army colonel stationed at the Pentagon. After attending Arundel High School in Gambrills, Maryland, Sykes graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Hampton University and joined Alpha Kappa Alpha. Her first position following graduation from college was with the National Security Agency, where she spent five years as a contracting specialist.
Husband – Partner
From 1991 until 1998, Sykes was wed to record producer Dave Hall. She came out as a lesbian in public in November 2008 while attending a Las Vegas same-sex marriage protest in support of Proposition 8. Sykes wed her French spouse, Alex Niedbalski, a month prior. The two had first met in 2006. When Niedbalski gave birth to two fraternal twins in April 2009, the couple also became parents.
Sykes just came out to her conservative mother Marion and father Harry in 2004, when she was 40, and they both struggled to accept her homosexuality. They declined to attend her wedding with Alex, resulting in a brief estrangement; they have since reconciled with Sykes.
Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of $10 million.
Height
She stands at a height of 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m).
Illness
During an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on September 19, 2011, Sykes revealed that she had been diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ earlier that year. Although DCIS is a non-invasive “stage zero breast cancer,” Sykes chose to have a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer. Sykes shares his time between Media, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, and Cherry Grove, New York.
Netflix
Sykes joined the cast of Netflix’s series The Upshaws in 2021. Sykes co-hosted the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, alongside Regina Hall and Amy Schumer. The program is well known for the notorious incident when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. After Trevor Noah left The Daily Show in January 2023, Sykes took over as a guest host.
Bad Batch
She voiced Phee Genoa in Seasons 2 and 3 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Phee Genoa, a trusted human pirate, encountered Clone Force 99, widely known as “the Bad Batch,” between 19 and 18 BBY. Genoa assisted the clone deserters in escaping a sea surge and uncovered the coordinates of the Kaldar Trinary system. She helped the clones trigger Skara Nal, an ancient walker and superweapon.
Genoa took Clone Force 99 to Pabu and introduced them to Mayor Shep Hazard and Lyana. When the Bad Batch returned to Pabu, Genoa discovered that the Empire had targeted Omega because of her high M-count. Genoa landed on an airless moon to refuel her spaceship Providence, but Clone X trooper CX-2 sneaked aboard and escaped undetected.
Hemlock dispatched soldiers to capture Omega. When Genoa reached Pabu, it emancipated Mount Tantiss and former Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart. As she maneuvered the Providence into “stealth mode” and descended close to the Imperial work camp, the Batch managed to surreptitiously climb aboard the HCVw A9 turbo tank.
Stand-Up
Following a stint at the National Security Agency (NSA), Sykes launched her stand-up career at a Coors Light Super Talent Showcase in Washington, DC, where she made her live debut in 1987. She continued to perform in local places while at the NSA until 1992, when she relocated to New York City.In the early 1990s, she appeared on Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam, alongside Adele Givens, J. B. Smoove, D. L. Hughley, Bernie Mac, and Bill Bellamy, among other comedians. She worked for Hal Leonard Publishing and edited Peter Magadini’s book Polyrhythms – The Musician’s Guide. Her first major break occurred when she opened for Chris Rock at Caroline’s Comedy Club.
She has since acted in the films Pootie Tang and on television shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm. Wanda at Large, her own Fox network sitcom, aired briefly in 2003. The same year, Sykes appeared in Tongue Untied, an hour-long Comedy Central special. That network also named her No. 70 among the top 100 stand-up comedians of all time. She worked as a correspondent for HBO’s Inside the NFL, presented Comedy Central’s popular show Premium Blend, and played Gladys, a frequent character on Comedy Central’s puppet show Crank Yankers. She also had a short-lived Comedy Central show called Wanda Does It.
Movies
♦ 2024 – Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie †
♦ 2021 – Breaking News in Yuba County
♦ 2021 – The One and Only Dick Gregory
♦ 2020 – Friendsgiving
♦ 2019 – UglyDolls
♦ 2019 – The Wedding Year
♦ 2019 – Jexi
♦ 2018 – Hurricane Bianca 2: From Russia with Hate
♦ 2017 – Snatched
♦ 2017 – A Bad Moms Christmas
♦ 2016 – Ice Age: Collision Course
♦ 2016 – Bad Moms
♦ 2013 – The Hot Flashes
♦ 2012 – Ice Age: Continental Drift
♦ 2011 – Rio
♦ 2011 – The Muppets
♦ 2007 – Evan Almighty
♦ 2007 – License to Wed
TV Shows
♦ 2023 – Star Wars: The Bad Batch
♦ 2023 – Velma
♦ 2023 – History of the World, Part II
♦ 2023 – The Daily Show
♦ 2023 – Jimmy Kimmel Live!
♦ 2022 – 94th Academy Awards
♦ 2022 – Chivalry
♦ 2022 – Gutsy
♦ 2021–present – The Upshaws
♦ 2021 – The Good Fight
♦ 2021 – Q-Force
♦ 2020–2021 – Tig n’ Seek
♦ 2020 – Mapleworth Murders
♦ 2019–2023 – The Other Two
♦ 2019–2020 – Harley Quinn
♦ 2019 – The Bravest Knight
♦ 2019 – Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
♦ 2019 – Live in Front of a Studio Audience