Tiffany Haddish

Tiffany Sarac Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American-Eritrean actress, comedian, singer, model and author. After guest starring on several television series, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show. After appearing in the 2016 comedy film Keanu, her breakthrough came in 2017 with her role as Dina in the comedy film Girls Trip, for which she received critical acclaim for her performance. In 2017, she published her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn.

Haddish currently stars in the TBS series The Last O.G. and as Tuca in the Netflix animated series Tuca & Bertie.

Early life and education
Haddish was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. Her father, Tsihaye Reda Haddish, was a refugee from Eritrea, and was from an Ethiopian-Jewish family. Her mother, Leola, was a black small business owner. After Haddish's father left when she was three years old, her mother remarried and went on to have more children; Haddish has two half-sisters and two half-brothers.

In 1988 while living in Colton, California, Haddish's stepfather tampered with the brakes on her mother’s car, leading to an accident in which Leola suffered severe brain damage. The tampering was allegedly intended to harm Haddish and her siblings as well, but they had opted to stay home on the day of the accident. Her stepfather disclosed this to her while having dinner. The brain damage possibly triggered Leola's schizophrenia. Haddish, then age nine and the oldest of her five siblings, became the primary caregiver for her family.

At 12, Haddish and her siblings were put into foster care where they were temporarily separated from each other. While there, she used comedy as a way to cope with being in situations with new people. When she was 15, she and her siblings were reunited under the care of their grandmother.

She attended George Ellery Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills and graduated from El Camino Real High School, also in Woodland Hills, where she was the school mascot. Haddish said she could not read very well until high school, but improved when she received tutoring from a teacher. She also got in a lot of trouble at school, despite her award-winning participation in drama competition featuring Shakespearean monologues. In 1997, after her social worker gave her an ultimatum to either attend psychiatric therapy or go to the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp, then 17-year-old Haddish opted for comedy as outlet for her pain. She has said that the mentorship from many notable comedians—including Richard Pryor, Dane Cook, Charles Fleischer, the Wayans brothers —helped her discover her passion for comedy and it "literally saved her life." She has said that she incorporates her past real life experiences in her sets, finding that doing so functions as a sort of "safe space" for her.

Haddish stated in 2008 that at the age of seventeen she was sexually assaulted by a police cadet. She has stated that this led to her having an aggressive front when it comes to avoiding unwanted advances from men.

Before her on-screen success, Haddish held a number of jobs, including customer service for Alaska Airlines. Haddish has said she lived in her car during her 20s while in her early days of comedy.

2005–2016: Early work
Haddish's first break was a spot on the comedy competition Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes? She has made guest appearances on such shows as Chelsea Lately, That's So Raven, My Name Is Earl, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Underground, Nick Cannon's Short Circuitz, @midnight, Just Jordan, In the Motherhood, Def Comedy Jam, Reality Bites Back and New Girl. She has also starred in movies such as Meet the Spartans and Janky Promoters.

In 2013, she had a recurring role on Real Husbands of Hollywood. In 2014, Haddish was cast in the Oprah Winfrey Network series If Loving You Is Wrong. She left the soap after the first season for a regular role on the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show where she starred as Nekeisha, the semi-estranged wife of Bobby Carmichael (Lil Rel Howery), for three seasons.

In 2016, she co-starred opposite Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key in the comedy film Keanu in the role of Hi C.

2017–present: Breakthrough and mainstream recognition
In 2017, Haddish starred alongside Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Regina Hall in the comedy film Girls Trip for Universal Pictures. The film received widely positive reviews, with an approval rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and a "generally favorable reviews" score of 71/100 from Metacritic; it also became a box-office hit, becoming the highest-grossing comedy of 2017. Her performance was cited by many critics as a Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy-style breakout. In the Chicago Tribune, Katie Walsh wrote, "this is Haddish's movie, and will make her a star. It's clear from the moment she hits the screen."

In August 2017, Haddish's comedy special, ''Tiffany Haddish: She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood'', premiered on Showtime. Reviewing the special for Vox, Caroline Framke wrote, "Tiffany Haddish is just really damn funny, and deserves a recommendation wherever we can give it to her...Haddish unleashes hilarious, filthy, and even moving anecdotes to tell the story of her life to this point, without anything holding her back, at long last." She also co-hosted the BET game show Face Value with Deon Cole.

On November 11, 2017, Haddish became the first African-American female stand-up comedian to host Saturday Night Live, and her performance on the show earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Haddish's memoir, The Last Black Unicorn, was released in December 2017 by Simon & Schuster; it debuted at number 15 on The New York Times best-seller list. It was ghostwritten with Tucker Max.

As of 2018, Haddish stars opposite Tracy Morgan in the TBS sitcom, The Last O.G., her first lead in a sitcom. Her 2018 film roles include a supporting part in Uncle Drew, and a lead role, opposite Kevin Hart, in the comedy Night School, reuniting with Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee. In parallel, she stars in the Tyler Perry's movie Nobody's Fool, alongside Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, Mehcad Brooks, Amber Riley and Whoopi Goldberg. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed over $33 million worldwide.

In 2018, Haddish signed a first-look deal with HBO. In addition, she was also announced as the voice of Tuca on the Netflix animated sitcom Tuca & Bertie, which premiered in May 2019. Haddish provided the voice of Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, and is set to lead the comedy Limited Partners for Paramount Pictures.

On May 14, 2019; ABC revealed in a press release that they are reviving ''Kids Say the Darndest Things with Haddish as host and producer. The show is set to premiere on October 4 in a three hour family oriented block of programming. ''

Personal life
As described in her memoir, Haddish married and divorced William Stewart twice. Her ex-husband helped Haddish locate her once-estranged father who walked her down the aisle at their first wedding, which she once described as "one of the happiest days of my life." She filed for divorce in Los Angeles County, California, in 2011 and 2013.

Haddish volunteers at the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp and for homeless and other charities that help people. For a period, after she graduated from high school, Haddish was homeless, living in her car. When she was nine years old, her mother was diagnosed with mental illness after a car accident and Haddish had to go into foster care. When she moved from home to home, she kept her belongings in a trash bag, which made her feel worthless. That is why she partnered with Living Advantage, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the welfare of foster youth, for her Suitcase Drive for Foster Youth, where she collected suitcases in which foster youth can keep their belongings.

She also had a brief experience in Scientology. At one point early in life, she was hospitalized with toxic shock syndrome.

Haddish became a naturalized citizen of Eritrea on May 22, 2019, during a visit to that country to take part in festivities commemorating the 28th anniversary of their independence from Ethiopia.

BET Awards
The BET Awards were established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment over the past year.

Black Reel Awards
The Black Reel Awards is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence in African-American, as well as those of African diaspora's cinematic achievements in the around the world film industry as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.

Grammy Awards
A Grammy Award is an award presented by The Recording Academy to recognize achievements in the music industry.

Primetime Emmy Awards
A Primetime Emmy Award is an American award bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming.