Lena Waithe (/weɪθ/; born May 17, 1984) is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series The Chi (2018–present) and the BET comedy series Boomerang (2019–20) and Twenties (2020–21). She also wrote and produced the crime film Queen & Slim (2019) and is the executive producer of the horror anthology series Them (2021–present). Waithe gained recognition for her role in the Netflix comedy-drama series Master of None (2015–2021) and became the first African-American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 2017 for writing the show's "Thanksgiving" episode, which was loosely based on her personal experience of coming out to her mother. She has also appeared in Steven Spielberg's 2018 adventure film Ready Player One and the HBO series Westworld. In 2023, she was nominated for Best Play at the 76th Tony Awards, her production work on the sketch-comedy play Ain't No Mo'. Waithe was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2018 and was included on Fast Company's Queer 50 list in 2021 and 2022. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lena Waithe, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

• Mating Season — Alex (voice)
• 2026Place to Be — Shy
• Good Hang with Amy Poehler
• 2025Honey Bare — Executive Producer
• 2025Long's Long Lost & Mini Mart — Executive Producer
• 2025Move Ya Body: The Birth of House — Executive Producer
• 2025Window Cleaners — Executive Music Producer
• 2024Bitter Leaf — Executive Producer
• 2024Corpse Fishing — Executive Producer
• 2024Meal Ticket — Executive Producer
• 2024Play Hard — Executive Producer
• 2024Tender Thoughts — Executive Producer
• 2023A Thousand and One — Producer
• 2023Being Mary Tyler Moore — Self (voice), Producer
• 2023Chang Can Dunk — Producer
• 2023Kokomo City — Executive Producer
• 2023Last Days of the Lab — Executive Producer
• 2023My Nights Glow Yellow — Executive Producer
• 2023Order for Pickup — Executive Producer
• 2023Sarajin — Executive Producer
• 2023Sorry Grandpa Hsiao — Executive Producer
• 2022100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu — Executive Producer
• 2022Beast — Executive Producer
• 2022Beauty — Producer, Writer
• 2022Black Santa — Executive Producer
• 2022Crooked Trees Gon Give Me Wings — Executive Producer
• 2022Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration
• 2022The 25th Filial Exemplar — Executive Producer
• The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder — College Maya (voice)
• 2021Artistic — Executive Producer
• 2021Bad Hair — Brook-Lynne
• 2021Only the Moon Stands Still — Executive Producer
• 2021Shoebox — Executive Producer
• 2021Soñadora — Executive Producer
• 2021The Beauty President — Executive Producer
• 2021The One and Only Dick Gregory — Self, Executive Producer
• Them — Executive Producer
• #blackAF — Lena Waithe
• 2020Onward — Officer Spector (voice)
• 2020The Forty-Year-Old Version — Producer
• You Ain't Got These
• 2020You Love Me — Screenplay
• A Black Lady Sketch Show — Office Employee
• Boomerang — Creator
• 2019Fragile.com — Executive Producer
• 2019Queen & Slim — Screenplay, Story, Producer
• 2018Ready Player One — Aech / Helen
• 2018Rising — Writer
• 2018Step Sisters — Producer
• The Chi — Camille Hallaway, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator
• Big Mouth — Lena (voice)
• Dear White People — P. Ninny
• This Is Us — Animal Shelter Clerk
• Westworld — Ash
• Master of None — Denise Watkins, Writer, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer
• 2014Dear White People — Producer
• 2014Ladylike — Consulting Producer
• Transparent — Jane
• 2010I Will Follow — Production Coordinator
• Bones — Writer
• Grey's Anatomy — Evynn Moore
• The Comeback — Summer
• FREYR — Executive Producer
• Grand Rising — Writer, Producer
• Such a Fun Age — Producer
• Talent Show — Executive Producer, Screenplay
• Untitled Friendship Breakup Film — Writer, Producer

Appearances as themselves (23)

• 2025It's Dorothy! — Self
• 2025Reclaim the Flag — Self
• Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television — Self
• Hollywood Black — Self
• 2023House Party — Self
• Sherri — Self - Guest
• 20212021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony — Self
• Amend: The Fight for America — Self
• Twenties After-Show With B. Scott — Self - Guest
• 2020Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 — Self
• Visible: Out on Television — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire — Self - Contestant
• Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner — Self
• The Shop — Self
• Steve — Self
• Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter — Self
• RuPaul's Drag Race — Self - Guest Judge
• Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen — Self - Guest
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Self - Guest, Self - Guest Host
• The View — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• The Grammys — Self
• The Oscars — Self