Early life

Wilmore was born on October 30, 1961, in Los Angeles, and grew up in suburban Pomona. His family is from Evanston, Illinois. Wilmore was raised Catholic. He is the third of six children. His brother Marc, is also a television writer, actor, and producer.

As a child, Wilmore found interest in topics such as science, magic, science-fiction and fantasy, all of which have shaped the evolution of his comedy. In an interview with NPR, he described himself as a nerd, saying that "it used to be that the black comic figure had to have this bravado and always showed strength...now there's a comic figure where it's OK to just be a nerd and be black."

Wilmore graduated from Damien High School in La Verne in 1979. He studied theatre at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; he dropped out to pursue acting and stand-up comedy.

Career

Beginning in the 1980s, Wilmore appeared as an actor in several small film and television roles, including a recurring role as a police officer on The Facts of Life. In the early to mid-1990s, he was on the writing staff of the talk show Into the Night With Rick Dees, the sketch comedy show In Living Color (his younger brother Marc was also a writer with In Living Color, but, unlike Larry, was also a cast member), and the sitcom Sister, Sister, where he portrayed a bus driver in one episode. Wilmore went on to be a writer and producer on a series of sitcoms, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Jamie Foxx Show.

In 1999, Wilmore co-created the animated comedy The PJs with Eddie Murphy and was executive producer until its conclusion in 2001. He subsequently created and produced The Bernie Mac Show, and he won an Emmy for writing the pilot episode. He created and produced Whoopi, with Whoopi Goldberg. From 2005 to 2007, he was a consulting producer for The Office and made an appearance on the show as Mr. Brown, during the episode, "Diversity Day" as a diversity consultant.

In 2006, Wilmore began appearing regularly on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, where he was billed as the "Senior Black Correspondent" or a derivative form of the title, such as the "Senior Executive Commander-in-Chief Who Happens To Be Black Correspondent" following the election of Barack Obama. His work on the show frequently centered on humorous observations of the Black experience in American society. In January 2009, Hyperion published Wilmore's I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts, a political humor book described by Booklist as "a faux collection of articles, essays, radio transcripts, and letters exploring the more ludicrous angles on race." Wilmore originated the titular phrase I'd Rather We Got Casinos in a January 2007 Daily Show appearance.

Wilmore has continued to make occasional acting appearances, including a role as a minister in I Love You, Man (2009) and a supporting role in Dinner for Schmucks (2010). In 2011, Wilmore began a recurring role on the ABC comedy Happy Endings, where he played Mr. Forristal, Brad (Damon Wayans, Jr.)'s uptight boss. Since 2012, Wilmore has starred in the Showtime special titled Race, Religion and Sex, shot in Salt Lake City.

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore

Main article: The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore

On May 9, 2014 it was announced that Wilmore was selected to host a late-night talk show on Comedy Central, to replace The Colbert Report following Stephen Colbert's departure from the network to host Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. The show, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore is produced by Jon Stewart's production company, Busboy Productions. It premiered on January 19, 2015, and airs Mondays through Thursdays at 11:30pm. The show was heavily criticized for a controversial segment featuring Bill Nye in September 2015, with Adweek characterizing it as the moment that many viewers felt the show had "turned away from Colbert's legacy of intellectualism." The Nye segment was devastating for viewership, with ratings down more than half from the year before.

Personal life

Wilmore was married to actress Leilani Jones for 20 years, and they have two children. They divorced in 2015. Wilmore resided in San Marino, California with his family, until moving to New York City to work on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

Wilmore told The Huffington Post when he needs inspiration, "he observes people. I ride the subway, sit in a coffee shop. There’s nothing funnier than real human behavior." He also said his biggest pet peeve is people who ask him "to tell them the shows I’ve worked on and then say they don’t watch much TV."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Good-bye, Cruel World	Sergeant, Thug
1990	The Ghost Writer	The Paramedic	TV movie
2009	I Love You, Man	Minister
2010	Dinner for Schmucks	Williams
2012	Vamps	Professor Quincy
2014	Date and Switch	Mr. Vernon

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	The Facts of Life	Officer Ziaukus	2 episodes
1986	Sledge Hammer!	Mail Man, Terrorist #3	2 episodes
1992	In Living Color	Various	2 episodes
1994	Sister, Sister	Bus Driver	2 episodes
1999	The PJs	Various voices	2 episodes
2005-2007	The Office	Mr. Brown	3 episodes
2006-2014	The Daily Show	Himself (correspondent)	78 episodes
2006-2007	Help Me Help You	Larry, Jimmy	2 episodes
2008	How I Met Your Mother	Dr. Greer	Episode: "Everything Must Go"
2009-2010	Accidentally on Purpose	Dr. Roland	5 episodes
2011	Traffic Light	Harvey	2 episodes
2011	Love Bites	The Boss	Episode: "Firsts"
2011-2012	Happy Endings	Mr. Forristal	2 episodes
2012	Bullet in the Face	Racken's Mafiosi #1	Episode: "The World Stage"
2012	Race, Religion and Sex	Himself	Stand-up special
2013	Malibu Country	Mr. Clark	2 episodes
2013	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Historian	Episode: "A Hard Drive to Swallow"
2013	Instant Mom	Franklin Turner	Episode: "The Gift of the Maggies"
2014	Playing House	Dr. Ullman	Episode: "37 Weeks"
2014-present	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero	Principal Larry (voice)	Main role
2015-present	The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore	Himself (host)	Also writer, executive producer
2016	White House Correspondents' Dinner	Himself (host)	TV special

As crew member

Year	Title	Notes
1990-1991	Into the Night	6 episodes; writer
1991-1993	In Living Color	58 episodes; writer
1994-1995	Sister, Sister	5 episodes; writer
1995-1996	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	24 episodes; co-producer, writer
1996-1997	The Jamie Foxx Show	21 episodes; writer, supervising producer
1997-1998	Teen Angel	17 episodes; writer, consulting producer
1999-2001	The PJs	43 episodes; co-creator, writer, executive producer
2001-2003	The Bernie Mac Show	104 episodes; creator, writer, director, executive producer
2003-2004	Whoopi	22 episodes; writer, executive producer
2005-2007	The Office	50 episodes; writer, consulting producer
2011	Love Bites	8 episodes; writer, consulting producer
2014-present	Black-ish	Executive producer

Published works

• Wilmore, Larry (2009). I'd Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts. Hachette Book Group. ISBN 978-1-4013-0955-8.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1992	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program	In Living Color	Nominated
1996	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award	Favorite TV Show	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Nominated
1996	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Nominated
1997	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Nominated
1998	Young Artist Award	Best Family TV Comedy Series	Teen Angel	Nominated
1999	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Jamie Foxx Show	Nominated
1999	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	The PJs	Nominated
2001	Peabody Award		The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2001	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Jamie Foxx Show	Nominated
2002	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2002	TCA Award	Outstanding Achievement in Comedy	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2002	Teen Choice Award	Choice Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2002	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV Breakout Show	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2002	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2003	Writers Guild of America Award	Episodic Comedy	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2003	Young Artist Award	Best Family Television Series (Comedy or Drama)	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2003	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2003	Humanitas Prize	30 Minute Network or Syndicated Television	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2003	Teen Choice Award	Choice Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2003	Satellite Award	Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2004	Young Artist Award	Best Family Television Series (Comedy or Drama)	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2004	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2004	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	Whoopi	Nominated
2004	BET Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2004	Teen Choice Award	Choice Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2004	Satellite Award	Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2005	BET Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2005	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Won
2005	Satellite Award	Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2006	Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy Series	The Office	Nominated
2006	Writers Guild of America Award	New Series	The Office	Nominated
2006	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2007	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	The Bernie Mac Show	Nominated
2008	Writers Guild of America Award	Comedy Series	The Office	Nominated
2015	People's Choice Award	Favorite New TV Comedy	Black-ish	Nominated
2015	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	Black-ish	Won
2015	Teen Choice Award	Choice TV: Breakout Show	Black-ish	Nominated
2016	AFI Award	Top 10 TV Shows	Black-ish	Won
2016	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Comedy Series	Black-ish	Nominated
2016	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Talk Series	The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore	Nominated
2016	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Comedy Series	Black-ish	Won
2016	NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Host in a News, Talk, Reality, or Variety (Series or Special)	The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore	Nominated
2016	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character)	Black-ish for "Please Don't Ask, Please Don't Tell"	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]