Dewayne Perkins

Dewayne Perkins, born November 5, 1990, is an American comedian, writer, actor, and producer from Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for writing on television programs such as The Amber Ruffin Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Break with Michelle Wolf, as well as co-writing and starring in the horror-comedy film The Blackening.

Raised on Chicago's south side near Marquette Park, Perkins attended Hearst Elementary School and Curie High School, becoming the first African American male student to earn an International Baccalaureate Diploma there. He developed an interest in performing through high school musical theater and improv. Perkins attended DePaul University, changing his major from theater to film and animation. During college, his writing partner Aasia Lashay Bullock introduced him to The Second City. The venue hired them after a producer saw their show Uncle Tom & Jerry Curl: A Black History Month Experience. Perkins subsequently graduated from DePaul with a bachelor's degree.

After college, Perkins worked at The Second City and iO Theater and performed with the improv trio 3Peat. In 2016, he wrote and performed Black Side of the Moon in Washington, D.C. He left Second City in 2017 to focus on stand-up comedy, using Twitter to refine material centered on his race and sexuality. In 2018, Comedy Central released 3Peat's sketch The Blackening, adapted from a show Perkins previously produced. That year, he wrote for the sole season of The Break with Michelle Wolf, before moving to Los Angeles to join the writing staff for season seven of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Perkins joined the writing teams for Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot and The Amber Ruffin Show in 2020. That year, MRC Film and The Story Company announced a full-length film adaptation of The Blackening, co-written by Perkins and Tracy Oliver. Directed by Tim Story and starring Perkins, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and gained a wide theatrical release in June 2023. By November 2023, Perkins and Oliver began developing a sequel.

In 2021, Perkins joined the cast of The Upshaws in a recurring role. His television projects include writing and executive producing the sitcom Chopped & Screwed for ABC, co-executive producing and writing an animated adaptation of Clue, writing for Sausage Party: Foodtopia, and appearing in Seth Rogen's comedy series The Studio. In June 2020, Perkins posted a viral Twitter thread alleging institutional racism during his time at The Second City, which led to the resignation of co-owner Andrew Alexander.

Perkins was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for writing on The Amber Ruffin Show. His accolades include winning Best Short-Form Digital Project at the 2017 New York Television Festival for Starving Artists, being named a 2019 Just for Laughs New Face of Comedy, and inclusion on Variety's 10 Comics to Watch in 2020. He signed with CAA in June 2023. Perkins is gay and came out to his supportive family as a teenager.