Tiffany Haddish

Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and author. She achieved her career breakthrough with her leading role in the 2017 comedy film Girls Trip, which received widespread acclaim and earned her several accolades. In 2018, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and The Hollywood Reporter listed her among the 100 most powerful people in entertainment in both 2018 and 2019.

Haddish was born on December 3, 1979, and raised in South Central Los Angeles, California. Her father was an Eritrean Jew, and her mother was an African-American small business owner. Following her father's departure when she was three, her mother remarried and had four more children. In 1988, her mother suffered severe brain damage in a car accident, leaving nine-year-old Haddish as the primary caregiver for her younger siblings. During this time, she began using humor to navigate her difficult home life and connect with peers. She was later placed in foster care at age 13 before being reunited with her siblings under their grandmother's care.

Haddish attended El Camino Real High School, where she participated in drama competitions and served as the school mascot. At age 17, she opted to attend the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp as an outlet for her pain following an ultimatum from her social worker. Mentored by several notable comedians, she developed a passion for stand-up performance and later attended Santa Monica College. Before finding onscreen success, she worked customer service jobs for Air New Zealand and Alaska Airlines while experiencing periods of homelessness.

Haddish began her television career with a spot on Bill Bellamy's Who's Got Jokes? and appeared on various shows, including That's So Raven, My Name Is Earl, and Def Comedy Jam. She secured regular television roles on If Loving You Is Wrong and the NBC sitcom The Carmichael Show, while also co-starring in the 2016 film Keanu. Following her breakthrough in Girls Trip, she released her Showtime stand-up special She Ready! From the Hood to Hollywood and became the first African-American female stand-up comedian to host Saturday Night Live, an appearance that won her a Primetime Emmy Award.

Haddish went on to star in the TBS sitcom The Last O.G. and the Apple TV+ series The Afterparty, alongside film roles in Night School, Nobody's Fool, The Kitchen, Like a Boss, and Here Today. She also executive-produced and voiced characters in animated series such as Tuca & Bertie, Solar Opposites, and Karma's World, and hosted a revival of Kids Say the Darndest Things. In 2017, she published her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn, which became a New York Times best-seller.

In 2019, Haddish released the album Black Mitzvah, earning the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. Outside of her creative work, she became a naturalized Eritrean citizen in 2019 and embraced her Jewish heritage, holding a bat mitzvah ceremony at age 40. She is also active in foster care activism through her She Ready Foundation and initiatives supporting youth in foster care.