Marlon Wayans_Article

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he first time I interviewed Jamie Foxx was backstage at the Urban One Honors ceremony in Washington, D.C., in December 2019. He was receiving an Icon

Award, though as he told me that day, he didn’t yet see himself as one. In June, the 57-year-old actor, comedian, and vocalist received an Icon Award at the BET Awards 2025 - now he sings a different tune.

Never far behind is daughter Hazel, 4, who appeared on Monét’s seven-time Grammy nominated album Jaguar II which launched her into the mainstream zeitgeist after more than a decade of penning songs for artists like Ariana Grande, Nas, and Chloe x Halle, and building a personal fanbase with early projects such as Nightmares & Lullabies and Life After Love. Just in the past two years, Monét has won three Grammys, two Soul Train Music Awards, and two BET Awards, but there’s another, more subtle indicator Monét sees as a sign that her time has arrived.

now he sings a different tune.

Wayans family is a master of yet another skill beyond being a writer, actor, producer, and comedian.

After one chorus, Marlon rises from the piano as matter-of-factly as he sat down, and his son Shawn takes over on the keys, demonstrating the generational excellence of the Wayans pedigree. It’s like father, like son, like uncles for this family, and Marlon is intentional about the tenets he passes down.

oments before capturing the final looks of our Father’s Day shoot, Marlon Wayans casually strolls over to the grand piano in the mid-century modern Sherman Oaks home we’ve rented. He begins playing Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky.” The melody summons the crew who file around the instrument in unison, watching in awe that the baby of the incredibly talented

JAMIE FOXX @IAMJAMIEFOXX

“I love my children,” says Marlon, 52, father to Kai, 25, Shawn, 23, and Axl, 2. “They know their father loves them. Everywhere I go, everything I do, the way I try to conduct myself; I try to be an example without always having to say that.”

Marlon, currently in the midst of his 27-city Wild Child standup comedy tour, likes to let his work ethic speak for itself. “Sometimes they can just watch, like dad worked seven days a week and I remember he told me he was going to do this project, and I watched him work on it every day until it happened. And he's doing standup on the weekend, and he's filming a special, and he has a movie coming out, and he's filming the TV show, and he still practices his piano and he still makes time for us,” he adds.

“You can do it all,” Marlon says definitively of the message he wants to impart to his children. “That's all I want is for my actions to be an example to them.”

The youngest of 10 siblings, Marlon, who got his start in showbiz on big brother Keenen Ivory Wayans’ sketch comedy show In Living Color in the early ‘90s, wanted to be a dad from a young age.

“I felt ready at 24. I used to always tell Angela, [Kai and Shawn’s] mom, ‘I want a kid,’” he recalls. “All my brothers having kids, I had a nephew, which was like a son, since I was three and a half...it's second nature for me.”

Two months before Marlon’s 28th birthday, his longstanding desire manifested when Kai was born on May 24, 2000. Shawn, named after Marlon’s older brother with whom he starred in The Wayans Bros. from 1995-1999, followed two years later on February 3, 2002. Marlon’s eponymous NBC sitcom, which ran for two seasons from 2017-2018, was loosely based on his experience co-parenting with the mother of his sons (Kai has identified as trans since 2023 and chose not to participate in the shoot) after their 21-year relationship ended in 2013.

“That show was therapeutic for me. A lot of the things I do, it's all cathartic. I've learned to create from pain and from misery and just find funny,” says Marlon, who co-created, executive produced, and starred in the series. “Marlon was basically about my biggest heartbreak because it was about me messing up my family and trying to keep them together and in the midst of all the turmoil that we still found family and connectivity.”

With many of the storylines inspired by real life, Shawn says he wasn’t surprised by anything he saw onscreen. “How he was on the show is the exact same way he is in real life,” he says of his dad. “That's how he is 24/7. He’s obviously more of a dad — you guys would probably be surprised; he's a father.”

Shawn describes his dad’s parenting style as “not strict, but very protective,” to which Marlon agrees. “I want [Shawn] to do him. I want Kai to do them. I want Axl to do her,” he says.

Marlon jokes that he created his own grandbaby in daughter Axl, starting over again at age 50 when she was born on December 12, 2022. Nevertheless, he’s as hands-on with his newest little one as he was when his eldest children were babies.

“All of my brothers are fathers. We take pride in being fathers. It’s not a task; I love taking care of my children,” Marlon explains. “I don't mind cooking for them, taking them on walks, or teaching them. I don't mind traveling with them. I love my kids.

Marlon and his brothers’ resolve as fathers stems from the example set by their own, Howell Stouten Wayans, who died at age 86 in April 2023. The commandment "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God giveth thee,” found in Exodus 20:12, is one he took to heart. “My father taught me that when I was a child and I never forgot it,” says Marlon. “I think it's important for a child to love his parents. That's healthy love. And if I didn't do that then I couldn't love my family the way I love my family. I couldn't be an example to my children that’ve seen me do it.”

Of his famous uncles, which includes Keenen, Damon Wayans Sr., and his namesake, Shawn says, “They're basically my second fathers. If anything, God forbid, happened to my dad, I know that I'm good because I have a great support system around me.”

Marlon also shared a particularly close relationship with his mother, Elvira Alethia, who died in July 2020 at age 81, intentionally choosing to remain unmarried while she was alive so that he could always show up for her.

“I don't care what people say. I love my mama. I know my mama. I know how needy my mama was, and I wanted to be available for my mother because my mother had me when she was older,” says Marlon, addressing the backlash he received when he revealed the reason behind his decision not to wed thus far in 2021.

As indebted as Marlon feels to his parents for the blueprint they left, one tradition he hasn’t and won’t carry on is putting one’s children out on their own at 18.

“Anybody in my life has to understand how a man loves his mother is how he's going to love you, and you should hope that you inherit that love. But a man’s got to do what he’s got to do. That woman brought me here. She loved me my whole life. Sorry, I just met you,” he continues.

“My parents wanted everybody out the house and you know what I saw was as much as they wanted everybody out the house, soon as they left, my parents were so heartbroken, and I don't want that.”

Sharing his philosophy on parenting adult children, Marlon adds, “Whatever I have, it's yours anyway, so you’re living in my home as long as you need to. Back in the day, that’s how families existed. I want to have a big plot of land with all my relatives there, with our gravesites there. I want it to be Wayans’ world, and you ain't never got to get out.”

“The only pressure is from my own personal self because we're blessed with the ability to just create,” he says. “We're going to mess up, we're going to fumble, but it's great because we're creating and making mistakes together,” he budding writer, producer and director says of working on projects with brother Kai, who’s also a writer, his creative partner, cousin Ilia Wayans, daughter of his uncle Shawn, with whom he’s directed music videos for Shawn’s other daughter Laila Wayans, who’s a producer and artist.

the budding writer, producer and director says of working on projects with brother Kai, who’s also a writer, his creative partner, cousin Ilia Wayans, daughter of his uncle Shawn, with whom he’s directed music videos for Shawn’s other daughter Laila Wayans, who’s a producer and artist.

“I like that they can create not from desperation,” says Marlon, comparing how he and his brothers had to make do when they first came to Hollywood. “We came out here like, ‘I got to eat. I'm hungry. I ain't had protein — I had beans, no steak — in years. I got to get this check.’ [Shawn's] like, ‘I create in my own time. The world brings it to me.’”

Marlon will soon be seen in HIM, set for release on September 19, produced by Jordan Peele and directed by Justin Tipping. This is a manifestation of his own aspiration to be a leading man outside of the comedy genre and one day add an Academy Award to his already long list of accolades. Still, no accomplishment will ever trump Marlon's pride as a family man.

“Forget actor, comedian, writer, producer. I care about being a son. I care about being a nephew. I care about being a friend, but most of all I care about being a father,” says Marlon. “That's the one title you can put on the tombstone, ‘loving father.’”

Marlon, currently in the midst of his 27-city Wild Child standup comedy tour, likes to let his work ethic speak for itself. “Sometimes they can just watch, like dad worked seven days a week and I remember he told me he was going to do this project, and I watched him work on it every day until”i it happened. And he's doing standup on the weekend, and he's filming a special, and he has a movie coming out, and he's filming the TV show, and he still practices his piano and he still makes time for us,” he adds.

“You can do it all,” Marlon says definitively of the message he wants to impart to his children. “That's all I want is for my actions to be an example to them.”

The youngest of 10 siblings, Marlon, who got his start in showbiz on big brother Keenen Ivory Wayans’ sketch comedy show In Living Color in the early ‘90s, wanted to be a dad from a young age.

says he wasn’t surprised by anything he saw onscreen. “How he was on the show is the exact same way he is in real life,” he says of his dad. “That's how he is 24/7. He’s obviously more of a dad — you guys would probably be surprised; he's a father.”

With many of the storylines inspired by real life, Shawn Shawn describes his dad’s parenting style as “not strict, but very protective,” to which Marlon agrees. “I want [Shawn] to do him. I want Kai to do them. I want Axl to do her,” he says.

Marlon jokes that he created his own grandbaby in daughter Axl, starting over again at age 50 when she was born on December 13, 2022. Nevertheless, he’s as hands-on with his newest little one as he was when his eldest children were babies.

The youngest of 10 siblings, Marlon, who got his start in showbiz on big brother Keenen Ivory Wayans’ sketch comedy show In Living Color in the early ‘90s, wanted to be a dad from a young age.

As indebted as Marlon feels to his parents for the blueprint they left, one tradition he hasn’t and won’t carry on is putting one’s children out on their own at 18.

“My parents wanted everybody out the house and you know what I saw was as much as they wanted everybody out the house, soon as they left, my parents were so heartbroken, and I don't want that.”

“Sharing his philosophy on parenting adult children, Marlon adds, “Whatever I have, it's yours anyway, so you’re living in my home as long as you need to. Back in the day, that’s how families existed. I want to have a big plot of land with all my relatives there, with our gravesites there. I want it to be Wayans’ world, and you ain't never got to get out.”

The foundation of financial and creative freedom Marlon has laid for his children has kept Shawn from shouldering any unnecessary weight, carrying on the Wayans name and legacy.

“The only pressure is from my own personal self because we're blessed with the ability to just create,” he says. “We're going to mess up, we're going to fumble, but it's great because we're creating and making mistakes together,” the budding writer, producer and director says of working on projects with brother Kai, who’s also a writer, his creative partner, cousin Ilia Wayans, daughter of his uncle Shawn, with whom he’s directed music videos for Shawn’s other daughter Laila Wayans, who’s a producer and artist.

Stating that he knows he made the right choice, Marlon adds, “If it wasn't for my mama, we wouldn't have had all these Wayans cracking all these jokes. We've bought all this joy in this world. So you better bow down to the queens because you, too, women, are a queen. If a man don't love his mama, he ain't going to love you.”

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