Issa Rae
Biography
Life Story
Issa Rae was born on January 12, 1985 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a producer and actress, known for Insecure (2016), The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (2011) and Little (2019).
Family
No info available
Trivia
Received the "Vanguard Award" at the 10th annual Essence Black Women In Hollywood event, February, 2017.
She considered going to business school or law school before her acting career began.
She grew up in Potomac, Maryland, and Los Angeles, California; and spent a short period in Dakar, Senegal.
Graduated from Stanford University in 2007 with a major in African and African-American Studies.
Her father, Abdoulaye Diop, is a doctor from Senegal and her mother, Delyna (Hayward), is a teacher, who is African-American, from Louisiana.
She first began writing and acting while in college.
Merited a place in TIME magazine's ''The 100 Most Influential People'' (pioneers) with an homage penned by Mindy Kaling [April 2018].
Personal Quotes
I thrive on obstacles. If I'm told that it can't be done, then I push harder.
The very definition of 'blackness' is as broad as that of 'whiteness,' yet we're seemingly always trying to find a specific, limited definition.
I never really had to put much thought into my race, and neither did anybody else. I knew I was black. I knew there was a history that accompanied my skin color, and my parents taught me to be proud of it. End of story.
It's a bit cliche, but you can't go wrong by writing what you know. Even if you're a horrible writer, your own knowledge and experience is unrivaled. Nobody knows what you know like you know what you know. The way you see things is pretty unique.
You know, even with the 'Awkward Black Girl' episodes, they come out once a month. That's great for me, it's comfortable, it gives each time to digest, time for new people to get on to it and caught up, but oftentimes I have people who are almost demanding a higher output from me.
Black and awkward is the worst, because black people are stereotyped as being anything but awkward in mainstream media... Black people are always portrayed to be cool or overly dramatic, anything but awkward.
I'm transitioning to television and film, but ultimately, I want to have a stronger presence on the web and be able to curate the content that I want to see. To bring attention to other filmmakers and writers.
I don't think the mainstream media understands people of color are multidimensional. For some reason, there's an idea that only white people are relatable. I don't think it's necessarily racist. But it's odd, because the people who watch the most television are black women, so we should be represented in more ways.
